Evaluation of Ralgro® on pasture and subsequent feedlot performance and carcass merit of mexican crossbred steers

A pasture/feedlot field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a single Ralgro® implant during the stocker phase on steer grazing performance and subsequent feedlot performance and carcass merit. A total of 2,764 steers of Mexican origin averaging 449 lb were assembled in Texas and shipped to Kansas, where they grazed on three intensively-early-stocked Flint Hills pastures. At initial processing, the steers were individually weighed and randomly assigned to either a non-implanted control group or a Ralgro implant group. Ralgro steers gained more (23 lb; P<0.01) than controls during the 82- to 93-day grazing phase. Following the grazing phase, all steers were shipped to a commercial feedlot in southwestern Kansas where steers from each pasture were individually weighed and given a single Component E-S® implant. Immediately after processing, steers from each pasture were sorted into either a light- or heavy-weight pen, regardless of pasture implant treatment, resulting in six feedlot pens. Days on feed ranged from 127 to 197. Control steers gained faster (P<0.01) during the feedlot phase; however, Ralgro steers had higher cumulative weight gains across the combined pasture and feedlot phases (P<0.01) and averaged three fewer days on feed (P<0.05). There were no significant differences for marbling, fat thickness, ribeye area, KPH fat, or yield grade. Ralgro steers had lower (P<0.05) quality grades because of a higher incidence (P<0.001) of steers with B and C carcass maturities

Rethinking School Readiness

In the United States, for typically developing children, age has historically been the most common factor determining when a child starts formal schooling. Re-cently, there has been increased emphasis on other indicators of being ready for school. Beginning with Head Start in 1965 and mushrooming into state-funded prekindergarten programs in most U.S. states, preschool has been viewed as an intervention to facilitate school readiness for children from low-income families. In 1986 in the United States, an amendment to Public Law 94-142 extended pre-school intervention services to children with disabilities. Confusion still abounds, however, about what the concept of school readiness means and how it would translate into classroom practices and school policies that would help children be more school ready. This paper will focus on alternative definitions of school readiness, the measurement of readiness skills, and implications for new practices and policies