TY - JOUR
T1 - Warm-season annual forages in forage-finishing beef systems
T2 - I. Forage yield and quality
AU - Harmon, Deidre D.
AU - Hancock, Dennis W.
AU - Stewart, Robert L.
AU - Lacey, Jenna L.
AU - McKee, Robert W.
AU - Hale, John D.
AU - Thomas, Chevise L.
AU - Ford, Elyse
AU - Segers, Jacob R.
AU - Teutsch, Chris D.
AU - Stelzleni, Alexander M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2019/2/26
Y1 - 2019/2/26
N2 - The demand for a year-round supply of fresh, locally grown, forage-finished beef products has created a need for foragefinishing strategies during the summer months in the southeast. A 3-yr study was conducted to evaluate four warm-season annual forages in a southeastern forage-finishing beef production system. Treatments were four forage species and included brown-midrib sorghum × sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor var. bicolor, Bicolor var. sudanense; BMR), sorghum × sudangrass (SS), pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.; PM], or pearl millet planted with crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.; PMCG]. Treatments were distributed in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Pastures (0.81 ha, experimental unit) were assigned to one of four forage treatments, subdivided, and rotationally stocked with a variable stocking density. Britishcross beef steers (n = 32; 3-yr average: 429 ±22 kg) grazed for 70, 63, and 56 d in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. Put-and-take animals were used to maintain a forage allowance of 116 kg forage dry matter /100 kg body weight. Forage mass was measured by clipping a 4.3-m2 area in triplicate on d 0 and on 14-d intervals. Hand grab samples for forage nutritive value determination and quadrat clippings for species compositions were measured on d 0 and on 34-d intervals until termination of the trial. Forage mass was lowest (P < 0.01) for PMCG at the initiation of the grazing trial, whereas BMR was greater (P < 0.01) than SS at wk 6. Total digestible nutrients in 2014 were greater for SS compared to BMR and PM at the middle harvest (P < 0.01) and BMR, PM, and PMCG at the final harvest (P < 0.01). At the middle and final harvests in both 2015 and 2016, PM and PMCG contained greater (P < 0.01) concentrations of crude protein than SS. These results suggest that BMR, SS, PM, and PMCG may all be used in southeastern forage-finishing beef production systems, as long as the producer strategically accounts for the slight growth and nutritive value differences throughout the season.
AB - The demand for a year-round supply of fresh, locally grown, forage-finished beef products has created a need for foragefinishing strategies during the summer months in the southeast. A 3-yr study was conducted to evaluate four warm-season annual forages in a southeastern forage-finishing beef production system. Treatments were four forage species and included brown-midrib sorghum × sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor var. bicolor, Bicolor var. sudanense; BMR), sorghum × sudangrass (SS), pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.; PM], or pearl millet planted with crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.; PMCG]. Treatments were distributed in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Pastures (0.81 ha, experimental unit) were assigned to one of four forage treatments, subdivided, and rotationally stocked with a variable stocking density. Britishcross beef steers (n = 32; 3-yr average: 429 ±22 kg) grazed for 70, 63, and 56 d in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. Put-and-take animals were used to maintain a forage allowance of 116 kg forage dry matter /100 kg body weight. Forage mass was measured by clipping a 4.3-m2 area in triplicate on d 0 and on 14-d intervals. Hand grab samples for forage nutritive value determination and quadrat clippings for species compositions were measured on d 0 and on 34-d intervals until termination of the trial. Forage mass was lowest (P < 0.01) for PMCG at the initiation of the grazing trial, whereas BMR was greater (P < 0.01) than SS at wk 6. Total digestible nutrients in 2014 were greater for SS compared to BMR and PM at the middle harvest (P < 0.01) and BMR, PM, and PMCG at the final harvest (P < 0.01). At the middle and final harvests in both 2015 and 2016, PM and PMCG contained greater (P < 0.01) concentrations of crude protein than SS. These results suggest that BMR, SS, PM, and PMCG may all be used in southeastern forage-finishing beef production systems, as long as the producer strategically accounts for the slight growth and nutritive value differences throughout the season.
KW - Beef
KW - Forage-finishing
KW - Grass-fed
KW - Warm-season annuals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072374338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85072374338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/tas/txz075
DO - 10.1093/tas/txz075
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85072374338
VL - 3
SP - 911
EP - 926
JO - Translational Animal Science
JF - Translational Animal Science
IS - 2
ER -