Exclusion decisions of middle school principals

The decision by a principal to exclude a student from school is a serious one that costs the student gravely. The intent of this study was to understand the phenomenon of how principals make the decisions to exclude students from school. Twelve middle school principals from a single school district were the participants of this study. A focused interview was conducted and the responses analyzed for patterns and themes using the ethic of care and the ethic of justice as a theoretical template. Other data reviewed included: the school improvement plans; and the schools’ majority/minority rate, free and reduced lunch rates, outof- school suspension rates, in-school suspension rates, special education rates, aberrant behavior rates and mobility rates. These outcomes were compared to the principals’ exclusion rates to determine if patterns would emerge

Evaluation of Beef Growing and Finishing Systems to Reduce Corn Use

This study compared systems where cattle were maintained on a 60% wet distillers’ grain diet (no grain) until slaughter or switched to a conventional grain-based finishing diet for 90 days. The third treatment was a conventionally finished group that had been fed a corn-hay backgrounding diet. There were no differences in the performance or carcass characteristics of the groups finished on the conventional grain diet. Of those two treatments, cattle backgrounded on the wet distillers’ grain based diet utilized 22 bushels of corn per head throughout the 223 day feeding program compared to 43 bushels for the cattle backgrounded on the corn-hay diet. Cattle finished on the 60% wet distillers’ grains diet used no corn, but gained slower, were lighter, leaner and had lower quality grades at the same number of days on feed. More research is needed to determine if more time on feed would maintain quality grades or a minimal number of days on feed is required

Effect of housing, initial weight and season on feedlot performance of steers in Iowa

Feedlot information, submitted by Iowa cattle producers to the Iowa State University Feedlot Performance and Cost Monitoring Program, was examined to determine the effects of housing, initial weight and season interactions on beef steer performance. Feedlot information, consisting of 1225 pens of steers, contained information including starting and ending dates, cattle per pen, sex, housing type, days on feed, initial and sale weights, feed efficiency, proportion of concentrate in diets, average daily gain (ADG) and certain economic variables. Starting date on feed was assigned to seasons and, since the steers were fed an average for 160 days, an overlapping of seasons occurred. Thus, cattle started in feedlots in spring, autumn, summer and winter were finished in summer, spring, autumn and spring, respectively. Cattle started in spring, autumn, summer and winter were exposed to hot, cold and warm portions of the year, respectively, and were classified as hot, cold and warm season cattle. Cattle housed in open lots with overhead shelter had higher ADG than those housed in confinement and in open lots in the warm season. In general, cattle in confinement had lower daily dry matter intake (DDMI) than those housed in open lots and open lots with overhead shelter, regardless of season. Light cattle had higher ADG in the hot season, whereas, heavy cattle had higher ADG in the cold season. Heavy cattle housed in confinement had lower ADG than those housed in open lots with overhead shelter and in open lots. Heavy cattle were less efficient than light and intermediate weight cattle regardless of housing system. These results indicate that the time of year cattle are started on feed and selection of cattle with starting weights most adaptable to the housing system provided, may contribute to improved production efficiency. South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 35(4) 2005: 282-29

Supplementation of Beef Cows Grazing Corn Stalk Residue: A Demonstration

Controlling feed costs is imperative for cow-calf producers to remain cost-competitive. During fall and early winter, these projected costs can be significantly reduced by utilizing cornstalks. By effectively grazing corn residues, Iowa cow-calf producers have the opportunity to extend the grazing season and reduce winter feed costs. The ISU distillers’ dry grain (DDG) supplementation demonstration suggests that pregnant beef cows utilizing a strip-grazed system with appropriate supplementation can maintain their body condition scores (BCS) during challenging weather conditions. The supplemented group maintained a 5.7 BCS and the control group lost 0.3 BCS during the 49-day demonstration. The DDG supplemented system was projected to be more cost-competitive ($18.82 per head advantage) than the continuous grazed control group

