Response of steers to dry season protein supplementation on improved pastures

1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (88) ◽  
pp. 724
Author(s):  
L Falvey
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Primary Response ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Protein Supplementation ◽  
Protein Supplement ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Increase Water Consumption ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Dry Seasons

A dry season meat-and-bone supplement fed to steers grazing improved legume-based pastures in northern Australia provided a significant liveweight advantage during three out of four dry seasons. An apparent negative response was attributed to a shortage of dry matter. Analyses of blood, bone and pasture samples and correlations of liveweight change with blood and bone measurements indicated the primary response to the supplement was probably to nitrogen. Feeding the supplement did not reduce the total time spent grazing but it did increase water consumption. The potential benefits of a protein supplement on improved pastures are discussed

scholarly journals The economics of phosphorus supplementation of beef cattle grazing northern Australian rangelands

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 683
Author(s):  
M. K. Bowen ◽  
F. Chudleigh ◽  
R. M. Dixon ◽  
M. T. Sullivan ◽  
T. Schatz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Cattle Herd ◽  
Annual Business ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
P Deficiency ◽  
Business Profit ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Land Types

Context Phosphorus (P) deficiency occurs in beef cattle grazing many rangeland regions with low-P soils, including in northern Australia, and may severely reduce cattle productivity in terms of growth, reproductive efficiency and mortality. However, adoption of effective P supplementation by cattle producers in northern Australia is low. This is likely to be due to lack of information and understanding of the profitability of P supplementation where cattle are P-deficient. Aims The profitability of P supplementation was evaluated for two dissimilar regions of northern Australia, namely (1) the Katherine region of the Northern Territory, and (2) the Fitzroy Natural Resource Management (NRM) region of central Queensland. Methods Property-level, regionally relevant herd models were used to determine whole-of-business productivity and profitability over 30 years. The estimated costs and benefits of P supplementation were obtained from collation of experimental data and expert opinion of persons with extensive experience of the industry. The economic consequences of P supplementation at the property level were assessed by comparison of base production without P supplementation with the expected production of P-supplemented herds, and included the implementation phase and changes over time in herd structure. In the Katherine region, it was assumed that the entire cattle herd (breeders and growing cattle) grazed acutely P-deficient land types and the consequences of (1) no P supplementation, or P supplementation during (2) the dry season, or (3) both the wet and dry seasons (i.e. 3 scenarios) were evaluated. In the Fitzroy NRM region, it was assumed that only the breeders grazed P-deficient land types with three categories of P deficiency (marginal, deficient and acutely deficient), each with either (1) no P supplementation, or P supplementation during (2) the wet season, (3) the dry season, or (4) both the wet and dry seasons (i.e. 12 scenarios). Key results In the Katherine region, year-round P supplementation of the entire cattle herd (7400 adult equivalents) grazing acutely P-deficient pasture resulted in a large increase in annual business profit (+AU$500000). Supplementing with P (and N) only in the dry season increased annual business profit by +AU$200000. In the Fitzroy NRM region, P supplementation during any season of the breeder herd grazing deficient or acutely P-deficient pastures increased profit by +AU$2400–AU$45000/annum (total cattle herd 1500 adult equivalents). Importantly, P supplementation during the wet season-only resulted in the greatest increases in profit within each category of P deficiency, comprising +AU$5600, AU$6300 and AU$45000 additional profit per annum for marginal, deficient and acutely P-deficient herds respectively. Conclusions The large economic benefits of P supplementation for northern beef enterprises estimated in the present study substantiate the current industry recommendation that effective P supplementation is highly profitable when cattle are grazing P-deficient land types. Implications The contradiction of large economic benefits of P supplementation and the generally low adoption rates by the cattle industry in northern Australia suggests a need for targeted research and extension to identify the specific constraints to adoption, including potential high initial capital costs.

