Bagomolasses as the basis of a fattening ration for cattle

Abstract

Three groups of five steers 21-27 months of age were fed individually for 17 weeks on rations containing up to 70 per cent. bagomolasses.
The bagomolasses, which contained 70 per cent. molasses and 30 per cent. bagasse, was combined in various proportions with meatmeal, urea, sorghum meal, luceme chaff and salt. The ration for Group I contained 70 per cent. bagomolasses and 2.16 per cent. nitrogen. Group H received a similar level of bagomolasses but 1.5 per cent. nitrogen. The ration for Group HI contained 2.11 per cent. nitrogen. Grain was incorporated in this ration to reduce the level of bagomolasses to 50 per cent.
A comparable group of five animals was slaughtered for carcass appraisal at the commencement of the experiment. The remainder were slaughtered at the conclusion of the 17 weeks' feeding. Response to the rations was measured by body-weight gains and changes in carcass weight and composition. The digestibility of bagomolasses was determined.
The mean daily air-dry feed intake in Group III of 22.4 lb per head per day was significantly higher (P <0.05) than that in either Group I or Group II (18.0 and 16.9 lb respectively). Mean respective body-weight gains for Groups I, II and HI were 1.4, 1.5 and 2.3 lb per day on a non-shrunk basis and 1.1, 1.0 and 1.7 lb per day on a shrunk basis. Carcass weights in Group III were correspondingly higher than in the other two groups, over 66 per cent. of this difference being due to fat deposition.
Bagomolasses was shown to have an apparent dry-matter digestibility of approximately 52 per cent. Apparent digestibility of crude protein was 16.7 per cent. and crude fibre 21.3 per cent.
From these results it, is considered that bagomolasses should not comprise more than 50 per cent. of a cattle fattening ration.