K. A. Cassida

Nutritive value of bamboo as browse for livestock

Small farms in Appalachia need management options that diversify income opportunities, are adaptable to new livestock management strategies, and help maintain environmental integrity. Plantings of temperate bamboo (Poaceae), including species native to West Virginia, were established to determine the potential nutritive value for small ruminants, such as goats (Capra hircus), at different times of the year. The bamboo species we evaluated, included several Phyllostachys spp., Semiarundiaria fastuosa and Arundinaria gigantea, were able to withstand Appalachian winter temperatures and retain some green leaves even in late winter. Although small differences were evident, the nutritive value was generally comparable among species and exhibited similar trends over the season. Total non-structural carbohydrates in bamboo leaves decreased throughout the growing season, and then remained stable or increased during winter. Conversely, crude protein was relatively low in young leaves compared to late season or over-wintered leaves. Concentrations of fiber and protein were sufficient to meet the maintenance needs of adult goats. The ability of bamboo to remain green and maintain the nutritive value throughout winter suggested that it has potential as winter forage for goats in central Appalachia. As an upright browse, bamboo may reduce the exposure of goats to gastrointestinal parasites. Perennial stands of temperate bamboo could prove to be a valuable, multiple-use crop suitable for Appalachian farm operations and easily adaptable to goat production systems.

Recirculating elutriator for extracting gastrointestinal nematode larvae from pasture herbage samples.

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) parasites present an important limitation to ruminant production worldwide. Methods for quantifying infective larvae of GIN on pastures are generally tedious, time-consuming, and require bulky equipment set-ups. This limitation to expedient data collection is a bottleneck in development of pasture management practices that might reduce pasture infectivity. We modified a soil elutriator concept for extracting GIN larvae from fresh herbage samples. Elutriators were constructed from readily available parts and compared to the Baermann funnel sedimentation method for larvae extraction. More samples could be extracted per day in the elutriator than in a Baermann unit with extraction times of 8 min versus 24h, respectively. Accuracy, measured as maximum recovery of larvae seeded onto herbage samples, did not differ between extraction methods (62.3 vs. 69.8% for elutriator and Baermann, respectively, P>0.05). Larvae recovery from herbage in elutriators showed a strong log(e) relationship with extraction time (r(2)>0.98), which will allow development of accurate correction factors for specific herbages to predict total larvae densities at extraction times less than those needed for maximum recovery. An extraction time of 8 min per sample gave the best compromise of speed, accuracy, and precision as measured by regression confidence bands and root mean square error of analysis of variance. Precision of the elutriator extraction for pasture samples was comparable to published methods and was not affected by forage species or canopy strata. The elutriator method was sensitive enough to detect differences in larvae density as small as 8 larvae g(-1) DM among pasture treatments. Elutriators extracted nematode larvae from herbage samples with accuracy and precision similar to existing methods, but did it much faster. Elutriation shows promise as a rapid method for extracting infective GIN larvae from pasture herbage.

Food Footprint as a Measure of Sustainability for Grazing Dairy Farms

Livestock productions require significant resources allocation in the form of land, water, energy, air, and capital. Meanwhile, owing to increase in the global demand for livestock products, it is wise to consider sustainable livestock practices. In the past few decades, footprints have emerged as indicators for sustainability assessment. In this study, we are introducing a new footprint measure to assess sustainability of a grazing dairy farm while considering carbon, water, energy, and economic impacts of milk production. To achieve this goal, a representative farm was developed based on grazing dairy practices surveys in the State of Michigan, USA. This information was incorporated into the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) to estimate the farm carbon, water, energy, and economic impacts and associated footprints for ten different regions in Michigan. A multi-criterion decision-making method called VIKOR was used to determine the overall impacts of the representative farms. This new measure is called the food footprint. Using this new indicator, the most sustainable milk production level (8618 kg/cow/year) was identified that is 19.4% higher than the average milk production (7215 kg/cow/year) in the area of interest. In addition, the most sustainable pasture composition was identified as 90% tall fescue with 10% white clover. The methodology introduced here can be adopted in other regions to improve sustainability by reducing water, energy, and environmental impacts of grazing dairy farms, while maximizing the farm profit and productions.

