scholarly journals Demonstrating control of forage allowance for beef cattle grazing Campos grassland in Uruguay to improve system productivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Do Carmo ◽  
Gerónimo Cardozo ◽  
Martín Jaurena ◽  
Pablo Soca
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
System Productivity ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Forage Intake ◽  
Energy Supplementation ◽  
Cattle Systems ◽  
Physical Output

While low-cost technology can be applied within beef cattle systems to improve economic output and decrease economic risk, methodologies to increase adoption by farmers deserve attention. Here we report 4 case studies where low-cost, high-impact technology was applied on commercial farms in an endeavor to demonstrate increased physical output in what we describe as 'Producer Demonstration Sites'. Forage allowance (FA) affects forage growth, forage intake by animals and energy partitioning to maintenance or production. We decided to demonstrate the benefits to production from controlling forage allowance at specific recommended levels. While we focused on FA, other management tools, e.g. suckling restriction and energy supplementation of cows prior to breeding, were tested in different contexts and time periods to improve the critical responses mentioned. While increases in production from 3 of the farms were demonstrated, only 2 of the farmers showed interest in implementing the strategies on their farms subsequently. We conclude that control of forage allowance improved energy intake. For this approach to be successful and increase adoption, it is important to involve the farmers in discussions regarding the proposed changes from the outset as well as the monitoring of progress during the demonstration.

scholarly journals Evolution in Configuration and Productivity of New Zealand Hill Country Sheep and Beef Cattle Systems

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 531
Author(s):  
Januarius Gobilik ◽  
Stephen Todd Morris ◽  
Cory Matthew
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Feed Conversion ◽  
Feed Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
Cattle Systems

Metabolic energy budgeting (MEB) was used to evaluate evolution over 30 years (1980–1981 to 2010–2011) in New Zealand southern North Island ‘hill country’ sheep and beef cattle systems. MEB calculates energy required by animals for body weight maintenance, weight gain or loss, pregnancy, and lactation to estimate the system feed demand and thereby provide a basis for calculating feed conversion efficiency. Historic production systems were reconstructed and modeled using averaged data from industry surveys and data from owners’ diaries of three case-study farms and reviewed for patterns of change over time. The modeling indicated that pasture productivity was 11% lower and herbage harvested was 14% lower in 2010–2011 than in the early 1980s. This productivity decline is attributable to warmer, drier summer weather in recent years. However, primarily through increased lambing percentage, feed conversion efficiency based on industry data improved over the study period from 25 to 19 kg feed consumed per kg lamb weaned, while meat production rose from 137 to 147 kg per ha per year. Similar improvements were observed for the three case farms. The New Zealand MEB model was found effective for analysis of tropical beef production systems in Sabah, Malaysia.

From Low Cost to Global Leadership: Computime (Hong Kong) Leads Through Innovation

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Robert C. Wolcott ◽  
Michael J. Lippitz
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Contract Manufacturing ◽  
Family Enterprises ◽  
Professional Management

The case describes the evolution between 1999 and 2008 of a family-owned contract manufacturing company into a publicly traded, US$400 million global firm. The son of the founder, Bernie Auyung, assumed the CEO position with the company during this period and has worked with his father to build a broader, professional management team. In the process the company has applied a range of leading-edge innovation management and strategy tools that put it far ahead of most Chinese peer companies. Computime provides an exceptional model for other companies in developing countries looking to evolve from a low-cost competitor into a global leading company with its own technologies and brands. Students are asked to assume Bernie's role and suggest the path forward. The teaching note describes what the team actually did, and addresses the questions raised at the end of the case.Computime provides an exceptional example of how to evolve from an entrepreneur-led startup competing on low cost and the vision of the founder to a global, professionally managed company listed on a major exchange (the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in this case). Students are also able to explore a company in the process of instituting many of the leading innovation management tools described in classes focused on innovation management. The case would also be quite valuable for classes focused on the challenges facing family enterprises that must evolve beyond the control of a visionary founder. It resonates particularly well with students in developing economies both in Asia and beyond.

scholarly journals Infrastructure Stakeholders’ Perspective in Development and Implementation of New Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Technologies for Maintenance and Management of Transportation Infrastructure

2019 ◽  
Vol 271 ◽  
pp. 01010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilendra Maharjan ◽  
Marlon Agüero ◽  
Chris Lippitt ◽  
Fernando Moreu
Keyword(s):  
Structural Health Monitoring ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Structural Health ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Infrastructure Maintenance

Infrastructure is the backbone of the US economy and a necessary input to every economic output [1]. The cost of infrastructure maintenance and management demands significant expense for government and private companies. Infrastructure owners want to increase efficiency and improve their bottom-line from existing infrastructure rather than building new ones [2]. One of the significant challenges for the engineering community has been adopting new technologies such as low-cost wireless smart sensors, augmented reality, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). To receive first-hand insight from infrastructure owners, industry professionals and researchers, a workshop entitled ‘Infrastructure, Maintenance and Management Using New Technology’ was conducted in Fort Worth, Texas. In this paper the findings from the workshop are discussed. Stakeholders highlighted safety of the bridge inspectors as the priority in the maintenance and management work. Based on the findings of this workshop it now clear that adopting new technologies leads to higher safety for field inspectors. Key aspects include importance of new technologies for obtaining actionable data for maintenance and management, owner’s perspectives on development of future technologies, current research progress and challenges faced by infrastructure industry in implementing new technologies are presented.

scholarly journals A Low-Cost IoT-Based System to Monitor the Location of a Whole Herd

