Effects of Supplement Type and Feeding Frequency on Performance and Physiological Responses of Yearling Brahman-Crossbred Steers

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of supplement type and feeding frequency on performance, voluntary forage intake, and physiological responses of yearling beef steers. Twenty-four Brahman x British steers were stratified by initial body weight (BW) and randomly allocated to 12 pens (two steers/pen). Pens were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) molasses-based supplement offered three times/wk (ML), 2) citrus pulp-based supplement offered three times/wk (CT), or 3) citrus pulpbased supplement offered daily (CD). Forage intake did not differ between treatments, however, CD-fed steers had a decreased oscillation in daily forage intake compared to CT and ML. Steers offered a CD had greater BW gain compared to steers offered CT and ML, however, these results were not reflected by the blood hormones and metabolites usually associated with animal performance. In this study, daily supplementation of yearling steers with citrus pulp-based supplements increased BW gain without impacting forage intake compared to the same supplement offered three times/wk, or compared to an iso-caloric and isonitrogenous supplement based on liquid molasses also fed three times/wk.