Abstract 334

Smith,-GH; Warren,-B

Rutherglen Research Inst., Dep. Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chiltern Valley Road, Rutherglen, Vic. 3685, Australia.

Australian-Journal-of-Experimental-Agriculture-and-Animal-Hu bandry. 1986, 26: 1, 7-12; 13 ref.

Four supplements were compared in an experiment in which yearling Hereford steers were grazed on mature annual pasture for 84 days and given supplements of pelleted cottonseed oilmeal, lupins, oats + isobutylidene diurea (IBDU) or oats alone at 0, 300, 600 or 900 g daily. The supplements increased growth rates from -214 (no supplement) to 321, 119, 47 and 47 g daily, respectively (900 g daily). The cottonseed oilmeal supplement produced significantly better growth rates than the other 3 supplements, the responses to which did not differ significantly. During 111 days after supplementation, when all steers were lot-fed as one group before slaughter, there was substantial, but not complete compensatory growth and a significant inverse relationship between growth during supplementary feeding and growth during the next 111 days. There was no significant difference in growth during lot-feeding, carcass weights, dressing percentages or carcass fatness associated with the previous supplementary feeding treatments. The effects of 5 different supplements (including the 4 mentioned above) on the intake of a poor quality roughage by weaner lambs were compared in a preliminary pen-feeding experiment. The supplements (pelleted cottonseed oilmeal, lupins, oats + IBDU, oats + urea, and oats alone) significantly improved roughage intake by 26 to 49%. There was no significant difference among supplements.