nutrition 4

for finishing beef you can finish using

grain and/or grass/high quality roughages

beef are finished and fed

according to weight and class

a decrease in temperature is an

increase in food intake

an increase in temp is a

decrease in intake

at what temperature does thermoneutrality happen

59-77 which means there is no change in food ingestion

in the SE there is not much

thermoneutrality due to high temps so we feed less due to less ingestion

the southeast is in what temp zone

95 or higher with no night cooling

environmental temp is also very important for

horses

for beef cattle hierarchy there are usually no

maintenance or work animals under production

growth production includes what beef cattle

calves, bulls, heifers, steer, feed lot

fattening beef cattle include

feed lot cattle, steer, heifers

milk production includes

lactating cows and first calf heifers

reproduction inlcudes

cows, bulls, first calf heifers

what are the goals of feeding beef cattle

optimize microbial health

what are feedlot goals

growth and fattening

day 0

calves

6 months

wean

12-15 months

puberty / sexual maturity

at what stage should cattle be bred

12-15 months (puberty)

a calf takes

9 months to grow before birthing

when does first calf happen

24 months (15 - puberty + 9 for calf to bake)

lactation stops in

6 months

at 30 months their

milk is dry (24 at start of calving it takes 6 months for milk to stop)

lactation peak happens at

60-90 days after calving so 26-27 months

for a FCH when should you rebreed

2-3 months after calving

Rebreeding usually happens at

peak lactation so around 26-27 months

the second calf would happen at

35 months

what are the 3 groups of breeding age females

heifers, lactating cows, dry cows

the 3 groups of breeding females should

ideally be separated in pastures

why should the 3 groups of breeding females be separated

because they all have different nutrient requirements

if you could only separate 2 groups out of the 3, which would you put together

the first calf heifers and lactating cows because they both have very high nutrient reqs. Dry cows do not need much so you would be wasting money

heifer jobs include

growing, becoming pregnant, mammary development, lactation, and brain development

what is the stage between mammary development and lactation

lactogenesis

since nutrient reqs are so high for heifers, if they are underfed

they can either be unsuccessful with breeding, lose babies, or have stunted growth

lactating cows have the

highest nutrient reqs on the farm

when do nutrient reqs peak for lactation cows

at peak lactation (60-90 days) plus they have to rebreed here too

dry cows can be

pregnant or no calf

dry cows have the

lowest nutrient reqs on the farm

when do dry cows nutrient reqs go up

during the 3rd trimester when the baby grows a lot

what can happen when you overfeed dry cows

dystocia (birth problems), can make them fat which causes this too

a first calf heifer at 16 months has

higher CP and TDN reqs

when are there spikes in CP and TDN requirements

1st calf at 24 months, rebreeding and lactation peak at 26 months, second calf

when do CP and TDN reqs go down

at 30 months - weaning

calf nutrition for 0-6 mo is dependent on

the dams nutrition and decreases with age because of increased roughage consumption and decreased milk consumption

3 months past weaning is when some people do

creep feeding to add weaning weight

why can creep feeding become unprofitable

you are paying a lot more in feed than what the calf is gaining

75 pounds of feed for

one pound of gain

when would creep feeding be a bad idea

when cattle prices are down or if feed prices are high

what is creep feeding

gates that prevent cows from reaching calves food

the gates in creep feeding prevent

the cows from reaching the higher quality roughages that the calves need

forage creep feeder

calves can get through gate to reach better forage (cheaper and develops ruminal environment)

stocker/backgrounding calves are an

optional segement

stocker/backgrounders have a

roughage based diet so they can put on more weight before the feedlot to sell for more

the goal of stocker backgrounders is to

put on weight for cheap

breeding bulls have

high nutrient reqs due to muscle mass and require some grain

breeding bulls have

tons of variability due to size, age, rate of gain

bull tests are

bad because it is meant to feed the bull lots and turning them back out to grass stresses them out and can cause severe weight loss

