Report on a further experiment to compare the fattening values, for beef cattle, of silage made from grass cut at different stages of growth, together with the results of some supplementary experiments

Abstract

1. A feeding trial is described including four groups of cattle fed on grades I, II and III silages and on swedes, straw and oats respectively.2. The live-weight gains made are recorded, together with the rate of dry-matter intake.3. The efficiency of the dry matter of the diets was calculated.4. All three grades of silage produced a significantly greater rate of fattening than swedes plus straw and oats. There was no significant difference between the fattening values of the three grades of silage.5. The dressing percentages found for 100 silagefed and 71 swede-fed cattle are given. The swedefed cattle yielded a greater average dressing percentage.6. It is suggested that the higher dressing percentage found for root-fed cattle as compared with silage-fed cattle can be attributed to the more rapid elimination of dietary water from the body in rootfed cattle.7. An animal behaviour study is described, the time spent by cattle on the four diets, eating, cudding and lying down, being determined.8. Cattle fed on grass silage spent longer on feeding plus cudding than swede-fed cattle.9. An experiment is described designed to determine the effect of the dry-matter percentage of the diet on the dry-matter intake of ruminants.10. The results indicate that when ruminants are subsisting on a diet consisting solely of succulents, the dry-matter intake is depressed when the dry-matter percentage of the diet falls.