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An experiment was conducted to evaluate impacts of RAMP (Cargill Corn Milling, Blair, NE) on methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, performance, and carcass characteristics of beef cattle during the grain adaptation phase and finishing phase. Crossbred steers [n = 64; initial body weight (BW) = 347 ±7 kg] were utilized in two treatments; RAMP, fed 100% RAMP during step one and then stepped up to a common finisher diet consisting of 65.5% steam-flaked corn (SFC), 22.5% Sweet Bran (SB), 8% wheat straw, and 4% supplement. The second treatment was control (CON) fed 30.5% SFC, 22.5% SB, 8% wheat straw 35% alfalfa hay, and 4% supplement during step one and then stepped up to the common finisher diet. There were 8 steers per pen and 4 paired replications. Replications were stepped up together and rotated through a twochamber emissions barn in 5-day cycles to measure CH4 and CO2 emissions at three time points: step one of step-up phase, early feeding phase (one week after starting the finishing diet), and later finishing phase (13 weeks after starting the finishing diet). Performance data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with treatment and BW block as fixed effects and emissions data analyzed with BW block and treatment as fixed effects and barn chamber as a covariate. Feeding RAMP during step one of the step-up phase led to a decrease in CH4, as g/d (P = 0.03) and a decrease in the CH4:CO2 ratio (P = 0.02). However, CH4 as g/kg of dry matter intake (DMI) was not affected by treatment (P = 0.25). Control steers had a decrease in CO2 as g/day (P = 0.03), but not as CO2 g/kg of DMI (P = 0.31). There were no differences in DMI (P = 1.00) during the step-up phase, averaging 10.3 kg/d for both treatments. For measures taken while all cattle were on the common finishing diet, RAMP did not reduce CH4, as g/d or g/kg DMI (P = 0.27), CO2 as g/d or g/kg DMI (P = 0.37), or CH4:CO2 (P = 0.12). There were no significant differences in DMI (P = 0.49) whole cattle were in the emissions barn during the feeding phase. There were no significant differences for interim (d 66) cattle performance including BW (mean 504 kg; P = 0.84), DMI (mean 9.7 kg; P = 0.27), ADG (mean 2.33 kg/d; P = 0.88), or G: F (mean 0.246; P = 0.30). Feeding RAMP to cattle during the grain adaptation phase resulted in a 12% decrease in methane emissions on a g per day basis without affecting cattle performance. This reduction in emissions didn't carry over into the finishing phase when a common diet was fed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the impacts of biochar on methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and interim performance of finishing beef cattle. This experiment used crossbred beef steers (n = 128; initial BW= 347 kg ± 9 kg) fed a biochar sourced from pistachio shells (VGrid Energy Systems). The diet contained 61% dried rolled corn, 30% Sweet Bran (Cargill Corn Milling, Blair, NE), 5% wheat straw, and 4% supplement with Tylan (Elanco Animal Health) targeted at 9.7 mg/kg of dry matter (DM) and Rumensin (Elanco Animal Health) at 33.1 mg/kg of DM in a fine ground corn carrier. Two treatments consisted of a control (CON) group fed a diet containing no biochar and a biochar (BIO) group fed a diet with 0.5% biochar replacing 0.5% dried rolled corn in the diet. Cattle were implanted on d 0 with Revalor XS (Merck Animal Health). Pen was the experimental unit with 8 steers per pen and 8 replications. Interim data were collected on d 90 of the experiment. Four pen replications were rotated twice through a two-chambered barn equipped with open-circuit indirect calorimeters using a negative air pressure system. Within replicate, each pen of cattle was monitored in both chambers. LI-COR (Biosciences, Lincoln, NE) sensors were used to capture emissions (7700 Open-Path CH4 analyzer and 7500DS Open-Path CO2/H2O analyzer). Each replicate was monitored for 5 d in the pen chamber followed by 1 d manure contribution and 1 d used for baseline corrections. Cattle performance data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with treatment as the fixed effect and emissions data were analyzed as a repeated measure. Feeding biochar tended to increase emissions of CH4 in g/d (194 g/d BIO and 176 g/d CON, P = 0.09) but had no other effects on CH4 in g/kg of dry matter intake (DMI) with 16.3 