Publication Date

1993

Description

Three oesophageal fistulated Hereford steers (average live weight 304 kg) were supplemented throughout a trial at 0, 0.7 or 1.4% of live weight, with a mixture of 90% ground maize and 10% sunflower expeller. Adaptation and sampling periods were 7 and 4 days respectively. Steers were allocated randomly to 4 Agropyron•dominated pastures of 1800, 2000, 8200 and 8900 kg OM/ha and leaf percentage of 5.8, 28.9, 23.2 and 14.0, respectively. Fistula samples were taken once daily, air dried at 60°C and analysed. Supplementation significantly (P<0.05) affected DM digestibility, which was 51.3, 54.7 and 57.2 for 0, 0.7 and 1.4% levels, respectively. Nitrogen and cell wall content differences were not detected. It appears that supplemented steers preferred pasture components with the highest digestibility.

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Effect of Supplementation on Pasture Selection by Grazing Steers. I. Quality of Ingested Forage

Three oesophageal fistulated Hereford steers (average live weight 304 kg) were supplemented throughout a trial at 0, 0.7 or 1.4% of live weight, with a mixture of 90% ground maize and 10% sunflower expeller. Adaptation and sampling periods were 7 and 4 days respectively. Steers were allocated randomly to 4 Agropyron•dominated pastures of 1800, 2000, 8200 and 8900 kg OM/ha and leaf percentage of 5.8, 28.9, 23.2 and 14.0, respectively. Fistula samples were taken once daily, air dried at 60°C and analysed. Supplementation significantly (P<0.05) affected DM digestibility, which was 51.3, 54.7 and 57.2 for 0, 0.7 and 1.4% levels, respectively. Nitrogen and cell wall content differences were not detected. It appears that supplemented steers preferred pasture components with the highest digestibility.