Protein Requirements of Growing-Finishing Cattle and Lambs

Abstract

Data were summarized which indicate that the protein requirements of growing-finishing cattle and lambs are a function of body weight, body weight gain and digestibility of the protein in the ration. Daily digestible protein requirements can be expressed by the following equations: cattle, DP = 2.79 Wkg0.75 (1 + 1.905 G) lambs, DP = 2.79 Wkg0.75 (1 + 6.02 G) where DP is the amount of digestible protein (g), Wkg0.75 is the metabolic mass and G is the daily gain (kg). Ideally, the above equations need to be modified such that body weight and weight gain can be replaced with carcass weight and gain of a specified composition.