g/kg DMI BIO and 14.2 g/kg DMI CON (P = 0.27). Likewise, feeding BIO had no effect on CO2 as g/day (10854 g/d BIO and 10691 g/d CON, P = 0.78) or as g/kg of DMI (904 g/kg DMI BIO and 860 g/kg DMI CON, P = 0.34). Interim cattle performance showed no differences between treatments in interim body weight (529 kg BIO and 534 kg CON, P = 0.49) and average daily gain (2.02 kg/d BIO and 2.07 kg/d CON, P = 0.50). Dry matter intake (12.3 kg/d BIO and 12.1 kg/d CON, P = 0.45) was not different between groups, which resulted in no differences in feed efficiency (0.165 BIO and 0.169 CON, P = 0.23). Supplementing biochar at 0.5% of the diet DM did not decrease eructed CH4 (slight increase) or impact respired CO2. Interim animal performance was not impacted by feeding biochar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive grazing systems often vary in pasture size and terrain, making it challenging for ranchers to accurately locate livestock through visual appraisal. Using satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS), accurate position data can be provided to track animal movements that could inform grazing management decisions. This study aimed to: 1) assess two modern GPS devices for functionality by calculating fix success rate, and 2) evaluate the relationship between average daily distance traveled and average daily weight gain (ADG) performance on yearling steers grazing smooth bromegrass pasture using the GPS devices. Yearling steers (n = 25) grazed a 10.8-ha smooth bromegrass pasture for 156 days from May to September 2021. The temperature ranged from 4.1 to 38.8℃ with an average 22.7℃ and received 490 mm of rainfall. Cattle ADG was 0.65 ± 0.13 kg/d. Each steer was assigned two GPS collars for 28 days to compare two types of sensors. The sensors evaluated were i-gotU GT-600 travel loggers (GU) and Yabby LoRaWAN GPS sensors (YB) utilizing the IoT (Internet of Things) technology. The YB sensor possessed real-time monitoring and remote data access, while data from the GU sensor needed to be removed from the animals and manually downloaded. The YB sensors had a manufacturer declared finest positioning accuracy of 4.6 m, while that of the GU sensor being 9.1 m. With a 10-min sampling rate, battery life of the YB sensors lasted 4 weeks, while the GU sensors demonstrated unreliable battery performance that ranged between 1 to 4 weeks. Fixed success rate (FSR) was calculated for each sensor. Using PROC MIXED of SAS (v 9.4), on average the GU sensors had a 67.1% FSR and the YB sensors observed an 89.9% FSR (P < 0.0001). The YB sensor outweighed the GU sensor on battery life and FSR, thus was utilized throughout the duration of the grazing season. Individual animal traveled distance was calculated after converting the GPS coordinates in decimal degrees to Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates (WGS 1984 UTM zone 14N) in meters. The Euclidean distance between consecutive coordinates was calculated and summed daily to represent the daily traveled distance of an animal. Using all coordinates recorded from YB, steers traveled 2,718 ± 809 m/d. Statistical analysis was conducted using PROC CORR of SAS to determine the correlation between the daily averages of distance traveled and ADG. All values were considered significant a = 0.05. There was no correlation observed between distance traveled and ADG (P = 0.76). Results demonstrate that modern GPS sensors utilizing IoT technology have benefits over traditional GPS sensors and can be used as a tool for extensive grazing livestock tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metabolism experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of daily feeding of encapsulated Megasphaera elsdenii (M. elsdenii) NCIMB 41125 along with a one-time dose of Lactipro NXT (MS Biotec) on dry matter intake (DMI), rumen pH, in vitro lactate disappearance, volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration, and lactate concentration. Ruminally cannulated crossbred steers (n = 40, initial BW 437 ± 98 kg) were individually fed a finisher diet consisting of 70% steam-flaked corn, 18% modified distillers grain plus soluble, and 7% alfalfa hay. Treatments were control (Con) steers which were given no M. elsdenii and four treatments that received LactiproNXT on day 1 and were given 0 (Drench), 1×106 (Low), 1×107 (Medium), or 1×108 (High) CFU of encapsulated M. elsdenii daily throughout the experiment fed as a top-dress. Adaptation to the finishing diet was accomplished in 19 days for Con steers and 9 days for steers in the Drench, Low, Medium, and High treatments. The experiment included five continuous periods: step-up (d 1-19); finishing (d 20-88); feed restriction (d 89, 24-h full feed restriction); challenge (d 90, cattle were fed at 150% of max DMI from finishing period); and recovery (d 91-94). Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with linear and quadratic effects of dose with drench as the intercept. There were no significant differences for DMI in the step-up, finishing, or challenge period. In the recovery period, DMI was greater for Low, Med, and High compared with Drench (P = 0.07) and there was a tendency for a linear increase in DMI with increasing the dose of M. elsdenii (P = 0.11). Recovery period DMI, expressed as a percentage of pre-challenge intake, was greater (P = 0.05) in steers fed M. elsdenii daily compared with Drench steers, and increased linearly (P = 0.06) as dose of M. elsdenii increased. Rumen pH in steers fed M. elsdenii daily was greater (P < 0.01) during the feeding period and tended to be greater during the challenge (P = 0.14) and recovery (P = 0.11) periods when compared with the Drench treatment. In vitro lactate disappearance tended to be greater (P = 0.13) in steers given M. elsdenii daily when compared with Con and Drench on d 88. For days 90, 91, and 92 combined, a treatment effect was observed for in vitro lactate disappearance with steers in the Low, Med, and High treatments having greater (P < 0.05) disappearance than Con steers, and Med steers having greater (P < 0.05) disappearance than all other treatments. An accelerated step up is possible with the drench and daily feeding of M. elsdenii. Daily feeding of M. elsdenii has a positive effect on cattle during and after an acidosis challenge event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplemental feed may be provided to cattle in grazing systems to increase ADG, but can be labor intensive. This study evaluated the performance of steers grazing smooth bromegrass pastures supplemented dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) either daily or three times per week. Crossbred steers (n = 144, initial BW 317 ± 1.25 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design with 3 treatments allocated randomly to 24 paddocks in one of 6 blocks. Treatments consisted of: 1) steers supplemented daily with 0.8% of BW (DM-basis) of DDGS, 2) steers supplemented three times a week with 1.86% of BW (DM-basis) of DDGS, and 3) steers that received no supplementation (control). All steers were implanted with 40 mg trenbolone acetate and 8 mg estradiol (Rev-G; Merck Animal Health, De Soto, KS) implants. Paddocks were divided equally into three strips and rotationally grazed. Put-and-take steers were utilized to match stocking rate with forage growth. Each treatment group rotated through three 0.81-hectare strips per pasture. Pre-graze and post-graze biomass was measured at ground level from each paddock at each rotation. Pre-graze biomass samples were used to determine forage availability. Grazing was initiated in early May with cattle removed from pastures in August, for a total of 97 grazing days. Data were analyzed with MIXED procedure of SAS with paddock as experimental unit and treatment and block as fixed effects. Treatment means of ADG and ending BW differed (P < 0.01) among treatments. The control calves gained 0.85 kg/d. The supplemented treatments significantly increased (P < 0.01) ADG compared with the control, with daily supplementation gaining 1.25 kg/d and 3x gaining 1.11 kg/d. The ADG was decreased (P < 0.01) with 3x a week compared with daily supplementation. The differences in ADG resulted in similar differences in final live BW. The control had a finial live BW of 398 kg and final live BW of both supplemented treatments was significantly increased (P < 0.01) when compared with the control treatment. Final live BW of 3x supplemented steers (423 kg) was decreased (P < 0.01) when compared with daily supplemented steers (436 kg). For steers grazing smooth bromegrass pastures, daily supplementation of DDGS resulted in greater gains and therefore greater final BW when compared with three times a week supplementation and the non-supplemented control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]