Beef X Dairy & Environments
What are the production differences during finishing
Cross bred calves have increased ADG and G:F
more marbling - more prime and AAA
What are precision dairy technologies designed for? Provide examples
To help measure physiological, behavioural and production variables on individual animals
To be used with nutrition, animal health, production, environment, fertility
Help with repro, health and production/quality control
How do you manage crops and silage
Harvest DM and maturity
Chop lengths
Inoculants
Packing of silage
Covering/sealing
Managing the face - feed out
What are the other opportunities/challenges with beef x dairy?
opportunities = Age and source verified, less bruising, Hides without brands, 22% lower GHG emissions than beef
Challenges = More trim fat, reduced lung health, more severe liver abscesses
What are the opportunities and challenges of precision technology on-farm?
Challenges = Management factors, cow factors (Parity, milk production level, lameness, BCS, Stage of lactation), Environmental factors (flooring, stall type, heat stress)
Benefits = less labour, reduced synthetic hormone use, lameness detection, estrus detection, mastitis detection, metabolic disease detection
Why is chop length and cereal grain processing important?
Chop length = storage and feeding (so no picking and choosing)
Evaluating particle length - particle size separator and Z-box
What are the regulations associated with environmental sustainability?
The agricultural operations act - Regulations for addressing complaints of ag nuisance and protection of water resources - waste storage and waste management plans
Components of an ILO = Site selection and waste storage and management plans
Approval process - public, site characterization, completed application working with a regional engineer
How can farmers use the information provided by precision tech to improve animal performance and meet target goals?
use wearable tech to help with estrus detection, calving, metabolic diseases, etc...
Other non-wearable tech - Camera (BCS, lameness), walk over platforms (lameness, BW), orally dosable devices, in-line milk component analysis (yield, fat, protein, lactose)
Why do you do innoculation
Stimulate rapid and more efficient fermentation - targeted fermentation
inhibit aerobic spoilage
What are the factors affecting GHG emissions from dairy cattle operations?
Animals, Feeding, Housing, Manure storage, manure application, soil
Infrastructure, equipment, fossil fuels, petroleum products
What is the goal of silage management?
Relatively immature plant - High NDF digestibility, Good starch concentration
Silage is preserved via fermentation - rapid reduction in pH = soluble sugars ferment -> lactate
How much losses occur in the bunker silos?
Less than 10% of bunkers achieve a storage loss of less than 12%
50% of bunkers have a storage loss in the 12-20%
40% of bunkers experience a storage loss exceeding 20%
What are the strategies used to mitigate environmental impacts?
Animal breeding (low methane cows or high producing cows), Nutrition (carb sources, lipids, forage quality, legumes, grazing management), Animal productivity (nutrition, genetics, health, management), Rumen fermentation & microbiome (inhibitors, tannins, macro/micro algae, probiotics)
What are the stages of silage fermentation
Stage 1 - aerobic respiration = O2 entrapped in silage during filling, plant proteases will degrade some protein
Stage 2 - Fermentation = Anaerobic, lactic acid bacteria increase, unstable
Stage 3 - Storage = Should be stable and maintained as an anaerobic system, storage conditions matter
Stage 4 - Feed out = Exposure to air, yeast/mold growth
What are the three ways to fill a bunker? Whats the best method? Why?
Progressive wedge, height before length, length before height
Progressive wedge is the best. There is less silage respiration with it.