Location: Livestock Nutrient Management Research
Project Number: 3090-31630-005-039-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2016
End Date: Apr 30, 2021
Objective:
Determine rations of beef cattle in feedyards on the Southern High Plains that maximize nutrient retention and decrease nutrient losses in feces, urine and emissions.
Approach:
Commercial steers typical of Southern High Plains (crossbred, 200 to 300 kilograms) will be obtained and allow to acclaim to the facility. After which, animals will be segregated and randomly assigned to pens. Animal care and use protocols will be similar to that of commercial feedyards in the region. At the beginning of a feeding period, at the end and periodically in between animals will be weighed. A series of experiments will be conducted to determine the effect of roughage on cattle performance. The variables will include roughage source, inclusion rate, and grind size. Different grind sizes will obtained by particle separation procedures. During the feeding period, chewing behavior will be determined. When steers obtain sufficient weight for harvesting, animals will be sent to a commercial slaughter facility at which carcass quality parameters and liver abscesses. Individual animal data will be averaged across pens and the data per pen will be analyzed by standard analysis of variance procedure.
