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Intake, growth rate and carcass quality of beef cattle fed maize silage harvested at three stages of maturity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

E.M. Browne ,
M.J. Bryant  and
D.E. Beever
E.M. Browne
Affiliation:
The University of Reading, Department of Agriculture, Earley Gate, PO Box 236, Reading RG6 6AT, UK
M.J. Bryant
Affiliation:
The University of Reading, Department of Agriculture, Earley Gate, PO Box 236, Reading RG6 6AT, UK
D.E. Beever
Affiliation:
The University of Reading, Department of Agriculture, Earley Gate, PO Box 236, Reading RG6 6AT, UK
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Extract

Crop maturity at harvest affects the intake potential of maize silage. A short feeding trial with young beef heifers (Browne, Bryant, Beever and Thorp, 1998) identified a significant depression in intake when low DM silage was fed, yet no significant effect on live weight gain was recorded. The objective of this experiment was to determine if these results were repeated in a longer intake study using finishing beef cattle and to examine the effect of maize maturity on carcass quality.

Forage maize was harvested at three stages of maturity (LOW, MED and HIGH) during September 1997. At each stage of maturity, the crop was cut and ensiled in a separate AgBag during one day, without the use of an additive. The respective silage DM concentrations were 297, 339 and 393 g/kgFWt.

Type
Programme
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1999 , 1999 , pp. 83
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Browne, E.M., Bryant, M.J., Beever, D.E. and Thorp, C.L. 1998. Effect of forage maize harvested at different stages of maturity on feed intake and performance of beef cattle. Proceedings of British Society of Animal Science 1998, p148.Google Scholar
Browne, E.M., Bryant, M.J. and Beever, D.E. 1999. Apparent digestibility and nitrogen utilization of maize silage harvested at three stages of maturity and fed to beef cattle. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science 1999 CrossRefGoogle Scholar