Effects of different restricted feeding strategies on performance of growing and finishing dairy bulls offered grass silage and barley based diets

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of restricted feeding strategies on performance of growing and finishing dairy bulls. The feeding experiment comprised in total 32 Finnish Ayrshire bulls with an initial mean live weight (LW) of 122 kg and age of 114 days. Feeding treatments were silage ad libitum and daily barley allowance of 93 g dry matter kg -1 LW 0.60 (A); restricted feeding (R) at 0.80 × A; increasing feeding (I) similar to R until LW of 430 kg and thereafter similar to A; and decreasing feeding (D) similar to A until LW of 430 kg and thereafter similar to R. Restricted feeding strategies decreased daily dry matter intake and LW gain and increased the time to reach the target carcass weight (300 kg). Bulls on I exhibited compensatory growth. There were no significant differences in dry matter or energy efficiency between the treatments. The present experiment indicates that silage intake ad libitum and supplemented with concentrate resulted in most effective beef production.

The Effect of Beef Production System on the Health, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Holstein Bulls

“…The ADG AB bulls on the HA production system during the finishing period, is somewhat lower that that achieved during the grower period. This is consistent with other studies where growth rates do not remain consistently high throughout the full production system [ 24 , 31 ]. The sigmoidal growth curve of cattle illustrates that growth rates reduce as an animal approach maturity [ 32 ], with increased maintenance requirements and fat deposition being contributing factors [ 1 ].…”

“…However, overall DWLG and slaughter weights were still lower for G and G2 bulls, thus indicating that these bulls did not fully compensate during the finishing period. This is in agreement with previous research, which indicates that a longer finishing period may be required for bulls to reach the same LW as those on the GA and HA production system [ 31 , 36 ]. However, the nature of the production systems used in this study, would lead to differences in slaughter weight being expected, which could be offset against the differences in total concentrate intake, and thus production costs.…”

“…The SB bulls on G and G2 production systems reached similar slaughter and carcass weights as those slaughtered at 16 months on a 50:50 silage to concentrate diet by Kirkland et al [ 1 ]. While the slaughter and carcass weights of GA and HA SB bulls are consistent with that of the ad libitum fed bulls of Manni et al [ 31 ].…”

“…This was somewhat greater than that achieved by the HA bulls, and that which has previously been reported within the literature [ 24 , 34 ]. These results would imply that the G and G2 bulls exhibited some level of compensatory growth during the finishing period [ 31 , 35 , 36 ]. However, overall DWLG and slaughter weights were still lower for G and G2 bulls, thus indicating that these bulls did not fully compensate during the finishing period.…”

Consumo de follaje de Erythrina americana Miller en ovejas Blackbelly x Pelibuey

“…La GDP negativa que tuvieron las ovejas en los primeros 14 días puede explicarse por el menor consumo de nutrientes (Figura 1). Posteriormente, la GDP se incrementó sustancialmente con relación a lo detectado en el primer periodo, este tipo de respuesta puede atribuirse a un mayor consumo de nutrientes que resultó en un crecimiento compensatorio (47,48) .…”