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 2298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Maroto-Molina ◽  
Jorge Navarro-García ◽  
Karen Príncipe-Aguirre ◽  
Ignacio Gómez-Maqueda ◽  
José E. Guerrero-Ginel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Beef Cows ◽  
Wireless Data ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Positioning Systems ◽  
Gps Collars ◽  
Wireless Data Transmission ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
The Cost

Animal location technologies have evolved considerably in the last 60 years. Nowadays, animal tracking solutions based on global positioning systems (GPS) are commercially available. However, existing devices have several constraints, mostly related to wireless data transmission and financial cost, which make impractical the monitorization of all the animals in a herd. The main objective of this work is to develop a low-cost solution to enable the monitorization of a whole herd. An IoT-based system, which requires some animals of the herd being fitted with GPS collars connected to a Sigfox network and the rest with low-cost Bluetooth tags, has been developed. Its performance has been tested in two commercial farms, raising sheep and beef cattle, through the monitorization of 50 females in each case. Several collar/tag ratios, which define the cost per animal of the solution, have been simulated. Results demonstrate that a low collar/tag ratio enable the monitorization of a whole sheep herd. A larger ratio is needed for beef cows because of their grazing behavior. Nevertheless, the optimal ratio depends on the purpose of location data. Large variability has been observed for the number of hourly and daily messages from collars and tags. The system effectiveness for the monitorization of all the animals in a herd has been certainly proved.

Influence of Lasalocid Level on Forage Intake, Digestibility, Ruminal Fermentation, Liquid Flow and Performance of Beef Cattle Grazing Winter Range1

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 777-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Jacques ◽  
R. C. Cochran ◽  
L. R. Corah ◽  
T. B. Avery ◽  
K. O. Zoellner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Liquid Flow ◽  
Cattle Grazing ◽  
Ruminal Fermentation ◽  
Fermentation Liquid ◽  
Forage Intake ◽  
And Performance

Use of delactose whey permeate as a supplement for cattle on a cereal straw based diet

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 833 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Friend ◽  
A. G. Kaiser ◽  
J. W. Piltz ◽  
M. N. Sillence ◽  
S. K. Jolliffe
Keyword(s):  
Energy Content ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Whey Permeate ◽  
Once Daily ◽  
Energy Supplement ◽  
Storage Study ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Diet Intake ◽  
Solids Content ◽  
And Storage

The potential use of delactose whey permeate (delac) as an energy supplement for cattle offered low quality roughage was investigated. Young steers (initial liveweight 267 kg) were fed delac at 0, 0.25, 0.5 or 0.75% of liveweight. The steers had ad libitum access to oaten straw and were fed a protein supplement (cottonseed meal) at 1.33 kg/head once daily with the delac. Total intakes increased with increasing levels of delac. During the first half of the experiment, cattle offered delac had higher intakes than those not offered delac, but intake did not differ between delac supplemented groups. Furthermore, liveweight gain did not differ between groups. In the second half of the experiment, intake and liveweight gain increased with increasing level of delac in the diet. Intake of oaten straw over the whole experiment was greater with 0.25% delac than with no delac, but declined at higher levels of delac as animals substituted delac for straw in the diet. A storage study, conducted over 6 weeks, indicated a higher rate of microbial spoilage in delac with a lower solids content, however pH remained low. Calculations, based on the actual liveweight, liveweight gain and feed intake results, indicate that delac has a metabolisable energy content of about 11 MJ/kg DM. These results indicate that delac has potential as an energy supplement for cattle on low quality roughage diets and could be used on commercial farms if composition (especially solids content) is consistent and storage issues are addressed. Further investigations into the use of delac, in combination with low cost nitrogen supplements such as urea, are also recommended.

Effects of time and level of energy supplementation on intake and digestibility of low-quality tall fescue hay by sheep

1992 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Howard ◽  
R. B. Muntifering ◽  
M. M. Howard ◽  
M. G. Hayek
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Tall Fescue ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Nutrient Digestibility ◽  
Substitution Effects ◽  
Ruminal Ph ◽  
Acid Detergent Fibre ◽  
Forage Intake ◽  
Energy Supplementation ◽  
High Level

Effects of time and level of energy supplementation on forage intake, nutrient digestibility and ruminal pH were investigated with sheep fed low-quality tall fescue hay either alone (control; C) or supplemented (S) with concentrate at 10 (low; L) or 20% (high; H) of ad libitum forage intake; supplement was offered at 08:00 or 15:00 h. Supplementation increased (P < 0.05) digestible dry matter intake (DMI), total tract organic matter digestibility, N intake, and N digestibility, but decreased (P < 0.05) mean and minimum ruminal pH compared with C. Offering supplement at 08:00 h increased (P < 0.05) forage and total DMI, N intake, fecal N excretion and maximum ruminal pH, but lowered (P < 0.05) total tract digestibility of acid detergent fibre (ADF) and organic matter, and mean and minimum ruminal pH compared with 15:00 h. A high level of supplementation increased (P < 0.10) digestible DMI, postruminal digestion of neutral detergent fibre (NDF), and hemicellulose (HC), but lowered (P < 0.01) ruminal digestion of HC and NDF (P < 0.10), mean ruminal pH (P < 0.10) and total tract ADF digestion (P < 0.05) compared with L. These data suggest that the substitution effects of concentrate feeding on forage intake can be mitigated by changing the time of day when supplement is offered in relation to forage. Key words: Supplementary feeding, feed intake, digestibility, sheep

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