Grass-fed beef nutrition

Managing the intersection between forages and the

carcass

Jason Smith
Extension Beef Cattle Specialist
University of Tennessee

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Over the next 30 minutes, we’ll…
 Discuss some fundamentals of…
 Ruminant nutrition
 Beef cattle growth physiology

 Address current issues in our grass-fed beef system

 Problems associated with slow-growing cattle and harvesting cattle
at a lightweight endpoint

 Outline some nutritional management considerations that

you could put into practice

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The most often misunderstood concept
 Protein is important, but we often give it more credit than
it deserves

 Energy drives growth, not protein

 Without energy, proteins cannot be synthesized in the animal’s
body
 Feeding protein at a level greater than the animal’s requirement
will not result in a substantial increase in growth

 Protein supports an energy-dependent level of growth

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Energy
 Energy consumed by growing and finishing beef cattle is
partitioned toward one of two major uses:

 Maintenance
 Living
 Breathing
 Grazing

 Growth
 Protein
 Fat

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How do we quantify these?

https://ag.tennessee.edu/spp/Pages/forage.aspx

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Why they’re important
 Net energy for maintenance (NEm)
 Predictor of much of the forage cattle can voluntarily consume
 Cattle need to consume enough NEm to meet their maintenance
requirements before they can grow

 Net energy for gain (NEg)

 After cattle meet their NEm requirement, they need to consume
enough NEg to drive the desired level of growth
 As NEg intake increases, growth increases

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Restricted intake limits growth
2.5
 Energy content is the
primary indicator of 2

voluntary forage intake

DM INTAKE,
1.5

% OF BW
 Net energy for maintenance
(NEm)
1

 If forage has a low NEm 0.5

content, cattle may not be
able to eat enough to meet 0
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
their requirements for a FORAGE ENERGY CONTENT,
MCAL OF NEM PER LB OF DM
certain level of growth
Adapted from the NRC, 2000

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Predicted intake values
Table 1. Expected dry matter intake (DMI) based upon forage NEm content
DMI, lbs
DMI,
NEm content, Mcal/lb 700 lb steer 900 steer 1100 steer
% of BW
0.30 1.06 7.42 9.54 11.66

0.40 1.29 9.03 11.61 14.19

0.50 1.52 10.64 13.68 16.72

0.60 1.75 12.25 15.75 19.25

0.70 1.98 13.86 17.82 21.78

0.80 2.21 15.47 19.89 24.31

0.90 2.44 17.08 21.96 26.84

1Adapted from Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle (NRC, 2000)

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Energy requirements
Table 2. Energy requirements1 of growing and finishing cattle
Nutrient, unit ADG2 700 lb steer 900 lb steer 1100 lb steer
NEm, mcal/d 0.0 lb/d 5.79 6.99 8.13
-- -- -- -- --
NEg, Mcal/d 1.0 lb/d 1.59 1.92 2.23
1.5 lb/d 2.48 2.99 3.48
2.0 lb/d 3.40 4.11 4.77
2.5 lb/d 4.34 5.24 6.10
3.0 lb/d 5.30 6.40 7.45
1Adapted from Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle (NRC, 2000)
2ADG = average daily gain, and is expressed in pounds per day

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 Protein requirements
Table 3. Crude protein (CP) requirements1 of growing and finishing cattle
CP use ADG2 700 lb steer 900 lb steer 1100 lb steer
Maintenance, lbs/d 0.0 lb/d 0.97 1.17 1.36
-- -- -- -- --
Maintenance + growth, lbs/d 1.0 lb/d 1.46 1.62 1.75
1.5 lb/d 1.69 1.82 1.91
2.0 lb/d 1.91 2.01 2.07
2.5 lb/d 2.13 2.20 2.22
3.0 lb/d 2.34 2.39 2.37
1Adapted from Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle (NRC, 2000)
2ADG = average daily gain, and is expressed in pounds per day

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Typical forage composition
Table 4. Energy content of different forage varieties
Nutrient
Forage species NEm, mcal/lb NEg, mcal/lb TDN, %
Alfalfa 0.67 0.40 63
Bermudagrass 0.63 0.36 62
Big bluestem 0.62 0.36 62
Orchardgrass 0.69 0.42 67
Pearl millet 0.59 0.33 59
Red clover 0.69 0.36 67
Sudangrass 0.69 0.42 67
Tall fescue 0.56 0.31 58
Wheat 0.65 0.38 64
Adapted from Jurgens et al., 2012

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Steps toward making hay purchasing decisions

 1) Find the most energy-dense options available to you

 Look at both NEm and NEg content
 Don’t forget about protein

 2) Evaluate your options based upon cost per unit of

nutrient rather than retail price

 3) Use the information in this program to estimate

performance → cost of gain

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Rate of gain matters
 Energy diverted towards maintenance represents up to 75 % of the
overall energy consumed by the animal
 Maintenance is necessary
 Use of energy for maintenance is expensive!

 Decreasing time to achieve a target endpoint decreases the overall cost

of energy for maintenance
 More energy consumed = a lower proportion devoted to maintenance
 Results in more energy captured in the carcass and not lost to the environment

 The point: increasing rate of gain in a grass-fed system increases the

efficiency of energy utilization
 Decreasing the proportion of energy burned for maintenance will decrease the
carbon footprint of grass-fed beef

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Finished weight matters
 Harvest live weight is directly
related to both hot carcass weight
(HCW) AND dressing percent (DP)

 As harvest live weight decreases…

 HCW decreases → less carcass value

 DP decreases → less carcass value

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Finished weight matters
Influence of harvest weight on dressing percent
68
66
64
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DP (LBS)

60
58
56
54
52
800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300
LIVE WEIGHT (LBS)

Adapted from Bruns et al., 2004

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Carcass weight matters
Influence of harvest weight on retail yield
700
600
RETAIL YIELD (LBS)

500
400
300
200
100
0
800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300
HARVEST LIVE WEIGHT (LBS)
*Assumes a retail yield of 70 % of HCW

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Retail yield pays
Influence of harvest weight on gross retail value
4000
GROSS RETAIL VALUE ($/HD)

3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300
HARVEST LIVE WEIGHT (LBS)

*Assumes an average retail price of $6.00/lb

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So what?
 “Why are you telling me this if my cattle will only gain 1.25
lb/d on my pastures?”

 We need to start thinking about…

 Incorporating management practices that improve forage quality
 Utilizing forage varieties that are energy dense

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Considerations moving forward
 Areas to focus on in the future…
 Elevating rate of gain
 Increasing finished weight

 Use high energy forages to do so

 Energy drives growth
 If the energy isn’t there, growth performance will suffer

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Questions?

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