a total of 20 suckling sanjabi lambs, comprised of 10 males and 10 females with respective liveweights of 13.40±1.34 and 11.62±0.85 kg were employed in a 2x2 factorial experimental arrangement. the lambs within their sexes were grouped according to their liveweights and then randomly allocated to either one of the two treatments namely: ad libitum good quality alfalfa hay plus free suckling (co...

The key chemical analysis used to estimate the energy value of alfalfa hay for trading purposes, ADF (acid detergent fiber), has been supplanted by NDF (neutral detergent fiber) as the key chemical analysis used by nutritionists to evaluate the fibrosity and energy value of alfalfa hay for nutritional purposes. It is important that the alfalfa hay trading industry abandon ADF, as it will genera...

Three experiments were conducted to compare soybean meal/sorghum grain (SBM/SG), alfalfa hay or dehydrated alfalfa pellets (DEHY) as supplemental protein sources for beef cattle grazing dormant range forage. In Exp. 1 (35-d digestion study), 16 ruminally cannulated steers were stratified by weight (average BW 259 kg) and assigned randomly within stratification to: 1) control, no supplement; 2) ...

OBJECTIVE The objectives were to assess the effects of purified lignin from wheat straw (sodium hydroxide dehydrated lignin; SHDL) on in vitro ruminal fermentation and on the growth performance of feedlot cattle. METHODS In vitro experiments were conducted by incubating a timothy-alfalfa (50:50) forage mixture (48 h) and barley grain (24 h) with 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/mL of rumen fluid...

Two experiments were conducted to investigate using alfalfa leaf meal (ALM; 22% CP, DM basis) in beef cattle diets. In Exp. 1, a total of 24 late-gestation Angus heifers (initial BW 470 +/- 9 kg) were blocked by BW, calving date, and BCS to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. All heifers were offered a basal hay diet (7.4% CP and 67.6% NDF, DM basis). Treatments wer...

D IGESTION experiments with cattle fed simplified rations produced results in this laboratory indicating that efficiency of roughage dry matter digestion was dependent upon the presence or absence of certain ration nutrients or feed components needed by rumen microorganisms. The nutrients or feed components which favorably influenced roughage digestion in cattle experiments were protein (N X6.~...

Effects of plant-bound condensed tannin (CT)-containing sainfoin vs. CT-free alfalfa (or low-CT alfalfa-sainfoin mixture), plant stage of maturity, and their interaction on enteric methane (CH4) emissions, diet digestibility, and N excretion were studied, using 8 ruminally cannulated beef heifers in 2 sequential short-term experiments (Exp. 1 and 2). In Exp. 1, first growth legumes were harvest...

OBJECTIVE The impact of forage feeding strategy on growth performance, ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestibility in post-weaning calves was investigated. METHODS Forty-five female Holstein calves (body weight [BW] = 79.79±0.38 kg) were enrolled in the 35-d study at one week after weaning and randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments. All diets were fed as total mixed ration c...

Feedlot performance was studied in a 262-d trial using 126 crossbred beef steers (182 kg initial BW) to determine whether source of dietary roughage influences performance and carcass characteristics by steers fed growing (112 d) and finishing (150 d) diets with various flake densities (FD) of steam-processed sorghum grain. A 3 x 3 arrangement of treatments (two pens of seven steers each) was u...