|
|
|
|
|
A new feed intake measurement system for growing bulls could be the straightest path toward improved performance in feeder cattle...
By Lana Robinson
Field Editor
New technology now available at the Beef Development Center of Texas in Millican may hold the key to helping producers identify superior genetic merit for feed efficiency. Industry leaders believe that collecting data on feed efficiency has the potential to improve the performance of feeder cattle and ensure U.S. competitiveness in the global market. Working in partnership with Texas A&M University, a new feed intake measurement system was installed earlier this summer at the BDCT that will provide opportunities for producers to measure feed efficiency in their bulls.
Dr. Gordon Carstens, associate professor of animal nutrition in Texas A&M's Department of Animal Science, is overseeing the cooperative research and development project that will be undertaken in collaboration with the Beef Development Center.
"We got the equipment installed in May, and the first set of bulls started on feed in July. We're getting our feet wet, so to speak, learning the system and collecting lots of good data on feed intake and feeding behavior traits in bulls. At the same time, we are starting to get the word out, letting producers know that this technology is now available to measure feed efficiency in growing bulls," says Carstens. "This is actually the first commercial installation of this kind of equipment in the U.S."
The feed intake measurement system, developed by GrowSafe Systems Ltd, was recently purchased as part of a joint partnership between TAMU's Department of Animal Science and the Beef Development Center of Texas.
"It was a huge, considerable cost up front for the equipment, but we think it will pay off," says Matt Moore, owner of the Center. "What the GrowSafe system will do is true for any breed and the large or small breeder. It can help the smaller breeder do a good job with his genetics. It lets him ID them to get on track to find the best bulls. It also helps on the cow side, which is contributing just like the bull side. The data is unbelievable. Along with everything else happening in this industry, these are some exciting times."
Located on the grounds of the Tom J. Moore Cattle Company since 1998, BDCT is the state's largest bull testing facility. The BDCT strives to provide purebred and commercial breeders of all sizes an economical alternative to developing bulls at home as well as helping them increase marketing potential. After bulls are tested, they are marketed through two annual sales to seedstock and commercial cattle operations.
"Feed conversion is the number one economic trait. We just couldn't pass this by," Moore says of the additional data the GrowSafe technology provides. "I think the real application is for these purebred breeders, trying to select a herd sire. I wouldn't pick one that hasn't been through it."
Dr. Carstens says previous research has demonstrated that feeding efficiency traits are moderately heritable.
"Four recent studies have shown that the heritability of net feed intake, an alternative measure of feed efficiency, ranges from 3 to 4.0, which is about the same range as most of the growth traits," he notes.
Robert Bruner, a seedstock producer from Huntsville who serves on the BDCT advisory committee, was an early proponent of the system. He was one of several cattle producers who met with Dr. Carstens in Canada three years ago to observe the GrowSafe system at Olds College, a research university in Alberta. He believes the technology has the ability to dramatically improve the U.S. beef industry.
"If you can shut your eyes and see cattle in the Panhandle and in the U.S. eating corn, then you envision being able to drop feed conversion by one pound, bringing it down from six to five pounds of feed per pound of gain, that makes an impact," Bruner suggests. "That's what the hog and chicken people have done, and we need to do that as well. We need to eventually get an EPD for feed efficiency. It's another tool in the tool chest for seedstock producers to use to get a more efficient animal. I think that's where we need to go."
Bruner emphasizes that embracing innovative technology is crucial to the posturing of the U.S. beef industry in the global market.
"We're trading worldwide more every day. Technology is going to be the answer for the American and Texas cattle producers and genetics of feed efficiency will be a key trait to focus on. When we feed corn, we do it to lower the price of our end product. When other countries do it, they raise their cost. In Brazil and Argentina, where they grow grassfed beef, when they feed corn, they're price goes up. Through better efficiency, hopefully, we can stay competitive in this world market. Definitely, if you can get an EPD for feed efficiency, you've got another tool in there," he says.
Carstens agrees, noting that as a result of Australian research initiated in the mid 1990s, the Angus Breed Association in Australia is now reporting estimated breeding values for net feed intake.
