Bovine Nutrition Flashcards
Bulky food, such as legumes, pasture grasses, and hay.
Forage (roughage)
Added to provide extra energy and protein
Concentrates
What percentage of health-related diseases in large animals can be related to improper nutrition?
90%
What are the categories that nutrient requirements are based off of?
breed, genetics, sex, age, size (weight), and stage and level of production
How long do cattle lay down to rest and ruminate for if they have been given adequate feed?
9-12 hours
“Honeycomb”
Reticulum
“Shag rug”
Rumen
“Pages of a book”
Omasum
“True Stomach”
Abomasum
How much of the total digestive tract of the reticulorumen make up in a ruminant?
50%
Where is most of the feed fermented?
Reticulorumen, small amount of feed may pass to omasum unfermented
What is the second chewing?
Chewing the cud
Why do bovine chew cud?
Larger food particles are regurgitated, chewed again and re-swallowed
What do bacteria digest?
Cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, sugar, organic acids, protein or fat
What do bacteria produce?
Ammonia or methane or synthesize vitamins
What is the ideal pH for proper digestion?
6.0
What percentage of the digestive tract does the omasum have?
8%
What occurs in the omasum?
Water reabsorbed and particle size further reduced
What happens in the abomasum?
Secretes digestive enzymes that break feed down into protein, vitamins, simple carbohydrates, fats and amino acids for absorption into the small intestine
What happens in the large intestine?
Indigestible material passes through, excess moisture reabsorbed, fecal material formed
What are the main energy sources for cattle?
CHO (main source), fats, and protein
How does cattle achieve carbohydrate requirements?
Their rumen has microorganism which breakdown fibre and use it for energy
(T or F) Microbes are not feed specific and change in feed will not lead to bloat?
False
Why is fat added to a cow’s diet?
- Increase energy level
- Increase palatability
- Decrease dustiness
- Improve hair coat
- Absorption of fat soluble vitamins
Protein requirements: young vs. mature ruminants
Young need sufficient essential amino acids
Mature need supply of protein or nitrogen
Why do mature ruminants not need essential amino acids?
They get them from rumen microbes
Examples of roughages/forages?
Pasture, range plants, plants fed green (green-chop), silages, and dry forages like hay (alfalfa, clover, brome, timothy, etc) or chopped corn stalks
Examples of Legumes?
Alfalfa, red clover, sweet clover, white clover
Examples of Grasses?
Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, reed canary, tall fescue, redtop and smooth bromegrass
What are the two concentrates that roughages and forages can be fed in?
Carbonaceous and Proteinaceous
What is Carbonaceous concentrate?
Corn, oats, sorghum, barley, rye and wheat
What is Proteinaceous concentrate?
Urea, biuret, phosphate, ammonium sulfate, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, sunflower meal or safflower meal
Green is for food: _____
Yellow is for bedding: _____
Hay, Straw
What are the five factors of a good quality forage?
Maturity, Age + Odour + Condition, Foreign Material, Leafiness, and Colour
(T or F) Cattle can make their own water soluble vitamins
True
What are Vitamins of concern?
Vitamins A, D and E (Fat soluble)
How long does it take for fat soluble vitamins to be destroyed in cut feed?
90 Days
(T or F) Diets high in grain and/or low in green forages may be low in Vitamin A
True
What are the deficiencies associated with Vitamin A?
Decreased fertility, decreased bone development, decreased feed efficiency, increased disease and illness
(T or F) Cattle fed sun cured forages and exposed to direct sunlight usually get inadequate levels
False
What are the deficiencies associated with Vitamin D?
Rickets, weak deformed calves, dead calves
(T or F) Poor placental transfer therefore calves are born with low levels, but milk from cows with adequate levels provide calf with what it needs
True
Deficiencies associated with Vitamin E and Selenium include?
Can lead to “White Muscle disease” and reproductive problems in cows (lack of causes cows to abort).
What are the three ways to supplement vitamins ADE?
- Injections
- Free choice
- Force feeding in grain and silage
Where is vitamin K sourced from?
Green forage
How is it synthesized?
Rumen bacteria
How can a deficiency of thiamin occur?
High grain diets may cause thiamin to be destroyed by rumen enzymes
What are the sources of calcium?
- Roughages
- Limestone
- Dicalcium Phosphate
- Bone Meal, Oyster Shell
What are the roles of calcium?
- Nerve transmission
- Clotting
- Digestion
- Biochemical reactions
What are the sources of phosphorus?
- Grain
- Canola meal
- Phosphoric acid
- Defluorinated rock
What are the roles of phosphorus?
- Biochemical reactions
- Energy production
- Component of bone and Teeth
What are the functions of salt?
- Maintain Osmotic Pressure and acid base balance
- Nerve transmission
- Transport of amino acids
What are the sources of salt?
- Salt blocks
- Loose salt (higher consumption)
- must balance with proper / sufficient water intake
What are the roles of salt?
- HCl in stomach for digestion
- Activation of digestive enzymes
- Regulation of blood pH
What are the sources of magnesium?
- More mature plants
- Mg oxide, Mg sulfate, Mg carbonate
- Fertilize pasture to increase plant content
What is the role of magnesium?
- Component of bone
- Carbohydrate and protein metabolism * Activation of enzymes
What is the role of potassium?
- Maintains acidity and pressure
- Enzyme reactions in CHO and Protein Metabolism and synthesis
- Nerve impulses and muscle contraction
What are the sources of sulfur?
- High protein feeds
What are the roles of sulfur?
- Component of protein, chondroitin sulfate, vitamins and hormones
- Involved in protein synthesis, energy use, hormone systems, blood clotting, and acid-base balance
What is iron found in?
- Hemoglobin and myoglobin
- Stored in liver, spleen, bone marrow
What is the role of zinc?
Enzyme systems and protein synthesis
What are the symptoms of deficiencies of Zinc?
Parakeratosis (scaly lesions and swollen feet)
What is the role of copper and where is it stored?
- Necessary for absorption and transport of iron and Hg formation
- Important in melanin, collagen, elastin and ATP synthesis
- Stored in the liver
What is the function of selenium?
Anti-oxidant
What is the source of selenium?
Grains
What are the deficiencies of selenium?
– White muscle disease
– Retained placenta
– Poor fertility
What is the role of cobalt?
- Required by rumen microbes to synthesize Vit B12
What is the role of iodine and what deficiency is associated with it?
Produce Thyroxine and Goiter
What is the role of chromium?
Potentiates the action of insulin
What is the source of chromium?
High chromium yeast
What deficiency is associated with chromium?
May increase carcass leanness
What are the three ways to feed minerals?
- Free choice
- Mix with a carrier (grain)
- Total mixed ration
What are the steps to formulate a supplement?
- Feed analysis of current feed (forage)
- Determine nutrient requirement of the group
- Estimate dry matter intake
- Compare nutrient intake with nutrient requirement and determine what nutrients are needed
- Select supplement based on it’s nutrient content and price
- Determine amount of supplement to use
- Feed supplement
- Evaluate cow performance
What are the four main functions of water?
- To help eliminate waste products of digestion and metabolism
- To regulate blood osmotic pressure
- Major component of secretions, products of conception and growth
- Thermoregulation
What are the three major sources of water?
- Free drinking water (or snow- not as main source though)
- Water in feed
- Metabolic water
How much water can beef cattle drink in a day?
26-66L per day
What is the importance of body condition scoring?
– Fertility
– Calf size
– Calving difficulties
– Expense
What are the optimal BCS for a mature cow and a heifer?
2.5 and 3.0
