Supplemental chromium for stressed and growing feeder calves

Abstract

The effects of supplemental chromium (Cr) from high-Cr yeast were investigated with steer calves fed corn silage diets. One hundred eight Charolais-crossed calves, weighing 245 kg after marketing and transport, were allotted to one of four treatments during the initial 28-d stress period: control, .4 ppm of Cr in the diet, long-acting injectable oxytetracycline (LAOTC), and Cr + LAOTC. Those fed Cr received 4 mg of Cr/d for the first 3 d sprinkled onto a small amount of hay over the silage. Chromium without LAOTC increased (P less than .05) ADG by 30% (.61 vs .79 kg/d) and ADG/DMI by 27% (.123 vs .156). Oxytetracycline alone increased (P less than .05) ADG by 30% and DMI by 15%. Chromium had no effect on morbidity. However, LAOTC tended (P less than .14) to reduce morbidity (26.0 vs 14.0%) after its administration. After d 28, steers were processed. Two weeks later, they were rerandomized within Cr groups to urea-corn vs soybean meal supplementation of corn silage during a 70-d growing period. Level of Cr was reduced to .2 ppm. Jugular blood was collected from eight steers on each treatment on two occasions. Chromium had no effect on ADG or ADG/DMI. However, Cr decreased (P less than .05) serum cortisol (75.0 vs 55.6 nmol/L). Furthermore, Cr increased (P less than .05) serum immunoglobulin M and total immunoglobulins in calves fed diets with soybean meal but had no effect in calves with urea-corn supplementation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Chromium and protein supplements for growing-finishing beef steers fed barley-based diets

“…Chromium supplementation, which was continuous from arrival in the feedlot, had no significant effect on daily gain' DM intake to gain ratios, or sickness in the growing period when it wut udd"d as chelated Cr (Table 5)' The lack of response to Cr after the initial 3-4 wk in the feedlot is consisLnt with the report of Chang and Mowat (1992)'…”

“…In addition, calvis which did not consume concentrate in the first few days would have received no supplemental Cr' However, 72Vo of animals were treated after day 7, thus low or uneven intakes of supplemental Cr should not have been a major factor affecting results from this experiment. Supplemental Cr had no effect on daily gain, DM intake, DM intake to gain ratio or on incidence of sickness (Table 4)' This is in iontrast with results of Chang and Mowat (1992) . In contrast, no improvement in gain, feed efficiency or percentage morbidity were observed when amino acidchelated Cr was added to the diet of250 kg Charolais-cross steer calves in Ontario studies of Wright et al (1994). According to Mertz (1993) (Table 5).…”

“…Incidence of sickness is therefore quite high, with reported morbidities of 8-56Vo (Lofgreen et al 1978; Cole et al1979;Lofgreen et al 1980;Martin et al 1982;Cole et al 1982;Hutcheson et al 1984 Zinn et al 1987; Schipper et al 1989;Chang and Mowat 1992;Moonsie-Shageer and Mowat 1993). Sickness is costly due to treatment costs, death losses, and reduced Derformance.…”

“…Chang and Mowat (1992) (Veira et al 1985(Veira et al , 1988 (Anonymous 1992 Protein, minerals and DM content of the feeds were determined as described by Mathison et al (1989). Water in silage was determined by drying in an oven at 100oC to constant weight during the experimental period as well as by gas chromatogaphy (Fenton et al 1981) (Martin et al 1980;Lofgreen 1983;Mwansa et al 1991 ).…”

Roasted, steeped soybeans for growing steers fed alfalfa–grass silage

“…Little information is available on the effect ofprotein supplementation on cortisol production in ruminants. However, Chang and Mowat (1992) a-bMeans within a row followed bv different letters differ (P < 0.05).…”