Complementary use of neotropical savanna and grass-legume pastures for early weaning and effects on growth and metabolic status of weaners and inter-calving intervals of dams

Bodyweight performance, estimated carcass traits and methane emissions of beef-cattle categories grazing Andropogon gayanus, Melinis minutiflora and Stylosanthes capitata mixed swards and Brachiaria humidicola pasture

“…However, the authors observed that the model underpredicted LWGs compared to our measured records. In summary, as suggested above, cow-calf systems in the Orinoco basin are complex and multidimensional (Ezzano 2005;Vera et al 1993Vera et al , 2002Vera and Ramírez Restrepo 2017). However, the present paper has only touched on a small number of their characteristics, whereas others related to additional environmental and social impacts have been addressed elsewhere (Hoogesteijn and Chapman 1997;Navas-Ríos 1999).…”

“…To the authors knowledge, there is no comparable experimental information about the performance of adult animals in the study region, but it supports, the limited number of available on ranch observations. Thus, given the fact that irrespective of the year, all studied cattle were subject to a similar commercial management considerations, differences in LW performance most likely reflects a variability and/or interaction amongst environmental conditions (Domínguez et al 2003;; growth traits, including compensatory gains (Hernández-Hernández et al 2015); genetic parameters and their interacting networks (Ceacero et al 2016;Lopes et al 2013;Pereira et al 2016); hormones secretion (Kasuya 2016; Widmann et al 2013); maternal effects (Neidhardt et al 1979); grazing management (Vera and Ramírez-Restrepo 2017); diet selection (O'Neill et al 2013); nutritive and metabolic trigger factors in the forage resources (Tedeschi et al 2014); and the adaptive capacity of Brahman and Belmont Red Composite to respond to those triggers within a climate change environment (Ramírez-Restrepo and Charmley 2015). In parallel, a particularly relevant aspect is that putting weight on cull cows in thin to medium condition has been found to be more profitable than cows with higher body scores (Amadou et al 2014).…”

“…Given the difficulties of mustering cattle over large paddocks 1-2 times per year, steers of 2-4 years of age are also found. Thus, although the slaughter of female cattle represents a significant portion of the beef chain (Missio et al 2015), the variable herd composition contributes to the wellknown flexibility and adaptability of these natural resource-dependent systems to drought and flood conditions (Rivera 1988;Vera and Ramírez-Restrepo 2017).…”

In vitro assessment of ruminal fermentation, digestibility and methane production of three species of Desmanthus for application in northern Australian grazing systems

“…However, any attempt to achieve sustainable tropical pastoral production requires an integrated mitigation framework that considers profiles of plant-rumen fermentation characteristics as one of the key elements (Ramírez-Restrepo and Charmley 2015). This approach will help improve nutrition balance, body growth, reproduction and cattle welfare (Provenza et al 2007;Manteca et al 2008;Provenza and Villalba 2010;Vera and Ramírez-Restrepo 2017). In this respect, Desmanthus cultivars may contribute to improve nutrition for pastures and as an additional effect may mitigate CH 4 emission from grazing cattle.…”

Methane emissions of extensive grazing breeding herds in relation to the weaning and yearling stages in the Eastern Plains of Colombia

“…Liveweight data comes from projects designed by R. R. Vera Infanzón and implemented by the two authors in the context of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)'s former Tropical Pastures Program, and financed by its core budget. It covers two full and consecutive RCs and replicated twice in consecutive years sourced from neotropical savanna grazing trials conducted ethically by Colombian registered Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (Vera and Ramírez-Restrepo 2017). The experiments involved Brahman (Bos indicus) and crossbred Brahman x San Martinero (native; Bos taurus) cow-calf pairs subject to conventional weaning (CW; 304 ± 2.29 days) and early weaning (EW 114 ± 2.20 days) herd management practices.…”