feedlots typically use

corn, silage, ground hay (fiber), DDG, SBM, mineral all for fattening

feedlots use hay because

cattle need a minimum of 1% per bodyweight per head per day because of microbes

what are the 2 most concerning nutrition things at a feedlot

feed consumption, metabolic disorders

metabolic disorders include

lactic acidosis (happens in transition period)

transition phase

is the final finishing diet

during the transition phase it can be up to

90% concentrate so to get cattle to grow 10-20% over 21-28 days

70% of feedlots only do

1-55% concentrate so very few push cattle to high concentrate levels

lactic acidosis

costliest feedlot disease coming from overconsumption of digestible CHO’s

lactic acidosis can be either

acute (obvious) or subacute (unnoticable)

lactic acidosis and ruminal pH

amylolitic bacteria eat starch (corn) and produce lactic acid (lower pH) while cellulolytic like a neutral pH. This kills off cellulolytic bacteria

lactic acidosis drops the pH so much that it

eats lining of stomach which becomes inflamed and creates holes that leak out into blood then the liver has to detox it

how is the liver affected during lactic acidosis

it gets pus pockets because it is trying to wall off the infection with abscesses,

what is the #1 disease in feedlots

lactic acidosis because they try to fatten cattle up with just corn

similarities between horses and ruminants

rely on microbial digestion, have higher nutrient requirements, need roughage

differences between ruminants and horses

horses ferment in their hindgut, horses work, cannot have baleage/silage due to colic

a horses stomach only takes up

9% of their digestive tract (very small)

a horses stomach pH is

7-1.5

why do horses need to eat small frequent meals

because their stomach is so acidic that when there is nothing in it, it will begin to eat itself

horses teeth need floated because

they chew in circular motions so they wear unevenly, and they are constantly growing

cardiac sphincter in horses

prevents vomiting but they can still regurgitate if they have muscle paralysis

why don’t horses need a gallbladder

because their diet is under 20% fat (gallbladder digests fat)

hard keepers

hard to put and keep weight on. easy keepers are opposite

why shouldn’t you feed self feeding concentrates to horses

they do not know when to stop eating so they can die from eating too much of one thing

what are the 3 biggest things that activity influences

water, energy, salt

supplement feedtypes are not

required

what are similarities with higher nutrient requirements

both cows andhroses have growing, breeding, lactating, and in-tact males

processing or pelletizing can be good or bad because

it affects the rate of passage

supplement feed options are

not required but in lots of commercial feeds. lots of supplements are jsut marketing tactics

when feeding supplements, not more than

.5% body weight per feeding and ideally given twice a day and you must monitor starch intake

explain least cost formulation

whatever ingredient they use the most of, they can swap it out without legally having ot change the label. EX “grain products” on the label can mean corn grain or barley grain so if corn prices go up they swap it out with barley

explain fixed cost formulations

ACTUAL ingredients are listed so the price fluctuates with the price of whatever grain is being used

oat characteristics

lower digestible energy, high fiber (goof) , palatable, expensive

corn characteristics

twice as much DE (not great) because it causes obesity/laminitis due to overfeeding

sorghum characteristics

not popular, high DE, low fiber. it is up and coming due to low inputs

textured feeds typically have

pellets plus coarse textured grain

most sweet feeds are

textured and cheap

sweet feeds tend to be

least cost and made with roughage products which makes them cheaper

senior feeds are higher in

fat since seniors cant chew that well and have a hard time keeping weight on

why is CP labeled on the front of the bag

it is what many people look for; higher protein means a company can charge more; marketing

why is too much protein considered bad

because if the horse is not using it, the kidneys have to process it and it comes out in urine

why do exercising horses usually need less protein

because they have better protein synthesis

CP requirements are around 1-12% depending on work, so

even bahiagrass covers CP requirements

which forage has the highest protein

white clover since it is a legume