The influence of weather on the quality of tropical legume pasture during the dry season in northern Australia. III. Effects of digestibility and chemical composition

1989 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 573 ◽  
Author(s):  
RL McCown ◽  
BH Wall
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Mediterranean Climate ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
In Vitro Digestibility ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Pasture Legumes ◽  
Dry Matter Digestibility ◽  
Dry Tropics

In the semi-arid tropics, accumulated shed leaf of certain pasture legumes can provide highly nutritious feed for cattle in the dry season. Previous papers in this series have dealt with the fungal spoilage of leaf of Caribbean stylo in response to dew and unseasonal rainfall and the threat to acceptability by cattle. This paper focuses on the effects of varying degrees of moulding and leaching on dry matter digestibility of leaf of this legume. Uniform leaf material of high digestibility was exposed at six locations during the dry season and samples retrieved at 4-weekly intervals. From initial values of 75%. in vitro digestibility dropped to as low as 50%. Degree of moulding, as indicated by a quantitative index of discoloration, accounted for about 80�/o of loss. Moulding was much more important than leaching. This latter finding in the winter-dry tropics contrasts with previous findings in the summer-dry Mediterranean climate.

Depression of dry-matter and water intake in Boran cattle owing to physiological, volumetric and temporal limitations

1989 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Water Intake ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Bos Indicus ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Physiological Effects ◽  
Food And Water Intake

ABSTRACTDry-matter (DM) intake and water consumption were recorded in Borana cattle (Bos indicus) which were subjected to infrequent watering regimes, prolonged walking and night-enclosure. DM intake and water intake were depressed in cows watered every 2nd day (0·04 and 0·16 respectively) and in cows watered every 3rd day (0·1 and 0·3 respectively) as proportions of the food and water intake of daily watered cows. DM intake was further reduced by proportionately 0·05 as a result of a 40-km walk every 3rd day throughout the dry season and by 0·05 as a result of night-enclosure. Digestibility of food was unaffected by treatments. Water intake increased in some months as a result of walking but not as a result of night-enclosure. It is thought that DM intake was depressed with decreasing frequency of watering owing to the physiological effects of dehydration resulting in inappetence. Water consumption fell owing to the constraint imposed by rumen volume at drinking. Walking and night-enclosure independently reduced DM intake as a result of the greatly decreased time available for grazing.

The influence of weather on the quality of tropical legume pasture during the dry season in northern Australia. IV. Geographic variation in risk of spoilage of standing hay

1989 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 579 ◽  
Author(s):  
BH Wall ◽  
RL McCown
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Considerable Time ◽  
Nutritional Strategy ◽  
Leaf Shedding ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Rate Of Evaporation

This paper assesses the geographic variation in northern Australia of the risk of deterioration to the point of 'spoilage', including both the beneficial and the deleterious effects of rain. The procedure is a modified water balance in which leaf shedding is driven by decline in soil water storage, and moulding is governed by the rate of evaporation following a rainfall of 2 mm or more.For 28 stations, from the West Kimberley to Central Queensland, an average of 40 dry seasons have been analysed for the periods when the legume would have been green, dry but unspoilt, and spoilt. A 'dry leaf' nutritional strategy is feasible where the dry seasons are reliably rainless. Even in regions with a high risk of rain, if green leaf is maintained for a considerable time in the dry season there is also a low risk of spoilage, and the use of non-deciduous legume species in these regions and elsewhere is discussed.

Complementary grazing of native pasture and standing Townsville lucerne in the dry season at Katherine, NT

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (26) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJT Norman ◽  
GA Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Crude Protein ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
High Protein Diet ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
High Protein ◽  
Protein Concentrate ◽  
Native Pasture ◽  
Digestible Crude Protein ◽  
Dry Seasons

In an experiment at Katherine, N.T., in the 1964, 1965, and 1966 dry seasons, Shorthorn steers were grazed on varying proportions of native pasture and standing Townsville lucerne pasture. The treatments were : a native pasture alone ; b Townsville lucerne two days, native pasture five days ; c Townsville lucerne four days, native pasture three days ; d Townsville lucerne alone. Liveweight gain over 16 weeks, from early June to late September, was linearly related to the number of days in the week on Townsville lucerne (21 = -74.9 + 2 7 . 9 � 30.5, where! = gain in lb per head and x = number of days). The results were compared with earlier data from Katherine on dry season supplementation of cattle on native pasture with a high-protein concentrate. In terms of liveweight gain, a weekly fall in dry matter yield of Townsville lucerne of 100 lb per head was equivalent to the consumption of 0.5 lb per head per day of digestible crude protein in concentrate form. Of this quantity of legume, it appeared that approximately two-thirds was consumed and one-third wasted. Periodic sampling of the Townsville lucerne pastures confirmed earlier findings that cattle grazing standing Townsville lucerne in the dry season do not select for a high-protein diet. The pattern of liveweight gain on Townsville lucerne alone, with other evidence, suggested that they do select for a high-energy diet.

