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Greetings from Mundubbera
The Mundubbera area is looking great at the moment. Thanks to the recent rain, and if you believe the long rang weather forecasts it’s not over yet. It is great to see people smiling at the prospect of going into winter with a decent amount of feed. Because of the recent rain events pasture is now growing faster than normal. Your pasture is more than likely to be producing more fibre and lignin than usual as it matures into both stages 3 & 4 plants, limiting intake.
Benefits of Early Weaning During Drought
With over 60% of Queensland drought declared, there has been a noticeable increase in early weaning calves in some of the driest parts of the state. Early weaning can be defined as weaning calves at an age that is younger than what is ‘usual’ practise. The typical weaning age in Queensland is between 5-8 months with many factors affecting this range. If in a situation where early weaning is necessary, calves weaned at 3-4 months are easier to feed and manage than younger calves. However, provided they are fed a high energy, high crude protein, grain-based diet and managed correctly, calves can be safely weaned without a milk replacer as young as 4 weeks old.
Compensatory Growth
Compensatory growth is the "better than expected" growth performance seen in animals following a period of very low weight gain or weight loss when nutrient levels return to sufficient amounts. During a stressful period, an animals maintenance requirements will lower to aid survival which means that their growth efficiency and protein deposition potential increase. When they are given access to a higher quality feed, they experience fantastic compensatory growth. Cattle may experience compensatory gain only for a short period of time before they plateau and grow at similar rates to other stock that did not undergo nutrient restriction.
The Importance of Protein Meals
Protein meals are a valuable base for dry lick supplements and for inclusion in grain rations. Common high quality forms of protein meal are cottonseed meal and copra.
These protein meals provide a portion of bypass protein; this is not degraded in the rumen and passes into the small intestine where it is absorbed and utilised directly by the animal. The portion that is digested in the rumen is degraded over many hours, enabling a prolonged supply of protein (nitrogen) for microbial reproduction. More rumen microbes can then continue to breakdown pastures at a greater rate and over a longer period, hence increasing the animals?۪ overall daily pasture intake. An increase in pasture intake means that more energy and microbial protein become available to the animal.
The Principle of the Most Limiting Nutrient
This principle refers to the nutrient that must be supplied first in order to improve production. The most commonly limiting nutrient in northern Australia is phosphorus, but other minerals such as salt, copper, cobalt and selenium have been identified as deficient in some regions. Commonly presented as Liebig?۪s barrel analogy, the image below demonstrates that the nutrient that is most deficient in the diet must be met before substantial production gains may occur.
Supplementing with phosphorus in the green for improved breeder productivity
The key nutrients required by ruminants are water, metabolisable energy, protein, phosphorus, sulphur, sodium, calcium, vitamins, and trace minerals. The order in which these nutrients are listed is respective to their relative importance to the ruminant.
