Strategic supplementation for grazing animals

Abstract

The production of ruminants in Brazil is based exclusively on grazing, since they are able to provide low cost energy substrates, mainly from fibrous carbohydrates. However, forage plants in most cases when used as an exclusive source in the ruminant diet do not meet the requirements of the animal due to the recognized fluctuation of nutritional requirements, which compromises the yield, signaling to the need to supplement the animals, for the purpose of providing nutrients that are limiting performance. Supplementation should be used to maximize the utilization of the available forage, and the forage consumption of the animals can remain unchanged, increase or decrease, which makes the knowledge of this practice a challenge to obtain the desired results, keeping in mind that the supplement should not provide nutrients beyond the requirements of the animals, thereby reducing the frequency of delivery of the supplement for grazing animals. The aim is to make better use of labor in distributing the supplement and reducing costs without affecting the performance of the animals.