"The Australians are using a Pinpointer type system, similar to the GrowSafe system, to measure individual feed intake in bulls. The Pinpointer system has been used in research here in the U.S. Over in Australia, they re-engineered that system, using it to measure net feed intake in commercial seedstock bulls," he reports.
Bruner says every seedstock producer should pay very close attention to feed.
"I don't have any bulls there this time around. I've gone to a spring calving program and all the bulls in the first test are fall born, so I didn't have any. But I'll have a bunch for the next test," says Bruner.
The most common method used today by researchers to measure feed intake in cattle is through the use of Calan gate feeders. With this feed-intake system, cattle are placed in small pens and trained to eat out of individual feed bunks equipped with Calan gates that open electronically upon activation. A key, positioned around the neck of each animal, transmits a signal to open the Calan gate as the animal approaches the feed bunk, thereby allowing only one animal to eat from each bunk. Although this feeding system is able to accurately measure feed intake in cattle, it requires substantial labor to weigh feed in and out of feeders. Another disadvantage, according to Carstens, is that using the Calan gate system requires that animals be trained how to eat from feedbunks. Some animals are slow learners or never learn how to use these gates at all.
The GrowSafe system also has advantages over the use of Calan gates since it can be used in large pens and still measure feed intake of all individuals within that pen.
The GrowSafe system has a distinct advantage over conventional feed intake equipment, he says. GrowSafe research technology continuously measures individual consumption of feed, minerals or supplements under commercial feeding conditions without obstruction of typical feeding behaviors. Automatic monitoring can be conducted in commercial pens or small pen environments. Plus, this system collects feeding behavior information at the bunk, including frequency and duration of individual feeding events each day.
The GrowSafe system continuously measures feed intake data from feed bunks equipped with load cells. Antennae in the feed-intake bunks activate transponder ear tags to link individual calves to measurements of feeding events and meal intakes using a computer data acquisition unit. The set up at BCDT includes two pens that are each equipped with nine of the GrowSafe feed bunks, and 65 to 70 bulls can be fed in each pen.
All data gets transferred from the bunk to a computer at the Center using wireless technology. The data is stored on the BDCT computer. Then, a graduate student assigned to interpret data accesses it from the university's computer daily, using a separate software package from the software that acquires the data. The system transfers millions of data points each week, including the following information per bunk visit: individual bite sizes; number of bites within an event; feeding rates within a feeding event; animals seeking specific feed particles; force applied to the feed while taking bites; and feeding patterns created by individual animals.
Shawn Woods was Carstens' graduate student in charge before replacing Craig Hillert as general manager of the Beef Development Center of Texas in August (Hillert, manager since 1999, left to head up another operation). Woods, originally from eastern Ohio where his family ran a commercial cow, horse and hay operation, earned his degree in animal science from Ohio State University in 2001. He worked for R. A. Brown Ranch before coming to Texas A&M to work on his masters degree. Woods is sold on the GrowSafe system.
"It's such a new technology, we really need to get the word out there, what we're capable of," says Woods. "A lot of producers look down on the research side, but once they see things it changes their minds. At our field day, we went out to the bunks and they got to see what the actual system looks like and how it operates. Then we went into the office and looked at the computer system. They said, `Wow! We didn't realize what it could do.' It gives them a different take, the exposure."
Matt Moore likes the fact that the system may also help track down an animal before it gets clinically sick by monitoring its feeding behavior.
"This system will show you when a bull's getting sick. You know if he isn't coming up to the feed bunk, that you better go look for him. You know it before his ears drop," says Moore.
Moore says the BDCT has filled up both pens for the first test. Cost to participate is about $50 per bull.
"Producers are pretty positive. We have a lot of new customers. The test runs for 112 days, and then we'll have our fall sale. We'll have over 150 bulls to sell this year," he says.
The All-Breed Bull Sale is slated for Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004 at the Four Counties Auction Barn in Industry. For more information on the GrowSafe system or the sale, call Shawn Woods at 979/255-5121.