Effect of irrigation, nitrogen and defoliation on pangola grass in the dry season at the Ord Valley, north-western Australia

1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (95) ◽  
pp. 825 ◽  
Author(s):  
CG Blunt ◽  
KP Haydock
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Similar Rate ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Nitrogen Recovery ◽  
First Year ◽  
Nitrogen Yield ◽  
Digitaria Decumbens ◽  
Northwestern Australia ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Nitrogen Treatments

The effect of irrigation, cutting and nitrogen treatments on dry matter and nitrogen yield of pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens) growing in a calcareous clay soil in the Ord River Valley of northwestern Australia, was studied. Irrigation treatments ranged from 4-13 irrigations and nitrogen treatments from zero to 630 kg N ha-1 over the 5 months in each of two dry seasons. Cutting treatments to 15 cm at intervals of 2, 3, 6 and 12 weeks were applied only in the first year. In the first year dry matter yield (DM) increased from 3100 to 5200 kg ha-1 with an increase from 5 to 7 irrigations, a change of average daily available moisture from 78 to 107 mm, but there was no further increase from 13 irrigations (1 48 mm). DM increased linearly in the second year as average daily available moisture increased from 61 to 141 mm (4-12 irrigations). DM increased and N per cent decreased as cutting intervals increased. When cut at 2, 3 and 6-week intervals, pangola response in DM to nitrogen applied was linear, but was curvilinear when cut each 12 weeks. Average nitrogen recovery rates improved from 16 per cent to 30 per cent with an increase in nitrogen applied from 123 to 203 kg N ha-1 and remained at a similar rate to 630 kg N ha-1. Increased moisture improved apparent nitrogen recovery linearly to a maximum of 40 per cent at an average daily available moisture of 141 mm and 203-630 kg N ha-1 applied. For both DM and nitrogen yield the response to nitrogen and cutting frequency was proportional to the amount of moisture available. It was concluded that when cutting for hay at the Ord River, efficient use of applied nitrogen would be achieved by irrigating at least every two weeks, cutting about every 6 weeks and applying 250 kg N ha-1 during the dry season.

Studies of the cattle of Northern Rhodesia: I. The growth of steers under normal veld grazing, and supplemented with salt and protein

1957 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Action ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Protein Supplementation ◽  
Protein Supplement ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Indigenous Cattle ◽  
Nutritional Conditions ◽  
Salt Level

1. With steers of indigenous cattle, the supplementation of veld grazing with two levels of salt with and without protein in the dry season has been investigated.2. The feeding of 1 oz. of salt speeded up growth to a strongly significant degree, but under the experimental conditions no benefit was obtained during the dry season from adding a protein supplement to the salt. Protein supplementation without salt produced no significant effects upon growth.3. The addition of 2 oz. of supplementary salt was found to give some increase in growth when compared with the control, but appeared to exert an inhibitory action as compared with the lower salt level, and again there was no benefit gained from the addition of a protein supplement in the dry season. No reason can yet be given for this.4. Additional evidence has been given to support the suggestion that the tropical indigenous animal possesses the capacity to stop growing during adverse nutritional conditions.

Season and plant type affect the response of rice yield to nitrogen fertilisation in a semi-arid tropical environment

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Borrell ◽  
A. L. Garside ◽  
S. Fukai ◽  
D. J. Reid
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Harvest Index ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Dry Matter Production ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Plant Type ◽  
Matter Production ◽  
Early Maturing ◽  
Semi Arid

Production of flooded direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) in semi-arid tropical regions of northern Australia would be enhanced by increasing the efficiency of fertiliser nitrogen (N) use. Short-statured and early-maturing genotypes have replaced the taller and later genotypes in northern Australia, and they may respond differently to N. This paper reports the results of 4 experiments comparing the response of 3 rice genotypes differing in maturity and stature to 5 rates of applied nitrogen (0, 70, 140, 210, and 280 kg/ha) over 4 seasons (2 wet and 2 dry seasons) in the Burdekin River Irrigation Area, northern Australia. Grain yield varied among seasons and was negatively correlated with average daily mean temperature during the 30-day period before anthesis. The response of yield to N fertilisation was generally higher in the dry season. Panicle number was correlated with grain yield in both seasons, yet responded to N fertilisation only in the dry season. In 3 of 4 experiments, grain yield responded to the application of up to 70 kg N/ha, yielding about 750 g/m2. In only 1 dry season experiment did grain yield respond to the application of 140 kg N/ha, yielding about 930 g/m2. In this experiment, the response of grain yield to N rate also varied among genotypes such that yield in the early-maturing genotypes (Newbonnet and Lemont) was more responsive to N rates above 70 kg/ha than in the late-maturing genotype (Starbonnet). Of the 3 genotypes examined, highest yields were attained in Newbonnet (early-maturing, medium-statured) by combining high total dry matter production with high harvest index, indicating that this plant type may have an advantage in northern Australia. Yields in Lemont (early-maturing, short-statured) and Starbonnet (late-maturing, tall-statured) were limited by dry matter production and harvest index, respectively. There is some evidence that increased dry matter production in Newbonnet compared with Lemont was related to increased stem length. The evidence linking high harvest index with increased earliness in Newbonnet compared with Starbonnet is less compelling.

Seasonal nutrient intake and phosphorus kinetics of grazing steers in northern Australia

1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
RE Hendricksen ◽  
JH Ternouth ◽  
LD Punter
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Intake ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Native Grass ◽  
Grazed Pastures ◽  
P Fertilizer ◽  
Grass Growth ◽  
Kinetics Of

The growth of Bos indicus cross-steers grazing native grass and native grass-legume (Stylosanthes scabra cv. Seca) pastures was monitored for 392 days in five unreplicated experimental paddocks, each grazed by three steers. Two phosphorus (P) fertilizer rates: F1, 4-5 kgP/ha every 2 years and F2, 9.0 kgP/ha annually, together with an unfertilized control, FO, were studied. P supplement was supplied to cattle in two additional paddocks (FOS and F1S) at the rate of 5 gP/ha/day-l. In the dry, wet and late wet seasons, pasture yield and pasture component yield were measured. At the same time, the nutrient intake and P kinetics of resident steers were measured using chromic oxide capsules and intravenous injections of 32P . Additional non-resident steers, fistulated at the oesophagus, grazed the pastures intermittently to provide estimates of dry matter digestibility, fibre, nitrogen (N) and P content of the selected diet. Phosphorus fertilizer increased legume and native grass growth which resulted in more dry matter containing higher concentrations of P and N than unfertilized pastures. Both P fertilizer and supplement increased dry matter intake and liveweight gain of cattle. During the experimental period of 13 months, steers which grazed pastures that received the (F2) fertilizer treatment gained on average 0.43 kg/day compared with 0.19 kg/day for those which grazed unfertilized FO pastures. Supplementation increased wet season liveweight gain from 0.45 to 0.59 kg/day and 0.46 to 0.73 kg/day for FO and F1 treatments respectively. Only cattle which grazed pastures that received the F1S and F2 treatments gained weight in the dry season. Nitrogen was the primary nutrient limiting cattle growth from unfertilized pastures in the dry season, but when pastures were fertilized (4.5 kgP/ha every 2 years) and legumes established, P was the primary limiting nutrient. Intakes of P ranged from 7 to 35 mg/kg LW and were lower than those recommended by recognized authorities for the steer growth rates we recorded. Both the absorption and faecal excretion of dietary P were closely related to P intake. Endogenous faecal P values varied with P intake in the range 9-22 mg/kg liveweight. Endogenous faecal P was also related to dry matter intake and plasma inorganic P. The coefficient of P absorption was lowest (0.65) for steers grazing unfertilized native pasture (FO), but increased with P intake to 0.85 for steers grazing the F1S treatment. We conclude that the P requirements of growing cattle grazing native grass and native grass-legume pastures in northern Australia are about half those recommended by most authorities.

Supplementation of finishing Nellore steers during dry season using byproducts

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 ◽  
pp. 119-119
Author(s):  
A. A. Souza ◽  
C. Boin ◽  
A. J. Lourenço ◽  
M. Q. Manella ◽  
L. Suguisawa
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Carcass Characteristics ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Protein Supplementation ◽  
Tropical Pasture ◽  
Animal Performance ◽  
Cattle Production ◽  
Nellore Cattle ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Beef Cattle Production

Beef cattle production based in tropical pasture has a period of low daily weight gains during dry seasons, because the lowest quality and quantity pastures in this period. This study evaluated the effects of protein supplementation in animal performance and carcass characteristics of Nellore cattle on tropical pasture.

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