Supplementing the diet of your livestock with key missing nutrients can provide a remarkable return on investment. But how do you know you are providing your animals what they need and not more of what they already have?
Join Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Extension Officers Mick Sullivan and Kylie Hopkins in this three-part recorded webinar series when they discuss:
- Beef cattle nutrition principles
- Herd management and nutrition
- Choosing and managing supplements.
Supplementing the diet of your livestock with key missing nutrients can provide a remarkable return on investment. But how do you know you are providing your animals what they need and not more of what they already have?
Join Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Extension Officers Mick Sullivan and Kylie Hopkins in this 3-part (recorded) webinar series when they discuss:
- Sensible Supplementation 1 – beef cattle nutrition principles
- Sensible Supplementation 2 – herd management and nutrition
- Sensible Supplementation 3 – choosing and managing supplements
You can use the tabs below to select and watch a full recording or use the playlists (below each recording) to jump to the start of a particular section within the recording.
Sensible Supplementation 1 – Beef cattle nutrition principles
- pasture intake
- identifying limiting nutrients
- protein
- energy
- phosphorus
- other minerals
Full recording
Playlist
- Sensible Supplementation – beef cattle nutrition principles
- Outline
- On-line resources
- Handy resources
- FutureBeef website – phosphorus information
- Beef cattle nutrition 101
- Cattle food pyramid – what’s needed nutritionally?
- Vitamin and minerals
- What’s the most limiting nutrient…?
- a. Early in the dry season
- b. Late in the dry season
- c. Wet season on phosphorus deficient country
- Energy
- Protein
- Sulphur
- Phosphorus (P)
- P deficiency – cows
- P deficiency – growing animals
- P deficiency and repletion
- Benefits of P supplementation
- What quality are different forage sources?
- Nature’s supplement – legumes
- Diet quality effects on liveweight gain
- Breeder nutrition in the dry season
- Summary
- Extra support
Sensible Supplementation 2 – Herd management and nutrition
- Managing seasonal variation in diet quality
- Importance of breeder body condition
- Choosing joining times
- Strategies to manage breeder body condition
Full recording
Playlist
- Sensible Supplementation 2 – herd management and nutrition
- Webinar series outline and recap
- Diet quality is closely related to the season
- Filling the dry season gap?
- Breeder body condition scores
- End of dry season body condition and expected pregnancy rates
- Forward store at calving is insurance against a late season break
- How much do management options reduce dry season breeder live weight loss?
- How long can your cows hang on for?
- Green date – when does the season break?
- Factors to consider in joining times
- Breeder segregation
- Summary
- Extra support
Sensible Supplementation 3 – Choosing and managing supplements
In this webinar recording, Mick Sullivan (DPI Extension Officer, Rockhampton) discusses the types of supplements available and how to choose the most effective option for your situation.
Topics discussed include:
- Supplement types and their use
- Reading supplement labels
- Nutritional requirements and targets
- Assessing and choosing supplements
Download a copy of the presentation – Sensible supplementation 3 -Choosing & managing supplements (PDF, 2.60 MB)
Full recording
Playlist
- Sensible Supplementation – Choosing and Managing supplements
- Webinar series outline
- Supplement types
a. Non protein nitrogen supplements
b. Protein and energy supplements
c. Energy supplements - Reading labels
- Check units used in labels
- Intake must be considered with analysis
- Liquid supplements
d. Check specific gravity
e. Dry matter versus As Fed basis - Nutrition requirements and targets
- Supplement selection
- Which protein supplement?
- Lick composition
- Which energy supplement?
- Managing supplements
- Supplement versus substitution
- Summary
- Extra support
Additional resources:
Dry season management of a beef business (FutureBeef) →
Protein and urea supplementation (FutureBeef) →
Improving beef business performance with phosphorus supplementation (FutureBeef) →
Supplement labels: what are they saying? (FutureBeef) →
Weaner supplements (FutureBeef) →
Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (Queensland Government) →
The Long Paddock (Queensland Government) →
FarmHub (National Farmers’ Federation) →
Rural Financial Counselling Service (Southern Queensland) →
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland Government) →
