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Effect of winter environment on growth of young beef cattle 1. Effects of exposure during winter to rain or wind and rain combined on performance of 9-month-old Friesian steers fed on two planes of nutrition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. B. McCarrick  and
M. J. Drennan
R. B. McCarrick
Affiliation:
The Agricultural Institute, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
M. J. Drennan
Affiliation:
The Agricultural Institute, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
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Summary

Three experiments were conducted to compare the performance of 9-month-old Friesian steers wintered in three environments, (a) conventional cattle houses, (b) wind-sheltered roofless sawdust pads and (c) unsheltered roofless sawdust pads. Within each environment animals were fed on two planes of nutrition.

In each experiment, winter live-weight gains of animals accommodated on the three winter environments were similar as were weight changes during the subsequent four weeks at grass in Experiments 2 and 3.

No interaction on live-weight gain was found between plane of nutrition and winter environment. Health of outwintered animals was good throughout. The response to feeding barley with hay in these experiments (obtained by comparing low-plane with high-plane treatment groups) showed that on average 5·5 kg of barley dry matter were required to produce 1 kg of additional live-weight gain above that obtained from hay fed alone.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1972 , pp. 97 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1972

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References

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