Influence of frequency of energy supplementation on utilization of early-summer, tallgrass prairie forage

Fifteen ruminally cannulated beef steers were used in a pasture supplementation experiment to determine the effects of frequency of energy supplementation on intake and digestion of tallgrass prairie forage during early to mid-summer. Steers grazed a common pasture and were assigned to the following treatments: no supplement (control); 4 lb rolled sorghum grain/head/day; 9.3 lb grain/head/3 times weekly. Steers in the two supplemented groups consumed the same amount of sorghum grain/head/week. In general, supplementation was not harmful (P =.17) to forage intake. However, providing supplement 3 times weekly tended (P =.11) to depress forage intake compared with daily supplementation. Although supplementation tended (P =.07) to cause selection of less fiber in the diet, total forage digestion tended (P<.07) to be depressed by supplementation. However, total diet organic matter digestibility was not significantly altered by treatment, probably because of the impact of the highly digestible supplement. Based on trends in intake and grazed forage selection, achieving optimal benefit from supplementation of cattle grazing relatively high-quality forage appears more likely when its provided daily rather than 3 times weekly

Influence of frequency of supplementation and protein concentration in supplements on digestion characteristics of beef steers offered wheat straw

Eight ruminally cannulated steers were used to determine digestion characteristics of soybean meal/sorghum grain supplements containing 12%, 20%, 30%, or 39% crude protein (CP) fed either daily (7X) or three times weekly (3X). The basal forage was wheat straw. Weekly supplement intake was the same per week (30.5 lb) for both frequency groups. The effect of feeding supplements differing in protein concentration on wheat straw intake and dry matter digestibility (DMD) did not depend on frequency of supplementation. Increased frequency of supplementation resulted in greater intake of straw, although DMD was slightly depressed. Increasing protein concentration in the supplements was associated with increases in both straw intake and DMD

Influence of method of processing supplemental alfalfa on intake and utilization of dormant, bluestem-range forage by beef steers

A digestion trial was conducted to determine the effect of method of processing supplemental alfalfa on the intake and utilization of dormant, bluestem-range forage. Supplement treatments were 1) control: no supplement; 2) ground and pelleted, suncured alfalfa; 3) ground and pelleted dehydrated alfalfa; and 4) longstem alfalfa hay. Bluestem forage intake (% BW), diet digestibility, and ruminal dry matter fill 4 hours after feeding were increased (P<.10) when supplemental alfalfa was fed, compared with no supplementation. Little difference was evident among different forms of supplemental alfalfa for most of the forage utilization characteristics measured. However, a weak trend (P=.18) was observed for increased intake of bluestem forage by the steers supplemented with dehydrated alfalfa pellets compared with suncured alfalfa pellets

Effect of level of supplemental alfalfa and its method of processing on intake and utilization of wheat straw

Sixteen ruminally fistulated steers were used to study the effects of supplemental alfalfa level (.25 or 1.0% body weight [BW]) and method of processing (hay or pellets) on wheat straw utilization. Response to increased level of supplemental alfalfa did not dependent on method of processing (longstem vs pelleted) for the quality of alfalfa (22.7% CP) used in this trial. Increasing the level of alfalfa from .25 to 1.0% of BW reduced (P#.02) straw intake and diet digestibility, but increased (P<.002) digestible dry matter intake by steers. With high quality hay, ground and pelleted alfalfa elicits the same type of response as longstem alfalfa