Title | Effect of sward surface height on herbage intake and performance of finishing beef cattle |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 1999 |
Authors | Realini, C.E. , Hodgson J. , Morris S T. , and Purchas R.W. |
Journal | New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research |
Volume | 42 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 155 - 164 |
Date Published | 1999 |
ISBN Number | 00288233 (ISSN) |
Keywords | Beef cattle , Carcass , cattle , Compensatory growth , Grazing behaviour , height , Herbage intake , Liveweight , Lolium perenne , Meat Quality , N-alkanes , New Zealand , pasture , performance assessment , Sward height , Trifolium repens |
Abstract |
This study examined the effects of contrasting sward surface height (SSH) on the herbage intake, ingestive behaviour, and performance of steers grazing perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)/white clover (Trifolium repens) pastures in New Zealand during summer, and the influence of this initial treatment contrast on subsequent cattle performance under common grazing conditions during early autumn. Twenty-four Angus-cross steers, 26 months old and with an initial weight of 522 ± 7.6 kg, were continuously stocked on swards maintained at SSH of 5 and 10 cm (L versus H) from 18 November 1996. Six steers from each treatment were slaughtered on 4 March and the remaining animals were grazed for another 5 weeks on common pastures until the final slaughter on 8 April 1997. Herbage intake (estimated by the n-alkane technique) and weight gain over the SSH contrast period, and carcass weight at first slaughter, were higher for steers grazed at 10 cm than for those grazed at 5 cm (7.5 ± 0.21 versus 5.0 ± 0.18 and 7.8 ± 0.38 versus 5.0 ± 0.33 kg DM d -1 from two intake estimates, P < 0.05 for each comparison; 1.10 ± 0.23 versus 0.32 ± 0.21 kg d -1, P < 0.01; and 332 ± 10.6 versus 287 ± 7.5 kg, P < 0.05, respectively). SSH did not affect carcass or meat quality characteristics. Liveweight and carcass weight gain per hectare were 71% and 43% greater (318 versus 186 kg and 166 versus 116 kg over 105 days) for steers grazing at 10 cm despite the lower stocking rate (2.86 versus 5.80 steers ha -1) maintained by the tall swards. Significant differences in carcass weight were still evident at the end of the compensatory period between the steer groups originally on treatments H and L (335 ± 9.4 versus 297 ± 9.4 kg, P < 0.05). These results suggest that maintaining a sward height of 10 cm offers advantages in terms of individual animal output and output per hectare compared with grazing at 5 cm, and that compensatory growth does not seem to be an important phenomenon in heavy (over 500 kg liveweight) finishing steers. |
URL | http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0032874083&partnerID=40&md5=5aa51d0f9b58c3cca048ea5fdd274cf1 |