Animal Science 4332
Ruminant Nutrition
Instructors:
Dr. Jim Williams (115A ASRC, 882-7354)
Dr. Ron Belyea (115B ASRC, 882-6354)
Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday 8:00-8:50 a.m.
Laboratory: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Laboratory Assistants: Andy Mueller, Kevin Spurlin and Marisa Huck
The intent of this course is to provide students with the current understanding and recent concepts in utilization of forages and concentrates by beef and dairy cattle. This will include the understanding of forage quality and how it impacts the utilization of forages for beef and dairy cattle. The course will also cover the utilization of traditional concentrate feeds as well as by products feeds and how they influence forage utilization by beef and dairy cattle. Another important aspect will be the understanding of protein fractions in feedstuffs and how they are utilized by ruminants. A large portion of the course will be devoted to formulating diets for beef and dairy cattle. This part of the course will address various scenarios associated with ration formulation and trouble shooting with regard to feed ingredient selection in order to satisfy the animal's nutrient requirement.
Lectures
The lectures will be presented by the instructors as listed in the syllabus. The lectures will cover a topic and be presented in outline form. The students will be expected to read assigned research papers as well as review articles and other designated reading assignments. These assignments will supplement the lectures and provide students with a thorough understanding of the topic. There will be occasions that students will have to go to the library and read certain papers relevant to a current topic. These reading assignments will enhance the student's understanding of the lecture topic.
Prerequisite
Students should have completed a course in principles of animal nutrition prior to enrolling in this course.
Laboratory
The laboratory will be presented to provide the student a further understanding of techniques used by the nutritionist to learn about the composition of feed ingredients fed to beef and dairy cattle. The intent of the laboratory experience is to provide students the opportunity to learn about chemical procedures used in feed analysis. Also, the laboratory will provide students the opportunity to evaluate the impact of nutrient composition on animal performance of beef and dairy cattle. Students will develop skills in ration formulation for beef and dairy cattle.
Exam
Students will be given 4 exams during the course of the semester. These exams will be spaced out during the semester as presented in the course syllabus. Laboratory exercises and computer exercises will also be given to the students in order to evaluate their understanding of analytical procedures for feed analysis as well as formulation for beef and dairy cattle.
Points distributed for exams and other assignments:
4 Hour Exams 400 points
Lab Assignments/Final Report 100 points
Computer Assignments 100 points
Assignments for Ruminant Nutrition
DATE
LECTURE TOPIC
LAB TOPIC
January 18
Introduction/Overview
Introduction
January 23
CHO fractions
Feeds; DM, TN
January 25
and degradation
January 30
N fractions and
NDF detn
February 1
N degradation
February 6
Fermentation - balancing
ADF
February 8
February 13
Fermentation
February 15
Exam 1
February 19
Forages - characteristics
In Situ digestions (DM/N)
February 21
Forages - types
February 26
Forages - digestion
In Situ/Vitro digestions
February 28
and utilization
March 5
Concentrates and
In vitro digestion
March 7
March 12
Interactions
March 14
Exam 2
March 19
Diet Formulation
Rumination
March 21
Diet Formulation
March 23
Spring Break
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March 31
April 2
Dairy diets
Rumen measurements
April 4
Dairy diets
April 9
Dairy diets/ computer evaluation
Computer evaluation
April 11
Dairy diets/ computer evaluation
April 16
Dairy diets
Computer evaluation
April 18
Exam 3
April 23
Beef diets
Computer evaluation
April 25
Beef diets
April 30
Beef diets
Computer evaluation
May 2
Beef diets
May 7
Beef diets
Computer evaluation
May 9
Exam 4