New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Liveweight gain, herbage intake, and ingestive behaviour in
Compudosereg.-treated and untreated steers at pasture
G. ARANDA-OSORIO
S. T. MORRIS
S. N. McCUTCHEON
Department of Animal Science
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand
W. J. PARKER
Department of Agricultural & Horticultural
Systems Management
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract Twenty 14-month-old Friesian steers and sixteen
14-month-old Angus cross steers were randomly assigned within "breed" to
Compudosereg. treatment (24 mg of oestradiol-17[[beta]] impregnated in a
silicone rubber implant with an active life of 200 days) or left untreated.
Fasted liveweight gain (LWG) of the steers was recorded as were calculated
herbage intakes and grazing behaviour, measured on two occasions (days 34-50
and days 168-184 of treatment). Compudose-treated steers gained a mean of 856
g/day compared with 710 g/day by the control steers over the treatment period
(20.6% increase, P < 0.001). The final fasted liveweight of
treated steers was improved by 29.5 kg (7.1%) over that of the untreated steers
(P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the amount of
herbage eaten or in components of grazing behaviour between the treated and
untreated groups. Under pastoral conditions, as in feedlots, Compudose
treatment appears to increase both LWG and the efficiency of that gain.
Keywords finishing steers; Compudosereg.; liveweight gain;
herbage intake; ingestive behaviour
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1996, Vol. 39: 263-269
0028-8233/96/3902-0 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1996
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (516K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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