AMAFERM® SUPPLEMENTATION IMPROVES LIVEWEIGHT AND UNIFORMITY IN BACKGROUNDING BRANGUS CATTLE GRAZING

1. MINERAL PLUS AMAFERM® SUPPLEMENTATION IMPROVES LIVEWEIGHT AND UNIFORMITY IN BACKGROUNDING BRANGUS CATTLE GRAZING DEFERRED GATTON PANIC Diego Vidart1, René Ramos2, Martín Mariani3, Osvaldo Cisneros3, Francisco Freytes3, Julián Fantini3 y Fernando Bargo4 1Consultant in Animal Nutrition; 2Manager “Buen Agua”; 3Nutrefeed S.A.; 4BioZyme Inc SUMMARY: mineral plus Amaferm® supplementation increased significantly (P < 0.05) the liveweight gain by 0.16 kg/d (0.61 vs. 0.45 kg/d) in Brangus steers grazing deferred Gatton panic (Panicum maximum). After 145 days, supplemented steers weighed 21 kg more of liveweight than control steers (307 vs. 286 kg; P < 0.05). Moreover, the uniformity of the cattle group was increased with the supplementation; the proportion of steers gaining more than 0.5 kg/d was 73% vs. 94% for the control vs. mineral plus Amaferm®, respectively. OBJECTIVE: the objective of this on-farm test was to evaluate the impact of mineral plus Amaferm® on liveweight gain of Brangus steers grazing a deffered Gatton panic pasture. THE ON-FARM TEST: the test was led by nutritionist Diego Vidart at a beef farm located in Joaquín V. González (Salta province, Argentina). - A total of 391 Brangus steers with an initial liveweight of 220 kg were randomly asigned to 2 treatments: 1)CONTROL: 195 steers supplemented with 1 kg/d of whole cotton seed 2)MINERAL AMAFERM® SUPPLEMENT: 196 steers supplemented with 1 kg/d of whole cotton seed plus 0.2 kg/d of mineral supplement with Amaferm® (25% calcium carbonate, 12% salt, 1950 ppm Zn, 650 ppm Cu, 10 ppm Se, 100 ppm I, 7.5 ppm Co, 1% Amaferm). At the beginning of the evaluation, all steers were dewormed and vaccinated against pneumonia and Clostridium. Gatton panic quality averaged 6.2% CP (crude protein), 73.9% NDF (neutral detergent fiber), 50.3% ADF (acid detergent fiber), 9.6% lignin, 43.3% TDN (total digestible nutrients), 0.18 % P (phosphorus), 0.23% Ca (calcium) y 0.23% Mg (magnesium). The length of the evaluation was 145 days, beginning July 27th, 2018. The 391 steers (195 controls, 196 supplemented with Amaferm®) were individually weighed 5 times during the evaluation on days 0 (July 27th), 40 (September 5th), 70 (October 10th), 117 (November 21st), and 145 (December 10th). Liveweight and average daily gain (ADG, kg/d) was analyzed statistically to detect significant differences (P < 0.05; Test Tukey, InfoStat). - - - - 1

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3. RESULTS: - Initial liveweight: initial liveweight averaged 220 kg and it did not differ (P > 0.05) between treatments. Final liveweight: after 145 days grazing a deferred Gatton panic, the steers supplemented with mineral plus Amaferm® weighted 21 kg more (307 vs. 286 kg PV; P < 0.05). Average daily gain: steer supplemented with minerals plus Amaferm® gained more liveweight: + 0.16 kg/d (0.61 vs. 0.45 kg/d; P < 0.05). Growth curve: the following graph shows that supplementation with minerals plus Amaferm® accelerated (P < 0.05) the growth of the Brangus steers. - - - 3

4. - Lot uniformity: supplementation with minerals plus Amaferm® improved the uniformity of the cattle lot as it can be seen at the graph below. More than 94% of the supplemented steers gained more than 0.5 kg/d of liveweight, while only 73% of the unsupplemented steers obtained those gains. CONCLUSIONS: the supplementation with minerals plus Amaferm® increased 0.160 kg/d the liveweight of backgrounding Brangus steers grazing a deferred Gatton panic. After 145 days, the supplemented steers weighed 21 kg more of liveweight. The supplementation also improved the uniformity of the cattle lot with more than 94% of the steers gaining more than 0.5 kg/d. 4