Urea in supplements for growing young cattle on veld grazing in the dry season

Author: J.L. Grant
Year: 1979
Issue: 1
Volume: 9
Page: 33 - 39

The effect of replacing increasing amounts of cottonseed cake meal with urea in isonitrogenous (40 per cent CP) supplements for growing weaner steers has been investigated over a period of three years. Each year six groups of 30 Hereford x Afrikander weaner steers were fed, either no supplement (control) or 500 g per head daily of a cube containing 0, 2, 4,6 or 8 per cent urea during winter, while grazing veld. The performance of the steers declined as the level of urea in the supplements increased. This decline, measured in terms of carcass mass change, was highlv significant (P> 0.001) and could be described by the equations: Y = 16,38 – 0,76X (r2 = 0,92) or Y = 15,81 – 0,19X – 0,07 X2 (r2 =0,96) where Y is the predicted carcass mass response and X the level of urea in the supplement. An estimate is given, based on the above equations, for the efficiency of utilization of urea in the supplements and, consequently, the optimal level of inclusion is defined

Keywords: Cattle, Supplementation, urea., veld grazing
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