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Beef Cattle Nutrition
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Ruminally cannulated steers were used in two experiments to study effects of rumen ammonia load on methionine and leucine utilization. All steers were limit-fed a diet based on soybean hulls, received ruminal infusions of volatile fatty acids and abomasal infusions of glucose to provide energy, and received an abomasal infusion containing a mixture of all essential amino acids except methionine in Exp. 1 or leucine in Exp. 2. Treatments were arranged as 3 × 2 factorials and included urea...
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With the current high costs for feed, fuel, and fertilizer, there is a renewed emphasis on utilizing low-cost feedstuffs to put weight on calves. Feedlot operators are looking to place heavier cattle on feed to shorten the finishing period, so it is left to cow/calf producers and backgrounders to determine the best way to put extra pounds on calves prior to entry into the feedlot. In a recent Minnesota Farm Guide article, Dr. Ryon Walker of the U of M Beef Team detailed backgrounding...
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This is an excellent time of year to make sure that your mineral-vitamin program is on target. Adequate mineral-vitamin nutrition is vital in optimizing animal growth, lactation, reproductive function and immune response. As Figure 1 illustrates, clinical sins of mineral deficiencies may only be obvious after the mineral status of an animal has dropped below threshold levels that may have affected response to vaccination, immunity to disease and parasite challenges, growth and...
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Corn gluten feed (CGF) is a co-product from the wet-corn milling industry that manufactures starch, sweeteners, syrup, and oil from corn (Weigel et al). Corn gluten feed is readily available in the southeastern USA and its price has been favorable when compared to other feeds. Corn gluten feed is a good feed for beef cattle; however, producers should be aware of some potential problems with this feedstuff. Utilizing Corn Gluten...
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FIGAP 2026: The Scientific And Technological Exhibition Of The Livestock Industry
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After salt and supplementation of magnesium oxide in grass tetany areas, mineral supplementation programs can vary. Soils mineral profiles impact mineral profile in the forage and therefore impact the minerals that need supplemented. Also, forage maturity impact mineral composition. The 1996 NRC for Beef Cattle suggests there are at least 17 minerals required by beef cattle. There are minerals that interact with one-another and therefore impact their utilization and these need to be factored...
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Growth-promoting implants are a well-established technology in the beef business. For more than 30 years some of these products have been available to improve growth and feed efficiency in cattle. A great deal of the more recent product development has been with implants designed for use in feedlot steers and heifers. However, there are a few implant products that are approved for use and will effectively work in calves prior to the time of weaning. The use of all of the implant products...
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Continuous abomasal infusion of 15N-Lys to determine metabolizable Lys supply and Lys utilization for milk protein synthesis in dairy cows
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Feeding programs for beef cows this winter may use higher levels of grain or grain byproducts because the amount of hay available is limited. Hay can be fed at as low as ½% of body weight each day, which converts to 6 or 7 pounds of hay daily, if the hay supply is extremely limited. It is more likely that hay will be fed at 1% of the body weight of cows, or more. Even at this level, though, grain or grain byproducts will be needed to provide a fair portion of the nutrition of the diet. Diets of...
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A champion steer is the product of good breeding, good management, correct feeding, and proper fitting and showing. You must begin a well-planned feeding program as early as possible to produce 4-H show steers successfully. What you feed is not as important as how you feed it, so long as you provide the essential nutrients. Begin feeding your baby calf as early as possible. Many calves will eat grain at 6 weeks of age. It is best to let your calf run in the pasture with its dam...
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Technical Advances in Vitamin Physical Properties and Premix Performance
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Cattle producers frequently seek low-cost feed alternatives, especially when traditional feeds are expensive. Many of these "alternative" feeds are by-products (or co-products) and waste products from the processing of various food and fiber crops, or crop residues. These alternative feeds can fit into a feeding program as the primary roughage, as a supplement to a regular ration, or as a replacement for part of the ration. Listed below are factors that one should keep in mind when...
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Minerals are essential for proper bodily functions. Problems may arise when the feeds do not supply enough to meet the animal's requirements. This may occur because the feed is low in minerals, the availability of the mineral is low or another mineral or nutrient is interfering with the ability of the animal to absorb or utilize the mineral. Macro-Elements Macro-elements are those required in relatively large amounts. This group...
