Abstract 491

Addison,-KB; Cameron,-DG; Blight,-GW

Brian Pastures Pasture Research Station, Gayndah, Queensland 4625, Australia.

Proceedings-of-the-Australian-Society-of-Animal-Production. 1984, 15, 227-230; 12 ref.

Highworth lablab (Lablab purpureus) grain given at 1 kg/head daily was compared with 0.2 ha/head of Leucaena leucocephala grazed in either a 4-weekly (1 week in the paddock and 3 weeks out) or 8-weekly (4 weeks in 4 weeks out) cycle as a post-weaning supplement to steers grazing on native pastures during winter and early spring (June to October) in sub-coastal central Queensland. Unsupplemented control steers each lost, on average, 30.5 kg over 5 months and those given lablab grain lost 6.9 kg; steers given access to L. leucocephala at 4-weekly or 8-weekly cycles had gains of 20.3 and 10.1 kg, respectively. Initially, the lablab grain was unacceptable to the young steers and, when eaten, gave liveweight responses less than expected from its chemical composition. Possible reasons for this are given.