Maintenance requirements of beef cattle as affected by season on different planes of nutrition.

Abstract

Eight Hereford steers with an initial weight of 344 kg and a final weight of 476 kg were allotted randomly to two groups that were alternated between low (120 x maintenance) and high (2.27 x maintenance) intakes during five consecutive seasons in order to measure effects of season (cold stress) and intake on thermoneutral energy requirements. The steers were housed outdoors with neither shelter nor bedding and adapted to the specified intake levels for 21 to 31 d before each season's measurement of maintenance. Maintenance energy requirements were estimated as fasting heat production (FHP) and maintenance metabolized energy (MEm) by respiration calorimetry at thermoneutral temperatures. The high plane of nutrition caused a consistent increase of about 7% in FHP and 14% in MEm averaged across seasons (P less than .05). Within plane of nutrition, season had no effect on FHP or MEm, with the exception that values recorded in fall were lower than those recorded during the first summer (P less than .05). Nevertheless, daily gain during the winter acclimatization period was lower (P less than .05). We conclude that season had no effect on thermoneutral maintenance energy requirements (FHP, MEm) even though cold increased requirements for weight maintenance or gain. No interactions were found between season and plane of nutrition for the parameters measured. Acute cold stress, rather than chronically elevated metabolic rate, likely was responsible for poorer feedlot performance during the cold months of the year.

Animal performance and carcass characteristics of growing Hereford bulls under insulated, uninsulated and outdoor housing conditions in Northern Finland

“…In some cases, uninsulated conditions or absence of shelters have affected animal performance negatively (e.g. Harmsen and Smits 1981, Birkelo et al 1991, Delfino and Mathison 1991, Kubisch et al 1991. On the other hand, many authors (e.g.…”

Maintenance energy requirements of young Holstein cattle from calorimetric measurements at 6, 12, 18, and 22 months of age

“…Furthermore, restricted feeding for a long period can lower basal metabolism. There is evidence in the literature that restricted feeding before fasting reduces FHP of sheep (Marston, 1948) and cattle (Frisch and Vercoe, 1977;Birkelo et al, 1991). Therefore, when using fasting metabolism as a basis for estimating energetic efficiencies of dairy cows, it would be more appropriate to feed the cattle ad libitum prior to fasting (Yan et al, 1997b).…”

Effects of outdoor winter housing and feeding level on performance and blood metabolites of suckler cows fed whole-crop barley silage

“…In most cases, cold conditions or absence of shelters have affected animal performance negatively (e.g. Birkelo et al, 1991;Delfino and Mathison, 1991;Kubisch et al, 1991) or have changed animal behaviour (Redbo et al, 2001). On the contrary, McCarrick and Drennan (1972a,b) and Redbo et al (1996) reported no negative effects on animal health and live weight gain.…”