Cattle ought to be fed more often

31oktober2006
Source: G. van Maanen, WUR
The Dutch cattle feed is very balanced. Still, prof. W. Hendriks, professor of animal feed, is seeing some options for further improvement. Cattle farmers, for example, should feed their calves more often.
In a lecture, Professor Hendriks proposed several possibilities to improve the feeding of cattle, while many believe that cattle farmers already give their animals a very balanced diet. Concentrate is not cheap. Therefore, many cattle farmers keep a close watch on a good conversion. The feed has to be converted as efficiently as possible to the desired products, like meat, milk or eggs.

Hendriks observes that the time of feeding does not optimally fit the needs of the animals. ‘It becomes more and more clear that the animal’s use of nutrients varies greatly during the day. Offering the nutrients at a time when the animals does not need them, leads to inefficiency.’ The cattle is fed ‘asynchronous’.

When pigs are concerned, an asynchrony in their demand and offer of amino acids and glucose can cause a mayor decline in the building of protein. By increasing the feeds from two to four a day, the build of protein van increase with ten percent, according to Hendriks.

According to Hendriks, profit can be made by checking whether certain amino acids in the feed are really available to the animal. The amino acid lysine, for example, undergoes a change during the production process, which makes it badly digestible. He states therefore that it is of little use when manufacturers only mention the total amount of lysine on the packing.