Texas gains new cattle feeding research facility

A US$450,000 cattle feeding facility has been opened at the Texas AgriLife Research and USDA complex near Bushland.

 

It was necessary to build some new facilities that included a commodity barn and equipment that can measure gas production in cattle, due to the influx of DDGS into the cattle feeding industry and the regulatory push to monitor greenhouse gases and other air quality contaminants, said Dr. John Sweeten, AgriLife Research resident director in Amarillo.

 

The project was made possible by the efforts of Cooperative Research, Education and Extension Team (CREET). Team leaders worked with local legislators to secure part of the funding.

 

There are billions of dollars worth of feedstuffs purchased in this region, and the important research being done on ethanol byproducts will hopefully expand the options cattle feeders have for feedstuffs, said Ross Wilson, Texas Cattle Feeders Association president.

 

Dr. Tony Bryant, chairman of the cattle feeders research committee, said the research looks at the different grains and protein sources and how to formulate the best diets. 

 

Dr. Dan Upchurch of College Station, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Southern Plains Area director, said the research conducted in the facility will improve efficiency in feeding the cattle because it offers researchers more accuracy in their studies, less labour and fewer opportunities for errors as the diets are formulated.

 

It also reduces the cost of research because the covered, more efficient storage space reduces spoilage of the feed, Upchurch said.

 

Dr. Jim MacDonald, AgriLife Research ruminant nutritionist, said he is responsible for evaluating the efficiency of various feed products and the effects they have on beef.

 

Dr. Andy Cole, USDA-ARS animal scientist, said the addition of respiration calorimetry chambers into the metabolism barn will allow the measurement of carbon dioxide and methane, as well as the consumption of oxygen, by the animals. From that, they can determine how efficiently the animal uses calories in the diet so that the net energy of the dietary ingredients can be determined, Cole said.

 

Animal nutritionists can then use those numbers to help formulate the most productive diets, he said.

 

"At the same time, we get an idea of how much of the greenhouse gases - methane and carbon dioxide - are produced by the animals," Cole said. "Then we can look at how dietary changes can affect those losses."