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PASTURE MANAGEMENT AND FORAGE UTILIZATION

Performance of Cows and Their Calves Creep-Grazed on Rhizoma Perennial Peanut

^a USDA-ARS, STARS, 22271 Chinsegut Hill Rd., Brooksville, FL 34601
^b USDA-ARS, SAA, 950 College Station Rd., Athens, GA 30604

^* Corresponding author (mjwi{at}mail.ifas.ufl.edu).

Received for publication February 12, 2003. Where tropical grasses such as bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flügge) make up the base forage, creep-grazing legumes should be beneficial to calf performance. Treatments of creep with rhizoma perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata Benth.) and no creep were set-stocked (n = 24, 20, and 32 cow/calf pairs per treatment/replicate combination in 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively) for an 84-d grazing period (June–September). Base pasture forage dry matter (DM) availability was similar all 3 yr (avg. 2.81, 2.63, and 3.13 Mg ha^–1 for 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively) and for both treatments (2.84 and 2.87 Mg ha^–1 for creep and no creep, respectively). Forage DM availability in the creep areas averaged approximately 3.0 Mg ha^–1 and was composed of about 60% grass and 30% rhizoma perennial peanut (RPP). Nutritive value of RPP was usually 60 mg kg^–1 higher for crude protein (CP) and 200 mg kg^–1 higher for in vitro organic matter disappearance (IVOMD) compared with the associated grass (97.7 mg kg^–1 CP and 415.8 mg kg^–1 IVOMD). Utilization of creep area varied with year and breed of calf (Angus < 10% vs. Romosinuano > 50%). As a consequence, performance of Angus calves was not affected, but average daily gain (ADG) for Romosinuano calves with access to creep area was higher (+0.14 kg d^–1) than that for calves with no creep. Also, body condition score (BCS) that was higher in August and September for creeped-Romosinuano calves. Creep grazing the calves had no effect on cow performance (weight, ADG, or BCS).

Abbreviations: ADG, average daily gain • BCS, body condition score • CP, crude protein • DM, dry matter • IVOMD, in vitro organic matter disappearance • PUN, plasma urea nitrogen • RPP, rhizoma perennial peanut