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Technology boosts feed research
this document web posted: Wednesday August 10, 2005 20050811p65
By Barbara Duckworth
Calgary bureau
OLDS, Alta. - The concept of net feed efficiency in cattle has been known for many years, but modern technology makes it possible to better understand where it fits in the production cycle.
Electronic identification and high powered computers that weren't available 10 years ago provide enough data and analysis to help producers select more efficient animals and save money.
"It's technology that has made this a new idea," said Neil French of Olds College, where trials from 2002 to 2005 tested 221 yearling bulls in a co-operative venture led by Alberta Agriculture livestock nutritionist John Basarab.
More than 50 percent of total feed intake is used for body maintenance in adult and slaughter animals. Breeding cows need 65-75 percent of their feed for maintenance.
French said the research shows a five percent improvement in feed efficiency has an economic impact four times greater than a five percent improvement in average daily gain.
Net feed efficiency is the difference between an animal's feed intake and its expected feed intake based on its size and growth over a specific test period.
The annual trials assessed British and Continental bulls but did not compare across breeds. This quality is not breed specific but is moderately heritable.
If a bull costs less to feed, its progeny are also likely to be efficient. By selecting for this trait, feed intake could drop by 10 percent. An ability to do more with less also seems to reduce body cavity fat, lowers methane emissions and produces less manure.
For the test, each bull was assessed for weight, hip height, backfat thickness, ribeye size and marbling.
Every aspect of feeding behaviour was observed through a combination of electronic identification for each animal and specially designed feeders to measure how much and how often a bull ate.
The feed bunks, equipped with radio frequency readers, are placed on specially designed scales to weigh feed. The technology from Grow Safe in Airdrie, Alta., has improved over time to provide more precise measurements. The bunks were handled like a regular feeding system and were designed to allow for competition among bulls as they nudged in to get at feed.
Researchers learned that some animals eat 30 times a day while others visit the bunk five times a day. Frequent eaters appear to be less efficient but the data was not statistically significant, French said.
Follow-up research on the bulls after they were released showed those with the best net feed efficiency results tended to sell for as much as $1,400 more than the average sale price.
This past June, scientists involved in the program released the first North American expected progeny differences for net feed efficiency and incorporated them into a multi-trait economic index. The index, which includes average daily gain, 365-day weight and feed efficiency, aids in genetic selection by ranking bulls according to how well and how economically their progeny perform in the feedlot.
Genetic improvement in feed efficiency was previously attempted in beef cattle by measuring the feed-to-gain ratio, which is the amount of feed consumed by an animal divided by its weight gain and is related to growth, body size, composition of gain and appetite. However, this formula did not improve efficiency.
Research has now moved to a commercial feedlot. Cattleland Feedyards at Strathmore, Alta., the largest bull test station in Canada, invested $1 million in a new facility for testing breeding stock for net feed efficiency. Two testing cycles have been completed.
The company can test and assess 5,000 bulls using the same computerized feed system employed at Olds.
As well, the University of Alberta's bovine genome project is identifying genetic markers for feed efficiency with commercial application.
In the future, researchers want to look at feed efficiency on cow lifetime productivity, milk yield, calving, weaning rates, replacement heifers and grazing ability.
Cows tend to live on lower quality, higher roughage diets so their productivity may differ compared to high concentrate rations given to feedlot animals.
Australia has also worked on this technology and has developed standards for measuring feed efficiency and selecting animals
this document web posted: Wednesday August 10, 2005 20050811p65
By Barbara Duckworth
Calgary bureau
OLDS, Alta. - The concept of net feed efficiency in cattle has been known for many years, but modern technology makes it possible to better understand where it fits in the production cycle.
Electronic identification and high powered computers that weren't available 10 years ago provide enough data and analysis to help producers select more efficient animals and save money.
"It's technology that has made this a new idea," said Neil French of Olds College, where trials from 2002 to 2005 tested 221 yearling bulls in a co-operative venture led by Alberta Agriculture livestock nutritionist John Basarab.
More than 50 percent of total feed intake is used for body maintenance in adult and slaughter animals. Breeding cows need 65-75 percent of their feed for maintenance.
French said the research shows a five percent improvement in feed efficiency has an economic impact four times greater than a five percent improvement in average daily gain.
Net feed efficiency is the difference between an animal's feed intake and its expected feed intake based on its size and growth over a specific test period.
The annual trials assessed British and Continental bulls but did not compare across breeds. This quality is not breed specific but is moderately heritable.
If a bull costs less to feed, its progeny are also likely to be efficient. By selecting for this trait, feed intake could drop by 10 percent. An ability to do more with less also seems to reduce body cavity fat, lowers methane emissions and produces less manure.
For the test, each bull was assessed for weight, hip height, backfat thickness, ribeye size and marbling.
Every aspect of feeding behaviour was observed through a combination of electronic identification for each animal and specially designed feeders to measure how much and how often a bull ate.
The feed bunks, equipped with radio frequency readers, are placed on specially designed scales to weigh feed. The technology from Grow Safe in Airdrie, Alta., has improved over time to provide more precise measurements. The bunks were handled like a regular feeding system and were designed to allow for competition among bulls as they nudged in to get at feed.
Researchers learned that some animals eat 30 times a day while others visit the bunk five times a day. Frequent eaters appear to be less efficient but the data was not statistically significant, French said.
Follow-up research on the bulls after they were released showed those with the best net feed efficiency results tended to sell for as much as $1,400 more than the average sale price.
This past June, scientists involved in the program released the first North American expected progeny differences for net feed efficiency and incorporated them into a multi-trait economic index. The index, which includes average daily gain, 365-day weight and feed efficiency, aids in genetic selection by ranking bulls according to how well and how economically their progeny perform in the feedlot.
Genetic improvement in feed efficiency was previously attempted in beef cattle by measuring the feed-to-gain ratio, which is the amount of feed consumed by an animal divided by its weight gain and is related to growth, body size, composition of gain and appetite. However, this formula did not improve efficiency.
Research has now moved to a commercial feedlot. Cattleland Feedyards at Strathmore, Alta., the largest bull test station in Canada, invested $1 million in a new facility for testing breeding stock for net feed efficiency. Two testing cycles have been completed.
The company can test and assess 5,000 bulls using the same computerized feed system employed at Olds.
As well, the University of Alberta's bovine genome project is identifying genetic markers for feed efficiency with commercial application.
In the future, researchers want to look at feed efficiency on cow lifetime productivity, milk yield, calving, weaning rates, replacement heifers and grazing ability.
Cows tend to live on lower quality, higher roughage diets so their productivity may differ compared to high concentrate rations given to feedlot animals.
Australia has also worked on this technology and has developed standards for measuring feed efficiency and selecting animals
