ANSC 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Short-Chain Fatty Acid, Festuca, Rumen
Document Summary
Five most important factors of cow/calf management: reproduction, nutrition, record keeping, herd health, marketing. Cattle are ruminants and like, sheep have a compartmentalized stomach: rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum. This capacity is large so food consumed can be stored allowing microorganisms to breakdown complex carbohydrates. This is what makes them biological bush-hogs. These fibrous substances are cellulose and hemicellulose. Rumen fermentation produces volatile fatty acids (vfa) that are the main sources of energy: acetate, propionate, butyrate. Methane gas is also produced as a byproduct of fermentation: if it is not released, bloat can occur and if severe enough it can cause death. Animal and rumen bacteria are in symbiotic relationship: also synthesizes b-vitamins and amino acids. In tennessee, beef cattle nutrition and forages go hand in hand. Forages are the basis for economical production. Pastures and green forages: tall fescue, orchard grass, bermuda grass, clover, ryegrass, wheat. Dry forages and roughages: grass and legume hay, straw, cornstalks, corncobs, cottonseed hulls.