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Meeting the basic nutrient requirements of beef cows is a key component of meeting cow herd production and profitability goals for the beef cattle enterprise. Adequate nutrition is vital for adequate cow reproduction, cow and calf health, and growth of all classes of cattle. Nutrient requirements of cattle change throughout the year based upon stage of the production cycle, age, sex, breed, level of activity, pest load, and environment. All of the previous factors mentioned have an additive...
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Slow or incomplete digestion of fibrous substrates often limits the overall digestive process in the rumen and can significantly influence animal performance in livestock production systems that use forages as a major component of the diet. As a result, many strategies have been developed to stimulate the digestion of the fibrous components in ruminant feeds. These have included the use of specific nutrients which stimulate fiber digestion, processing feeds to increase the rate and...
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The most common problems in bovine medicine are multi-factorial in nature. Beef cattle herds typically experience postnatal maladjustment syndrome, neonatal diarrhoea, respiratory problems, dermatological problems (mange), myopathies (skeletal and cardiac muscles, congenital myopathy of the tongue) and fertility problems. Such problems are best treated by prevention, which proves more economical and better preserves health. Vitamin and trace element deficiencies are frequently...
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Nutritional deficiencies of selenium (Se) in ruminants result in whitemuscle disease (Muth et al., 1958), loss of glutathione peroxidase activity and selenoproteinW (Yeh et al., 1997), and suppression of immunity (Yamini and Mullaney, 1985). Newborn ruminants are dependent upon the dam for selenium transfer via the placenta or mammary gland. Because feeds grown in many areas of the world are deficient in selenium for livestock, selenium supplementation is often necessary. Methods...
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Two levels of chromium (Cr) yeast, 0.2 ppm and 0.4 ppm, were fed in a typical feedlot ration to supply approximately 1.8 and 3.1 mg Cr per head per day to feedlot steers in a university research feedlot on the southern High Plains of Texas for 196 days. Average daily gain, dry matter intake and feed efficiency were not affected by the 0.2 ppm treatment; however, the 0.4 ppm treatment reduced average daily gain and dry matter intake while increasing the feed:gain ratio. Cattle...
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The use of enzymes in feedlot diets has not been evaluated extensively, and most of the research with high concentrate diets has been done with barley. Beauchemin et al. (1997) evaluated the addition of two enzyme mixtures that varied in the proportion of xylanase and cellulase activity to 95.1% concentrate feedlot diets based on either barley or corn. Feed efficiency for the overall finishing period was improved approximately 11% with a highxylanase activity enzyme treatment of barley...
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FIGAP 2026: The Scientific And Technological Exhibition Of The Livestock Industry
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Over the last two decades, our enhanced understanding of the role of yeast cultures in animal diets has resulted in the development of a group of scientifically proven supplements that enhance animal performance and improve animal health. Intense research efforts have attempted to understand the basic mechanisms, which account for the beneficial effects of yeast cultures in many groups of animals. However, the most successful basic research programs have examined the effects of yeast cultures...
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Selenium (Se) is an essential nutrient for humans and livestock. Beef cattle have a general requirement of 0.1 mg/kg of selenium in the diet (NRC, 1996). Many regions of the United States have soils that are low in Se. Because forage and feedstuff Se concentrations vary with soil Se concentrations, the Se status of US cattle herds is highly variable. Across the country 18.2% of the cows and heifers have blood Se concentrations that are considered low or marginal (Dargatz and Ross,...
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Continuous abomasal infusion of 15N-Lys to determine metabolizable Lys supply and Lys utilization for milk protein synthesis in dairy cows
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Selenium (Se) deficiency in grazing and forage-fed cattle is widespread in the United States as well as in other countries (Kubota et al., 1967; Carter et al., 1968; van Vleet, 1980). As an integral part of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), selenium functions to prevent oxidative damage to body tissues (Hoekstra, 1974). Also, selenium deficiencies can inhibit the immunoglobulin G (IgG) response to in vivo challenges with sheep red blood cells (Mulhern et al., 1985) and the...
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Effects of vitamin E level and selenium supplement form on performance and carcass characteristics were evaluated in a completely randomized design involving 96 Angus crossbred steers (374 kg). Two sources of dietary selenium, sodium selenite and organic selenium (Sel-Plex selenium yeast, Alltech Inc.) added at 0.3 mg Se/kg and three levels of vitamin E (500, 250, and 125 IU/head/day) were evaluated over a 103 day finishing period. Steers were divided into six equal groups and fed diets based...
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