‘Slick’ bunk management may come with a price
US - Sometimes it’s not what the cattle eat, but how they’re fed that makes all the difference.
21 February 2007
2 minute read
Widely adopted in the last decade, clean or “slick” bunk management reduces wasted feed and, in many cases, improves feed efficiency and gain. It may come with a price, though. “With $150 to $200 premiums for Certified Angus Beef (CAB) qualifying carcasses, compared to Select, it’s a matter of good economic sense to watch the little details,” said Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef LLC.
Cattle nutritionists explain the finer points of fine-tuning bunk management. “If you run a clean bunk system, the goal is not to feed the cattle less. It’s just to force the cattle to clean up in shorter periods of time,” said Galen Erickson of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There are some benefits to the system, “but the clear disadvantage is the risk of underfeeding,” he said.
“If you underfeed them, it may have some negative implications on carcass quality.” In two different trials, Erickson found that clean bunk management reduced the percent of cattle grading Choice by 4 to 5 percentage points compared to free choice intake. The animal scientist says that could be due, in part, to decreased caloric intake. However, he notes that only one of the trials showed a decrease in dry matter intake. Robbi Pritchard of South Dakota State University, says this management approach should actually improve efficiencies and increase the amount of feed consumed.
“The goal should be feed intake that is either unaffected or higher at closeout than when they don’t go for slick bunks,” he said. “Intake can be higher because you shouldn’t have those episodes where cattle back off from the feed.” The challenge is feeding the cattle all they can and will eat. “You run the risk of limiting energy intake if you slick-bunk manage too aggressively,” said Paul Defoor of Cactus Feeders based in Amarillo, Texas.
Source: tristateneighbor
