The cost of feeding bred dairy heifers on native warm-season grasses and harvested feedstuffs
| Autor: | Gary E. Bates, Patrick D. Keyser, Joe K. Lowe Ii, James A. Larson, J. C. Waller, Christopher N. Boyer, Andrew P. Griffith, Elizabeth D. Holcomb |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Dairy heifer Silage Soybean meal Breeding Biology Panicum Warm season Zea mays 01 natural sciences Milking Animal science Grazing Genetics Animals Dairy cattle Fabaceae 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Tennessee Red Clover Dairying Agronomy Costs and Cost Analysis 040103 agronomy & agriculture 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Cattle Female Trifolium Animal Science and Zoology 010606 plant biology & botany Food Science |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Dairy Science. 99:634-643 |
| ISSN: | 0022-0302 |
| DOI: | 10.3168/jds.2015-9475 |
| Popis: | Heifer rearing is one of the largest production expenses for dairy cattle operations, which is one reason milking operations outsource heifer rearing to custom developers. The cost of harvested feedstuffs is a major expense in heifer rearing. A possible way to lower feed costs is to graze dairy heifers, but little research exists on this topic in the mid-south United States. The objectives of this research were to determine the cost of feeding bred dairy heifers grazing native warm-season grasses (NWSG), with and without legumes, and compare the cost of grazing with the cost of rearing heifers using 3 traditional rations. The 3 rations were corn silage with soybean meal, corn silage with dry distillers grain, and a wet distillers grain-based ration. Bred Holstein heifers between 15- and 20-mo-old continuously grazed switchgrass (SG), SG with red clover (SG+RC), a big bluestem and Indiangrass mixture (BBIG), and BBIG with red clover (BBIG+RC) in Tennessee during the summer months. Total grazing days were calculated for each NWSG to determine the average cost/animal per grazing day. The average daily gain (ADG) was calculated for each NWSG to develop 3 harvested feed rations that would result in the same ADG over the same number of grazing day as each NWSG treatment. The average cost/animal per grazing day was lowest for SG ($0.48/animal/grazing d) and highest for BBIG+RC ($1.10/animal/grazing d). For both BBIG and SG, legumes increased the average cost/animal per grazing day because grazing days did not increase enough to account for the additional cost of the legumes. No difference was observed in ADG for heifers grazing BBIG (0.85 kg/d) and BBIG+RC (0.94 kg/d), and no difference was observed in ADG for heifers grazing SG (0.71 kg/d) and SG+RC (0.70 kg/d). However, the ADG for heifers grazing SG and SG+RC was lower than the ADG for heifers grazing either BBIG or BBIG+RC. The average cost/animal per grazing day was lower for all NWSG treatments than the average cost/animal per day for all comparable feed rations at a low, average, and high yardage fee. Results of this study suggest that SG was the most cost-effective NWSG alternative to harvested feeds for bred dairy heifer rearing. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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