DUCHESS, Alta. — The concept of residual feed intake has been tested for nearly 15 years by re-searchers who hunt for cattle that need less feed than their counterparts for maintenance and growth.
Promising results have been achieved in controlled settings such as feedlots, but the big question is whether animals that do well in a confined space on a controlled diet do equally well on pasture.
That is the focus of a project involving 400 cow-calf pairs at Mattheis Ranch, the base for the University of Alberta’s Rangeland Research Institute.
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The industry could be at cross purposes if animals do well on grass but not in a feedlot, said institute director Edward Bork.
“It means we may be working when we are selecting animals for efficiency in the feedlot against an animal that is efficient out here,” he said July 10 at a field day held at the 12,000 acre ranch near Brooks.
Scientists have collected DNA to search for markers indicating more efficiency among individuals, but that is a small piece of the puzzle.
“Something in the rumen of that animal or the microbes of that animal or in the physiology of the animal is different,” he said.
A new project has installed pedometers on the legs of 15 of the herd’s most feed efficient cows and 15 of the least efficient to record the number of steps taken each day as well as how often the animals lie down.
As well, GPS units on collars monitor where they go and what kind of forage they eat.
The data should tell researchers something about the animals’ behaviour and possible links to feed efficiency.
A cow may seem lazy because it does not travel far to forage, but conversely, it may not need to work hard to maintain itself.
“When you have hundreds of acres, they have lots of different choices, and that can definitely contribute to how they are eating,” said Carly Moore, one of the graduate students working on the project.
The cattle’s collars will be re-moved when they come in for weaning, and Moore can look for trends in behaviour and feeding.
Other instruments have been installed in the pastures to measure methane gas emissions. It is thought that more efficient animals emit less methane.
The research institute was established in 2010 when Edwin and Ruth Matthies donated the ranch to the university.
It has become a centre for applied research on cattle production, forage and grassland ecology studies, wildlife management, grazing and carbon sequestration and climate change.
It is also home to 30 endangered species that are part of the total population of 158 bird species, 17 mammals and 16 amphibians.
The Western Sky Land Trust and university signed a $3.8 million conservation agreement in March to protect the ranch in perpetuity. The money will contribute to a research endowment fund.
