Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In grazing systems, the use of novel technologies such as electronic feeders and automatic weighing systems enables collection of daily data of cattle feeding behaviour and growth. These technologies can be useful to study animal response to varying forage quantity and quality within...

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Autores principales: Imaz, José A., García, Sergio, González, Luciano A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6940801/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31842436
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9121129
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author Imaz, José A.
García, Sergio
González, Luciano A.
author_facet Imaz, José A.
García, Sergio
González, Luciano A.
author_sort Imaz, José A.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: In grazing systems, the use of novel technologies such as electronic feeders and automatic weighing systems enables collection of daily data of cattle feeding behaviour and growth. These technologies can be useful to study animal response to varying forage quantity and quality within and throughout grazing periods and seasons. The aim of this 254-day experiment was to investigate the effect of forage type, quantity, and quality on the consumption of a self-fed supplement (molasses-lick blocks (MLB)) and on the growth rate and feeding behaviour of grazing beef cattle. Results indicated that type and amount of forage affect MLB intake and feeding behaviour. Thus, when feed availability is low (e.g., forage on the paddock is depleted), animals increase consumption of and number and duration of visits to the supplementary feed. The use of MLB only improved growth rate of cattle when animals grazed sorghum and pasture or were fed oaten hay. Monitoring the feeding behaviour of animals around MLB reflects changes in forage quantity and quality. ABSTRACT: Supplement intake and liveweight (LW) data were collected daily and remotely by digital in-paddock technologies (electronic feeder (EF) and walk-over-weighing scale (WOW)) to study the effect of forage quantity and quality on the intake of a self-fed supplement (molasses-lick blocks (MLB)), LW, liveweight change (LWC), and feeding behaviour of grazing beef cattle. Fifty-two crossbred weaners were rotationally grazed or fed for 254 days on different forages: sudangrass (SG), autumn pastures (P), winter pastures with concentrate (P+C), oat crops (OC), lucerne hay (LH), and oaten hay (OH). Forage quantity and quality were measured on the day of entry (high feed availability) and exit (low feed availability) stages of grazing or hay delivery. The intake of MLB was 111% higher (p < 0.05) at low compared to high feed availability, and this was also reflected in the feeding behaviour of animals (e.g., greater feeding frequency and rate). Moreover, there was a large temporal variability of daily MLB intake (Coefficient of variation (CV) = 146.41%). Supplementing MLB improved LWC only with SG, P, or OH (p < 0.05). The behaviour of animals around MLB reflects changes in feed quantity and quality and could be used to enhance cattle grazing and nutritional management in real time.
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spelling pubmed-69408012020-01-09 Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle Imaz, José A. García, Sergio González, Luciano A. Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: In grazing systems, the use of novel technologies such as electronic feeders and automatic weighing systems enables collection of daily data of cattle feeding behaviour and growth. These technologies can be useful to study animal response to varying forage quantity and quality within and throughout grazing periods and seasons. The aim of this 254-day experiment was to investigate the effect of forage type, quantity, and quality on the consumption of a self-fed supplement (molasses-lick blocks (MLB)) and on the growth rate and feeding behaviour of grazing beef cattle. Results indicated that type and amount of forage affect MLB intake and feeding behaviour. Thus, when feed availability is low (e.g., forage on the paddock is depleted), animals increase consumption of and number and duration of visits to the supplementary feed. The use of MLB only improved growth rate of cattle when animals grazed sorghum and pasture or were fed oaten hay. Monitoring the feeding behaviour of animals around MLB reflects changes in forage quantity and quality. ABSTRACT: Supplement intake and liveweight (LW) data were collected daily and remotely by digital in-paddock technologies (electronic feeder (EF) and walk-over-weighing scale (WOW)) to study the effect of forage quantity and quality on the intake of a self-fed supplement (molasses-lick blocks (MLB)), LW, liveweight change (LWC), and feeding behaviour of grazing beef cattle. Fifty-two crossbred weaners were rotationally grazed or fed for 254 days on different forages: sudangrass (SG), autumn pastures (P), winter pastures with concentrate (P+C), oat crops (OC), lucerne hay (LH), and oaten hay (OH). Forage quantity and quality were measured on the day of entry (high feed availability) and exit (low feed availability) stages of grazing or hay delivery. The intake of MLB was 111% higher (p < 0.05) at low compared to high feed availability, and this was also reflected in the feeding behaviour of animals (e.g., greater feeding frequency and rate). Moreover, there was a large temporal variability of daily MLB intake (Coefficient of variation (CV) = 146.41%). Supplementing MLB improved LWC only with SG, P, or OH (p < 0.05). The behaviour of animals around MLB reflects changes in feed quantity and quality and could be used to enhance cattle grazing and nutritional management in real time. MDPI 2019-12-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6940801/ /pubmed/31842436 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9121129 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Imaz, José A.
García, Sergio
González, Luciano A.
Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title_full Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title_fullStr Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title_full_unstemmed Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title_short Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
title_sort real-time monitoring of self-fed supplement intake, feeding behaviour, and growth rate as affected by forage quantity and quality of rotationally grazed beef cattle
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6940801/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31842436
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9121129
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