The Shell Knob Basin (Southwest Missouri) | garvo - 3/20/2013 06:01
Biggest thing with the implants is protein-your ration has to have a higher protein and calories to take advantage of the implant
Recent research has shown that this may not necessarily always be true, especially if the calves are recieving a majority of their energy from highly digestble fiber as opposed to starch.... It's always been thought that it was true becasue of one study done at Iowa State way back in the day comparing "large frame steers" on a full fledge acidic high starch corn based fedlot "finishing" ration that showed that the steers that were implanted and put on a diet containing 12.5-15 percent protein instead of 9.5 - 11 gained 30 percent more and a feed effciency was 19 percent higher as opposed to the average 8 to 15% ADG pick-up and 6-10 percent increase in feed effecincy with the """"""same""""" calves on the control (theirs no such thing as "the same calves").... Recent data out of Oklahoma proves that steers that are implanted with the same growth implant and on a commodity (soy bulls/wheat mids/gluten/and distillers) supplement with a forage base don't show "a significant increase in ADG or effecincy" when the protein in the overall ration is increase or decreased by 4%... but the overall group did see a significant decrease in ADG when too much fat was included in the supplement... just remember... if your protein is cheap, it may pick you up a bit of efficency with those hotter implants, but if its going to cost you quite a bit to include it in the ration, the protein increase might not be worth the investment, but the implants will still do you plenty of good whether your planning on bumping the energy and protein in the diet or not!............ |
Cattle Implants
