Productive performance of beef bulls fed tall fescue silage or meadow fescue silage and complemented with cereal grains

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two different grasses offered to weaned beef breed bulls until slaughter. Three cuts of tall fescue (TF) and meadow fescue (MF) were harvested with as similar chemical composition as possible, pre-wilted and ensiled separately in bales. Forty newly weaned intact bulls of Continental beef breeds were kept indoors and randomized to one of the two silages, complemented with 2.5-3.0 kg grain/day, and followed until slaughter. The two silages were offered simultaneously from the same cut during most of the finishing period. Bulls receiving TF had a higher silage dry matter intake than bulls offered MF (7.69 vs. 7.04 kg-d; P = 0.0026) but had lower carcass weight (370 vs. 380 kg; P = 0.0357). From this limited study it was concluded that replacing traditional MF silage with TF silage might compromise the carcass performance of finishing beef bulls.

Keywords

Tall fescue; meadow fescue; bulls; beef cattle; carcass composition

Published in

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science
2024
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

SLU Authors

• Holmström, Kristina

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Hushållningssällskapet Sjuhärad

• Oliveira de Sousa, Dannylo

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hessle, Anna

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09064702.2024.2387581

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/131672