Cysteine from Feather Meal And Sulfur Amino Acid Requirements for Growing Steers

Ninety individually fed steers were used to determine how cysteine from feather meal could replace dietary methionine in meeting their requirements for sulfur amino acids. Treatment proteins included blood meal, blood meal plus incremental levels of feather meal or blood meal plus incremental levels of rumen-protected methionine. Addition of sulfur amino acids to blood meal from feather meal or rumen-protected methionine improved average daily gain (P \u3c .05). Rumen-protected methionine elicited a greater gain response than feather meal (P \u3c .05). Feather meal can provide some of the sulfur amino acids lacking in blood meal. However, additional methionine may further improve performance

Effect of Dried Poultry Waste on Performance of Finishing Yearling Steers

Feeding dried poultry waste is an effective means of supplementing dry-rolled corn finishing diets by providing a portion of the dietary degradable protein and minerals necessary to meet animal requirements

Grazing Systems Utilizing Forage Combinations

Grazing bromegrass throughout the summer provides weight gains of up to two pounds a day during early and late summer. However, during July and August bromegrass growth and quality is low and weight gains of cattle grazing bromegrass are reduced. Grazing combinations of warm and cool season forages allows for optimizing forage quality by rotating to warm season grasses during July and August. Another alternative may be to interseed red clover in bromegrass to optimize forage quality. Inter-seeding red clover would provide a higher quality forage when bromegrass growth and quality is low and, in addition, provide a source of nitrogen for the bromegrass. thus reducing nitrogen fertilization costs. Grazing these forages during the summer when quality is high, and following a winter and spring period of limited animal growth. should produce excellent animal weight gains while reducing cost of gain. Objectives of the research were to evaluate the influence of different forage combinations on summer and fall grazing gains and to evaluate the effect of each of these combinations on the economics of the entire growing/finishing system

Roughage Source and Particle Size in Finishing Diets

When compared to an all concentrate diet, roughage addition (5 to 15% of diet DM) stimulates intake, chewing, rumination and possibly particulate and liquid outflow from the rumen. Roughage addition. therefore. reduces acidosis by diluting concentrate intake and/ or increasing salivation and buffering capacity of the rumen. Alfalfa hay is a commonly fed roughage source. If the use of the fiber fraction within alfalfa roughage is to simply dilute concentrate intake and help prevent acidosis, then any fiber source fed at a similar NDF level should respond similarly to alfalfa hay. Particle size plays a major role in determining ruminal retention time. The smaller the particle size the faster the passage rate from the rumen. If roughage added to a finishing diet consists of small particles, then the dilution effect desired from roughage addition to finishing diets may be negligible. However, if roughage particle size is too large, total intake and energy consumed may decrease due to an increase in ruminal retention. Objectives of our research were to evaluate the effect of alfalfa hay and wheat straw with differing particle sizes on performance of steers fed a high-concentrate finishing diet

Grazing Systems Utilizing Forage Combinations

Grazing bromegrass throughout the summer provides weight gains of up to two pounds a day during early and late summer. However, during July and August bromegrass growth and quality is low and weight gains of cattle grazing bromegrass are reduced. Grazing combinations of warm and cool season forages allows for optimizing forage quality by rotating to warm season grasses during July and August. Another alternative may be to interseed red clover in bromegrass to optimize forage quality. Inter-seeding red clover would provide a higher quality forage when bromegrass growth and quality is low and, in addition, provide a source of nitrogen for the bromegrass. thus reducing nitrogen fertilization costs. Grazing these forages during the summer when quality is high, and following a winter and spring period of limited animal growth. should produce excellent animal weight gains while reducing cost of gain. Objectives of the research were to evaluate the influence of different forage combinations on summer and fall grazing gains and to evaluate the effect of each of these combinations on the economics of the entire growing/finishing system

Preliminary Evaluation of Administration Site of TwoManufacturer’s Reproductive Hormones on Induction of Ovulation in Postpartum Dairy Cows

Synchronization of ovulation is a common reproductive management practice in the US dairy cattle industry. The objective of this study was to compare two different sites of hormone administration (intralabial versus intramuscular) and two different manufacturers (Parnell versus Zoetis) of the reproductive hormones gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and prostaglandin F2α (PGF) on the efficacy of ovulation induction. Holstein cows (n=388) were enrolled in a pre-synch/ovsynch protocol during this 14-month study. Ultrasonographic observation of ovaries was made eight days after timed artificial insemination (TAI). Overall, treatment had no effect on the proportion of cows (90.0%) that ovulated in response to treatment. The incidence of double ovulations was 20.6% but was not affected by treatment. Similarly, treatment had no effect on the incidence of ovarian cysts (8.8%). Results revealed that failure to ovulate in response to exogenous hormone treatment caused a 10% reduction in potential pregnancy rate. There was no difference in efficacy of ovulation induction due to manufacturer of products, indicating that producers have a choice of products they can use. Intralabial administration of reproductive hormones was equally effective as intramuscular injection for the induction of ovulation, and intralabial injection should be considered a viable administration site because it can eliminate injection site abscesses in carcasses at the time of meat harvest

Feather Meal as a Source of Sulfur Amino Acids for Growing Steers

One-hundred twenty individually fed steer calves were used to evaluate feather meal as a source of sulfur amino acids. Treatment proteins included a urea control and meat and bone meal (6.4% of dietary DM) plus 0, 1, or 2% feather meal with incremental levels of rumen protected methionine. Adding feather meal to meat and bone meal resulted in a linear increase in gain. Likewise, rumen-protected methionine also improved gain. These results indicate feather meal can provide a portion of the sulfur amino acids lacking in meat and bone meal. However, additional methionine may further improve performance

Treated Meat and Bone Meal and Rumen Protected Methionine and Tryptophan for Growing Calves

To optimize production in growing calves, escape protein is often supplemented to meet the animal\u27s metabolizable protein requirement. Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a rendered animal byproduct often used as a source of escape protein. However, previous studies have shown a lower protein efficiency for MBM relative to blood meal. This has been attributed to the escape protein and/or amino acid composition of MBM being inadequate to the specific needs of the growing calf. Collagen, which can comprise a fraction of MBM protein, contains negligible amounts of the essential amino acids methionine and tryptophan. Recent research has identified methionine as the first limiting amino acid in MBM. Efficiency of protein utilization was greater in steers consuming MBM plus rumen protected methionine than for MBM alone. Rumen protected methionine and lysine did not improve protein efficiency over methionine alone, suggesting MBM contained adequate lysine. Two methods for increasing the flow of methionine to the small intestine are supplementation with a rumen protected form of methionine. or increasing the amount of methionine from MBM that escapes ruminal degradation. While non-enzymatic browning of soybean meal with sulfite liquor has been successful in increasing the escape protein value from 30% to 75%. the value of this procedure in increasing the escape protein of MBM remains undetermined

Corn and Sorghum Distillers Grains for Finishing Cattle

To evaluate corn and sorghum distillers grains in corn-based finishing diets, 60 crossbred, yearling steers were individually fed one of three finishing diets: dry-rolled corn, corn distillers grain or sorghum distillers grain for 127 days. Distillers grains were fed at 30 percent of the dietary dry matter, replacing dry-rolled corn. Distillers grains increased the final weight, daily gain, feed efficiency, hot carcass weight, fat thickness and yield grade compared with the control. Sorghum distillers grains increased dry matter intake and fat thickness compared with corn distillers grains