Diet quality and ruminal digestion in beef cattle grazing midgrass prairie rangeland or plains bluestem pasture throughout the summer

Abstract

Beef cattle fitted with esophageal (four steers/pasture) or ruminal and duodenal (six calves/pasture; beginning BW +/- SE = 267 +/- 6 kg) cannulas grazed midgrass prairie rangeland (excellent range condition; MIDGRASS) or plains bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var. Plains) pasture (BLUESTEM) in mid-May, late-June, mid-August, and mid-October of 1990 and 1991. Nitrogen in masticate samples collected from MIDGRASS was lowest (P < .05) in June and August across both years. The N in BLUESTEM masticate peaked (P < .05) in August 1990, but N was lowest (P < .05) in August 1991. The detergent fiber content of masticate from both forages increased (P < .05) as the grazing season advanced from May through August; fall regrowth in October occasionally resulted in a small decrease (P < .05) in fiber content. In vitro OM disappearance (IVOMD) followed a pattern similar to N content. The IVOMD of BLUESTEM masticate was greater (P < .05) than that of MIDGRASS masticate. The ruminal ammonia N concentration (milligrams/deciliter) in cattle grazing BLUESTEM (4.5) usually was greater (P < .05) than in cattle grazing MIDGRASS (3.3). In situ OM and N disappearance was greater (P < .05) from BLUESTEM masticate than from MIDGRASS masticate in May, June, and August. The ruminally degraded N:ruminally degraded OM ratio (grams/kilograms) estimated from in situ digestion suggested that cattle grazing MIDGRASS during the mid-summer of both years and BLUESTEM in August 1991 may have been marginally deficient in ruminally degraded N. Plains bluestem pasture would complement MIDGRASS by providing better quality grazing during the mid-summer.