A Proposed Method of Measuring Pasture Yields with Grazing Cattle

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Abstract
A proposed adaptation of the indirect method of measuring pasture yields With grazing cattle is described. This is based on the assumption that the average total digestible nutrient requirement for maintenance of a 1000 pound cow is 7.95 pounds of total digestible nutrients per day and that the average daily maintenance requirement for animals of other weights is proportional to the 0.73 power of the live weight. From this proportion it is shown that the average requirement for daily maintenance of animals of any weight can be calculated by the formula An analysis of the records of three Florida steer feeding experiments by this method shows that 330 steers consumed an average of 3.15 pounds of total digestible nutrients for each pound gain in live weight. Since the accepted factor for gain in weight is 3.53 pounds of total digestible nutrients,this would indicate either that the maintenance requirement for Florida cattle is slightly less than the assumed values or that environmental conditions were favorable. Associative effects of feeds on coefficients of digestibility may have influenced these results. In an analysis of another Florida steer feeding experiment using this method of calculating the total digestible nutrient requirements for maintenance and gains and deducting the nutrient content of supplementary feeds, the amount of grass consumed by the steers has been closely estimated. This shows that steers on a limited concentrate ration consumed an average of 59 pounds of grass while those receiving as much concentrate as they would clean up consumed only 27 pounds of grass each daily. Yields of grass obtained through calculations of animal performance, in the manner herein described, are within the range of annual yields of grass previously reported from this Station by Neller (1939).

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