Gestation, Lactation and Creepfeeding Studies with Swine

Animal Husbandr

Effects of Dietary Energy Density on Diet and Nutrient Digestibility in Beef Cattle Diets

Steers were fed diets containing energy concentrations of 2.4, 2.7, or 3.0 Mcal of ME/kg of DM to evaluate nutrient and diet digestibility and to determine the existence of associative effects when feeding diets with varying forage and concentrate ratios. The steers were placed in metabolism crates for total fecal collection. Dry matter digestibility was higher for diets with greater energy density. The 2.7 Mcal/kg diet showed a small negative associative effect on digestibility and the non-fiber carbohydrate fraction was the nutrient that had an inhibition on digestion. The results indicated that diets varying in concentration of forage and concentrate may have different digestibilities and nutritional values

Effect of MGA on Performance, Sexual Behavior, Carcass Quality and Tenderness in Mixed-Sex Pens of Cattle

The effect of MGA in mixed pens of steers and heifers was evaluated over a three-year period at the ISU Armstrong Research Farm near Lewis, Iowa. Two pens of approximately 40 head were fed diets with or without MGA in each of three replications. Estrus and riding activity was monitored using the Heat Watch system. At slaughter, in addition to routine carcass data collection, a rib sample was collected from each carcass for tenderness evaluation. There was no effect on dry matter intake due to MGA treatment. Mixed-sex pens that were fed MGA were 4% more efficient than controls. MGA-fed steers gained similarly to control steers. MGA fed heifers gained 8% faster than control heifers. MGA highly reduced measures of estrus and riding activity throughout the feeding period. MGA feeding improved marbling and tenderness measured in both steers and heifers. These data suggest that MGA has potential to improve performance, quality grade, and tenderness in mixed pens of steers and heifers

Effectiveness of Mixing Wet Distllers’ Grains and Hay with a Mixer Wagon or a Front End Loader for Long Term Storage

Long term storage of wet distillers’ grains is important in order for small beef producers to effectively utilize these feeds due to their short shelf life. Many smaller beef producers do not have access to mixing equipment to produce mixtures of wet distillers’ grains and forages. This study measured the variation in feed mixtures mixed with a mixer wagon or a front end loader. Variation was reduced by approximately one half by mixing though a mixer wagon. Using the front end loader to mix the feeds resulted in variation that would be considered acceptable for many production situations

Use of Wet Distillers’ Grains with Solubles Mixed with Ground Hay and Bunker Stored in a Heifer Development Program

A total of 124 Angus heifers split into treatment and control groups with three replicates were utilized to compare a bunker stored mixture of wet distillers’ grains with solubles and ground hay to a normal growing ration for developing heifers. Heifers receiving the mixture gained slower, were less efficient in feed conversion and had numerical lower reproductive rates than those on a control ration consisting of corn, haylage, soybean meal and a mineral balancer. However, neither the control or treatment ration mixtures achieved goals set out at the beginning of the trial for growth, efficiency and pregnancy rates

Animal Performance, Storage Losses and Feasibility of Ensiling a Mixture of Tub Ground Low Quality Hay and Wet Distillers’ Grains for Growing Cattle

This study was designed to evaluate long term storage options for wet distillers’ grains including storage losses and performance of backgrounding calves. Thirty six tons of wet distillers’ grains were mixed by mixer wagon with 9 tons of tub ground fescue hay in August of 2007. This mixture packed and stored in a bunker silo, covered with plastic and stored until December at the ISU Beef Nutrition Farm. The mixture was fed to growing cattle and compared to the same feeds mixed daily, and also conventional feeds for a 112 day trial. Performance of all treatments exceeded projections, averaging approximately 3 pounds per day. There were no differences in daily gain or feed conversion among treatments, although cattle fed WDG consumed less feed. Sulfur content of the WDG containing diets exceeded .5% of the diet dry matter. Storage losses were 10.9% for the bunker-stored mixture