مقاله در مورد مدیریت جیره در گاو.سال 2012
به همراه ترجمه:
Bunk Management
Dr. Robbi H. Pritchard
South Dakota State University
Introduction
There is a quote in the fly page of the old Henry and Morrison Feeds and Feeding textbook that states "The
eye of the master fattens his cattle". My edition dates to 1928. Surely we have come a long way since that
observation was made, or have we? Certainly technology has provided us with many new tools for feeding
cattle. Today we know much more about the nutritional needs of feedlot cattle. We have the ionophores to
favorably alter fermentation, we have anabolic implants that stimulate growth and appetite and we have
antibiotics to control metabolic or infectious disease problems. Computers balance our diets, project our
close-outs and can provide us with more records than we can seem to use.
Even with all of these tools at our disposal, not everyone is successful at feeding cattle. In some instances,
the problem is poor marketing skills. But more often than not, production costs are simply too high. In
many of these situations the tracking program can tell us that feed/gain was high or that intakes and gains
were low, but the programs don't tell us why. The diets look right on paper and management was by the
book. The cattle feeder typically blames the feed company and the feed company typically blames the
cattle. The problem goes unresolved.
It seems to me that the old quote holds true today. Bunk management is a crucial component of efficient
beef production. It relies on "the eye of the master" and is at the root of many disappointing close outs.
The goal of this paper is to bring an awareness to the reader of the costs associated with poor bunk
management, the keys to identifying the problem in feedlots and the criteria that must be considered in
implementing an effective program in commercial feedlots.
How Much Is Bunk Management Worth?