Energy and protein supplementation can improve liveweight gain of steers grazing good quality tropical pasture in the wet season

This experiment aimed at maximising wet season liveweight gain (LWG) of cattle grazing good quality tropical pasture. Twenty-five Brahman crossbred steers (203 ± 4.2 kg) were allocated into 5 treatments, namely control (Con; grazing only), grazing + molasses/urea mixture (MU) at 0.5% liveweight (LW) (5MU) or 1% W (10MU), and grazing + mixture of molasses/urea (55%), fish meal (25%) and whole cottonseed (WCS; 20%) at 0.5% W (5MWF) or 1% W (10MWF). Steers grazed fertilized pangola grass pasture (Digitaria eriantha cv. Steudal) for 84 days. Pasture DM availability was maintained at > 1.5 t/ha. The Mean green leaf yield was 1.9 t DM/ha, in vitro DM digestibility was 64%, and crude protein content was 15%. The LWG of Con steers was 960 g/d. Providing MU did not increase LWG, but inclusion of fishmeal and whole cottonseed markedly improved LWG above control by 34% and 39% for 5MWF and 10MWF, respectively. Levels of supplement had no affected on LWG. It is concluded that supplementing rumen fermentable energy and protein alone did not increase LWG of steers grazing good quality tropical grass pasture, but the inclusion of rumen bypass protein and energy in supplement significantly increased LWG, as a result of the higher bypass protein and energy intake

Challenges of beef cattle production from tropical pastures

The live weight gain of cattle on tropical pastures is reviewed and found to be low and dependent on the length of the growing season. Supplements may be added to address the primary limiting nutrient, which, in the dry season, is crude protein. The response relationships of live weight gain to level of supplement (protein or energy) that have been developed for animals on pasture in Brazil and Australia have been compared and found to be very similar. This gives confidence in recommending a supplementation strategy for cattle on tropical pastures. Response in the wet season was very low and likely to be uneconomic compared with dry season supplementation. Supplementation is costly and should only be used as a last resort, but the strategy needs to be viewed in the context of a growth path to a defined market or slaughter weight. In Australia, high inputs in the first dry season are risky as subsequent compensatory growth can reduce or eliminate the weight advantage of a supplement. There is less financial risk in using supplements towards the end of the growth path. Growth paths can follow many forms and there is no need to maximise live weight gain in each period. Targeted supplements in the second dry season, leucaena based systems, other special-purpose pastures or crops, and feedlots offer the most economical way for cattle to meet market targets. The expected annual live weight gain and weaning weight are other major factors which determine the growth path, target market which can be achieved, and the level of intervention (supplements, legumes, feedlots, etc) which are required and when. Some recent results on growth paths in Australia are presented

Effect of quantity and source of rumen nitrogen on the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis in steers consuming tropical forage

Low values for the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis (EMPS) in cattle consuming tropical forages are related to low rumen degradable crude protein (RDP) intakes. This study examined the effect on the EMPS of the quantity and source of nitrogen (N) supplied to the rumen of eight entire and four rumen-fistulated Brahman steers consuming mature tropical grass hay (57.3 g crude protein/kg DM). Four treatment diets were fed in a Latin square design and included a basal diet of mature pangola grass (Digitaria eriantha) hay (control) and hay plus supplements estimated to provide 150 g RDP/kg digestible organic matter intake (DOMI), as urea or casein, or 300 g RDP/kg DOMI as casein. The EMPS was only increased (P < 0.05) above that for the control diet (167 vs 123 g microbial crude protein (MCP)/kg DOMI) when RDP was provided at the highest rate of 293 g/kg DOMI. This increase was also associated with an ~4-fold increase in the concentration of NH3-N (277 vs 73 mg/L) and of branched-chain volatile fatty acids (44 vs 10 mmol/mol of total volatile fatty acids) in rumen fluid of the steers. However, the source of rumen degradable N (urea or casein) had no effect on the EMPS (109–115 g MCP/kg DOMI) when supplied at ~150 g RDP/kg DOMI. There was no effect of treatment on in vivo neutral detergent fibre digestibility (599 g/kg DM) or the rate (0.037/h) or extent (potential degradable fraction: 636 g/kg OM) of in sacco disappearance of pangola grass hay. In addition, rumen particle dilution rate was unaffected by treatment (0.022/h) and rumen fluid dilution rate, although showing some treatment differences (0.048–0.062/h), was poorly correlated with EMPS. It was concluded that only high amounts of RDP supply to the rumen, in the form of true protein, resulted in increased EMPS whereas at the lower intakes of RDP formulated to achieve EMPS in the range suggested in the feeding standards (130–170 g MCP/kg DOMI) there was no difference in providing the RDP as non-protein N or degradable-protein

Beef cattle production in northern Australia - Management and supplementation strategies (Bovinocultura de corte do norte da Austrália - Estratégias de manejo e suplementação)

La page relative à la QPC en matière pénale a été mise à jour, incluant la décision no 2011-156 QPC, du 22 juillet 2011 . Cette décision concerne l'article 43, alinéa 2, du Code de procédure pénale, qui autorise le dépaysement de l'enquête : «Sont compétents le procureur de la République du lieu de l'infraction, celui de la résidence de l'une des personnes soupçonnées d'avoir participé à l'infraction, celui du lieu d'arrestation d'une de ces personnes, même lorsque cette arrestation a été opé..

Feeding strategies for improving ruminant productivity in the post-COVID 19 pandemic era particularly for small holders

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for robust cattle supply chains using local feed resources. Higher Income Over Food Costs (IOFC) are usually achieved when live weight gains are high and the cost of the ingredients are low. There is a need to formulate rations with high metabolisable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) to achieve the high live weight gain. Rations can be formulated locally by farmer co-operatives, entrepreneurs and local commercial enterprises to take advantage of cheaper prices for local ingredients. To do this, rations need to be altered quickly to take advantage of local fluctuations in prices and availability of ingredients. A recent ACIAR funded project has developed a least cost ration (ACIAR LCR) system to formulate rations to meet minimum ME and CP contents for beef cattle using locally available ingredients. The use of cassava and its various products in combination with protein sources, such as tree legumes and high protein by-products, have markedly improved IOFC

The Proportion of the Ungrazed Area of the Pasture (PUP) Determines When Forage Intake and Diet Quality Decline in Grazing Systems

Grazing management has to deal with the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of pastures. In this context it is desirable to have a grazing management strategy that can be applied in a wide range of pasture conditions to control daily forage intake, diet quality and thus, animal performance. Sward height has been extensively studied and has been found not to be universally applicable to control the animal response as its relationship with intake changes with sward structure (Prache and Peyraud, 2001; Sollenberger and Burns, 2001) . Selective grazing is a universal phenomenon where, independently of pasture condition, cattle prefer the more nutritious and easily ingested top stratum of the pasture before consuming the deeper strata that impose a lower diet quality and greater restrictions on selective grazing. This study tested the hypothesis that forage intake and diet quality significantly decreases when the top selected stratum is removed across the entire area of the pasture (i.e. the proportion of pasture ungrazed)