PSIV-B-30 Late-Breaking: Effects of wheat straw bedding usage on hide tag scores during winter and spring in finishing feedlot cattle fed in eastern South Dakota

摘要

Hide tag scores (TS; 1 to 5 point scale; 1=no tag, clean hide and 5=lumps of manure attached to the hide continuously on the underbelly and side of the animal from brisket to rear quarter) were collected on March 22 or March 25, 2019 (winter), and on May 10, 2019 (spring) from pens of 5 to 8 head of steers and heifers housed in 7.6 × 7.6 m concrete pens at the Ruminant Nutrition Center in Brookings, SD. Treatments included: 1) 2.5 kg (as is basis) of bedding/animal/d (n = 8 pens; HI); 2) 1.8 kg (as is basis) of bedding/animal/d (n = 15 pens; LO); or 3) no bedding (n = 15 pens; NO). Pen TS distribution was analyzed using a multinomial distribution approach appropriate for a CRD. Winter: There was greater (P = 0.01) TS 2 in HI compared to LO and NO (42.5 vs. 4.2 and 0.0 ± 7.27%). Cattle in HI had greater (P = 0.01) TS 3 compared to LO and NO (55.0 vs. 25.8 and 5.0 ± 10.20%). Cattle in LO and NO had greater (P = 0.01) TS 4 compared to HI (59.2 and 45.6 vs. 2.5 ± 10.48%). Cattle in NO had greater (P = 0.01) TS 5 compared to LO and HI (49.4 vs 10.8 and 0.0 ± 8.80%). Spring: HI had the greatest (P = 0.01; 5.0 vs. 0.0 and 0.0 ± 1.56%) TS 1. Cattle in HI had the greatest (P = 0.01) TS 2 compared to NO and LO (55.0 vs. 23.7 and 21.4 ± 7.58%). Cattle in HI had lower (P = 0.01) TS 3 compared to NO and LO (37.5 vs. 69.5 and 65.6 ± 8.40%). No differences (P ≥ 0.13) for TS’s 4 and 5 were detected during the spring. These data indicate that greater amounts of bedding results in less severe TS and TS became less severe as the season changed from winter to spring.