A mathematical tool was designed for estimating the daily gain of medium- to large-frame stocker cattle grazing bermudagrass pasture in the southeastern US. This tool can predict stocker performance satisfactorily by accounting for daily changes in forage nutritive value, animal nutrient requirements, and herbage intake. It was tested against long-term historical data on stocker average daily gain, stocker body weight, and bermudagrass forage mass collected during several trials conducted at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton. As the evaluation results showed, this tool performed reasonably well in estimating stocker average daily gain. In addition to reliably estimating stocker daily energy requirements and performance, this tool can help predict the daily nutritive value of bermudagrass forage and daily forage mass and forage allowance.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.