Response of Forage Chicory Seedlings to Available Soil Phosphorus in Two Soils in a Controlled Environment

Poor phosphorus (P) fertility is a problem limiting productivity on unimproved Appalachian soils and has been implicated in poor palatability of forage chicory (Cichorium intybus L.). Three cultivars were grown in a greenhouse at varying soil P levels in Gilpin and Hagerstown silt loam soils and harvested 48 and 77 days after planting. In Gilpin soil, available soil P (ASP) was positively associated with dry shoot mass, leaf mass, leaf area, and leaves per plant and negatively associated with specific leaf area. In Hagerstown soil, ASP was positively associated only with only dry shoot and leaf mass. At equivalent ASP levels, dry shoot and leaf mass, leaf area, and shoot concentrations of P, potassium, calcium, and magnesium were always greater in Hagerstown than Gilpin soil, whereas specific leaf area was less. Equalization of ASP concentration and environmental conditions did not eliminate growth-limiting differences between Gilpin and Hagerstown soils for chicory.

Stockpiled Prairiegrass Provides High-Quality Fall Grazing for Lambs

New varieties of prairiegrass (Bromus catharticus Vahl. = B. willdenowii Kunth.) exhibit improved persistence over ‘Grasslands Matua’ under USA growing conditions, but animal performance data are lacking. We evaluated performance of lambs grazing stockpiled ‘Dixon’ prairiegrass on West Virginia hill pasture in autumn. In 2006 and 2007, a three-year-old stand of Dixon was cut for hay in late July, fertilized with 56 kg/ha of N, and stockpiled for eight weeks. Three pasture replicates of stockpiled forage were grazed by ewe lambs under a putand-take grazing system for a total of 24 days (25 September to 19 October) with budgeted grazing intensities of 50% (GI50) or 75% (GI75) removal of forage mass. At the end of the grazing period, lambs were heavier (42.3 vs. 41.2 kg), and had greater average daily gain (ADG) (264 vs. 216 g/day) on the GI50 vs. GI75 treatment, respectively, but gain per ha was greater on the GI75 treatment (193 vs. 253 kg/ha). Fall grazing intensity did not affect forage mass, botanical composition, tiller density, or nutritive value of stands harvested for hay in the following May. Good forage mass production and excellent lamb gains on stockpiled prairiegrass indicate this grass deserves serious consideration for fallfinishing of lambs.

Programmed Feeding for Maintaining Gestating Beef Cows in the Southeastern United States

To evaluate programmed feeding of beef cows fed high concentrate diets as an alternative to hay, 160 spring calving cows (average BW = 510 ± 11 kg) were stratified by age, body condition score (BCS), and BW. The cows were randomly distributed into 10 drought-stricken pastures (16 cows per pasture) on September 11, 1998. Cows on eight pastures were fed one of four diets (two pastures per diet) formulated with corn or corn gluten feed (CGF) and 20% cottonseed hulls (CSH) or rice hulls (RH) for 87 d and compared with cows on two pastures that were allowed free-choice hay plus a supplement. Diets were fed in amounts to meet requirements for NEm and had similar metabolizable protein yields (corn and CSH, 1.8, 17; corn and RH, 2.0, 14; CGF and CSH, 1.5, 23; and CGF and RH, 1.7, 21 NEm/kg and CP percentage, respectively). Data were analyzed in a completely random design by ANOVA; pasture was the experimental unit. Programmed feeding decreased (P 0.20) among treatments over the feeding period. The cows fed hay plus supplement cost approximately

Eating and Resting Salivation in Early Lactation Dairy Cows

1.03/d, but the cost of the program-fed cows averaged

Biofuel Component Concentrations and Yields of Switchgrass in South Central U.S. Environments

0.54/d. After cows were returned to forage-based diets, no differences (P>0.25) were detected among treatments in BW, BCS, calving date, or calf performance. Programmed feeding of high concentrate diets to gestating cows during forage shortages is a viable alternative to feeding hay. Also, when grain prices are favorable, feed costs to maintain gestating cows are lower with grain than with hay plus supplement.