Response to supplement was low at an average of 75g
LWG/kg supplement fed. There was no significant difference
in LWG between types of supplement, however it should
be noted that the cattle were less aggressive in eating the
straight PKE compared to the other blended feeds.
During the trial period pastures averaged 71% green leaf
and 9.4 MJ ME/kg DM. Pre-graze pasture mass averaged
2760 kg DM/ha and post-graze 1960 kg DM/ha. Though
this would indicate a medium quality pasture, availability
was high and therefore all cattle were under relatively high
levels of nutrition from pasture, as indicated by the LWG of
the pasture only treatment. A low response to supplement
should be expected when a medium quality pasture is
replaced with a medium-high quality supplement. The
lower response to supplement compared to the previous
studies may also be somewhat due to these autumn born
calves being better able to handle the summer/autumn
pasture conditions compared to the younger calves in the
previous studies.
The use of supplem