Beef cattle production and management
Practical Action
Chapter Four - Nutrition in beef cattle
Introduction
Animals need food to grow and maintain their body activities. The natural grassland provides the
most of the feed which cattle use. In sweet veld areas, cattle would be expected to gain weight at
least during the early part of the dry season.
Duration:
1hr
Objective:
By the end of this session, the participants will be familiar with:
All the essential nutrients and their importance
Fodder production for beef cattle
Urea treatment of stover
Classification of feeds into roughage, concentrates and succulents
Materials:
Hay, crop residues, guar been seed, beef concentrates, urea, water, flip chart and stands, magic
markers
Method:
Group discussion, brain storming
Feed intake
The amount of feed consumed daily by beef cattle varies according to their age, live mass,
condition and the type of feed available. In general, cattle will consume feeds containing about
90% dry matter in daily amounts equal to between 2.5 and 3% of their live mass. The amounts
usually decrease with increasing age and condition until, for example, an old cow or bull in heavy
condition may consume feeds equal to about 1.5% of its live mass. At the same time, a mature
cow on dry grazing may consume feeds equal to about 1.5% of live mass, whereas the same
animal would consume a readily available and easiIy digested concentrate mixture in amounts
equal to more than 3% of its live mass.
Essential nutirients
The following nutrients are needed by the animal for maintenance, growth and production.
Energy
From substances such as carbohydrates, fats and oils. They are energy producing nutrients
expressed by terms such as total digestible nutrients (TDN) or metabolisable energy (ME).
Proteins
Provides amino acids. They are nitrogen containing nutrients expressed as crude protein (CP),
digestible crude protein (DCP), or digestible protein.
Minerals
These are specified as elements such as calcium, phosphorous, copper and iodine. They are
grouped into major minerals and trace elements.
Water
Needed in many biochemical reactions and facilitate feed intake.
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