Cargando…

Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems

The performance of rotationally grazed beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on two lowland grassland management systems differing in stocking rate (SR) and fertiliser nitrogen (N) level was compared over eight years. The two Systems were 1) Intensive (INT): SR of 0.56 (bull production) o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Drennan, M.J., McGee, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier B.V. 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7102801/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32288868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2008.04.013
_version_ 1783511914782916608
author Drennan, M.J.
McGee, M.
author_facet Drennan, M.J.
McGee, M.
author_sort Drennan, M.J.
collection PubMed
description The performance of rotationally grazed beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on two lowland grassland management systems differing in stocking rate (SR) and fertiliser nitrogen (N) level was compared over eight years. The two Systems were 1) Intensive (INT): SR of 0.56 (bull production) or 0.71 (steer production) ha cow(− 1) unit, 211 kg fertiliser N ha(− 1), two silage harvests, and 2) Extensive (EXT): SR of 0.69 (bull production) or 0.88 (steer production) ha cow(− 1) unit, 97 kg fertiliser N ha(− 1) and one staggered silage harvest. A cow unit was defined as a cow plus progeny to slaughter. On the silage harvesting area, the mean application rate for fertiliser N was 110 and 80 kg ha(− 1) for first and second harvests, respectively. Herbage dry matter digestibility both pre- and post-grazing was similar (P > 0.05) for the two systems, whereas herbage crude protein concentrations were generally significantly lower for the EXT than the INT system. There was no difference (P > 0.05) between the Systems in cow live weight, body condition score or their changes or in calf live weight gain from birth to weaning. Post-weaning, live weight gain, slaughter weight, carcass weight, kill-out proportion, estimated carcass gain, carcass conformation score or carcass fat score did not differ (P > 0.05) between the systems for heifer, steer or bull progeny. It can be concluded that similar animal performance levels can be expected in an extensive grassland-based suckler calf-to-beef system compatible with the EU, Rural Environmental Protection Scheme as that attained in a more intensive System comprising of both a moderately high SR (~ 1.25 higher) and fertiliser N application (~ 2.1 higher).
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7102801
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2009
publisher Elsevier B.V.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-71028012020-03-31 Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems Drennan, M.J. McGee, M. Livest Sci Article The performance of rotationally grazed beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on two lowland grassland management systems differing in stocking rate (SR) and fertiliser nitrogen (N) level was compared over eight years. The two Systems were 1) Intensive (INT): SR of 0.56 (bull production) or 0.71 (steer production) ha cow(− 1) unit, 211 kg fertiliser N ha(− 1), two silage harvests, and 2) Extensive (EXT): SR of 0.69 (bull production) or 0.88 (steer production) ha cow(− 1) unit, 97 kg fertiliser N ha(− 1) and one staggered silage harvest. A cow unit was defined as a cow plus progeny to slaughter. On the silage harvesting area, the mean application rate for fertiliser N was 110 and 80 kg ha(− 1) for first and second harvests, respectively. Herbage dry matter digestibility both pre- and post-grazing was similar (P > 0.05) for the two systems, whereas herbage crude protein concentrations were generally significantly lower for the EXT than the INT system. There was no difference (P > 0.05) between the Systems in cow live weight, body condition score or their changes or in calf live weight gain from birth to weaning. Post-weaning, live weight gain, slaughter weight, carcass weight, kill-out proportion, estimated carcass gain, carcass conformation score or carcass fat score did not differ (P > 0.05) between the systems for heifer, steer or bull progeny. It can be concluded that similar animal performance levels can be expected in an extensive grassland-based suckler calf-to-beef system compatible with the EU, Rural Environmental Protection Scheme as that attained in a more intensive System comprising of both a moderately high SR (~ 1.25 higher) and fertiliser N application (~ 2.1 higher). Elsevier B.V. 2009-01 2008-06-24 /pmc/articles/PMC7102801/ /pubmed/32288868 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2008.04.013 Text en Copyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Drennan, M.J.
McGee, M.
Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title_full Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title_fullStr Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title_full_unstemmed Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title_short Performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
title_sort performance of spring-calving beef suckler cows and their progeny to slaughter on intensive and extensive grassland management systems
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7102801/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32288868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2008.04.013
work_keys_str_mv AT drennanmj performanceofspringcalvingbeefsucklercowsandtheirprogenytoslaughteronintensiveandextensivegrasslandmanagementsystems
AT mcgeem performanceofspringcalvingbeefsucklercowsandtheirprogenytoslaughteronintensiveandextensivegrasslandmanagementsystems