Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:54:06.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Voluntary food intake of cattle differing in breed size in a time-controlled feeding system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. S. Taylor  and
J. I. Murray
C. S. Taylor
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
J. I. Murray
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
Get access

Abstract

Six breeds differing widely in body size and milk yield were compared for growth and food intake between 24 and 120 weeks of age in a time-controlled feeding system based on Calan-Broadbent electronic feeding gates activated by time clocks to give six meals a day of length 4, 5 or 6 min. The breeds were South Devon, Charolais × British Friesian, British Friesian, Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and Jersey. Each breed was represented by 12 animals, with four allocated to each meal length.

At every age, voluntary food intake was strongly determined by meal length. For each meal length, and after adjustment for breed size, most breeds closely followed the same intake curve. Thus, when intake was restricted (either slightly or severely) by uniformly limiting the time available for eating, the reduced voluntary daily intake of a breed, like its ad libitum intake, was largely genetically determined by breed size. A time-controlled feeding system thus allowed acceptable breed comparisons under conditions of restricted nutrition.

The mean growth rates resulting from a wide variety of different time-controlled voluntary intakes were all adequately explained by a linear equation based on a constant maintenance efficiency and a partial efficiency of growth that declined linearly with degree of maturity in body weight.

Eating rate was surprisingly similar for the three different meal lengths. When averaged over breeds, it increased from 1 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) per min between 6 and 12 months of age up to about 2 MJ ME per min at 2 years of age. Over this range, eating rate could be expressed as an allometric function of degree of maturity in body weight. In consequence, time-controlled daily intakes could be predicted from eating rate within ad libitum limits, as could the total eating time needed to achieve a given growth rate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , December 1987 , pp. 433 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allden, W. G. and Whittaker, I. A. MacD. 1970. The determinants of herbage intake by grazing sheep: the interrelationships of factors influencing herbage intake and availability. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 21: 755–766.Google Scholar
Demment, M. W. and Van SOEST, P. J. 1983. Body Size, Digestive Capacity and Feeding Strategies of Herbivores. Winrock International, Morrilton, Arkansas.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1986. The Voluntary Food Intake of Farm Animals. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Illius, A. W. and Gordon, I. J. 1987. The allometry of food intake in grazing ruminants. Journal of Animal Ecology. 56: 989–1000.Google Scholar
Kirton, A. H., Fourie, P. D. and Jury, K. E. 1972. Growth and development of sheep. III. Growth of the carcass and non-carcass components of the Southdown and Romney and their cross and some relationships with composition. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 15: 214–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1977. CENSTAT V, Mark 4-01. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Herpenden.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland and Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. 1975. Energy allowances and; feeding systems for ruminants. Technical Bulletin 33. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Parks, J. R. 1975. A theory of animal weight response to controlled feeding. Journal of Theoretical Biology 55: 381–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, R. A. 1978. A time-controlled feeding system for: cattle. Animal Production 27: 277–284.Google Scholar
Suzuki, S., Fujita, H. and Shinde, Y. 1969. Change in: the rate of eating during a meal and the effect of the i interval between meals on the rate at which cows eat I roughages. Animal Production 11: 29–41.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S. 1980. Genetic size-scaling rules in animal growth. Animal Production 30: 161–166.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S. 1985. Use of genetic size-scaling in evaluation of animal growth. Journal of Animal Science 61: Suppl. 2, pp. 118–143.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S., Moore, A. J. and Thiessen, R. B. 1986a. Voluntary food intake in relation to body weight among British breeds of cattle. Animal Production 42: 11–18.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S., Thiessen, R. B. and Murray, J. 1986b. Inter-breed relationship of maintenance efficiency to milk yield in cattle. Animal Production 43: 37–61.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S., Turner, H. G. and Young, G. B. 1981. Genetic control of equilibrium maintenance efficiency in cattle. Animal Production 33: 179–194.Google Scholar
Thiessen, R. B., Hnizdo, E., Maxwell, D. A. G.Gibson, D. and Taylor, ST C. S. 1984. Multibreed comparisons of British cattle. Variation in body weight, growth rate and food intake. Animal Production 38: 323–340.Google Scholar
Thonney, M. L. and Ross, D. A. 1987. Composition of gain of rats grown at controlled rates from 80 to 205 grams. Journal of Nutrition. In press.Google Scholar
Thonney, M. L., Taylor, ST C. S. and McClelland, T. H. 1987. Breed and sex differences in equally mature sheep and goats. 1. Growth and food intake. Animal Production 45: 239–260.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1982. Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant. O. and B. Books, Corvallis, Oregon.Google Scholar
Wainman, F. W., Smith, J. S. and Dewey, P. J. S. 1975. The nutritive value for sheep of ruminant diet AA6,' a complete cobbed diet containing 30% barley straw. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84: 109–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar