Variance component estimation and genome-wide association of predicted methane production in crossbred beef steers.

Enteric methane is a potent greenhouse gas and represents an escape of energy from the ruminant digestive system. Additive genetic variation in methane production suggests that genetic selection offers an opportunity to diminish enteric methane emissions. Logistic and monetary difficulties in directly measuring methane emissions can make genetic evaluation on an indicator trait such as predicted methane production a more appealing option, and inclusion of genotyping data can result in greater genetic progress.

Characterization of water intake and water efficiency in beef cattle1,2.

In the future, water may not be as readily available due to increases in competition from a growing human population, wildlife, and other agricultural sectors, making selection for water efficiency of beef cattle increasingly important. Substantial selection emphasis has recently been placed on feed efficiency in an effort to reduce production costs, but no emphasis has been placed on making cattle more water efficient due to lack of data. Thus, the objective of this study was to calculate water efficiency metrics for cattle and evaluate their relationship to growth, feed intake (FI), and feed efficiency.

Environmental effects on water intake and water intake prediction in growing beef cattle.

Water is an essential nutrient, but there are few recent studies that evaluate how much water individual beef cattle consume and how environmental factors affect an individual's water intake (WI). Most studies have focused on WI of whole pens rather than WI of individual animals. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of environmental parameters on individual-animal WI across different seasons and develop prediction equations to estimate WI, including within different environments and management protocols.

Test duration for water intake, ADG, and DMI in beef cattle.

Water is an essential nutrient, but the effect it has on performance generally receives little attention. There are few systems and guidelines for collection of water intake (WI) phenotypes in beef cattle, which makes large-scale research on WI a challenge. The Beef Improvement Federation has established guidelines for feed intake (FI) and ADG tests, but no guidelines exist for WI.

Technical note: Validation of an automated system for monitoring and restricting water intake in group-housed beef steers.

The Insentec Roughage Intake Control (RIC) system has been validated for the collection of water intake; however, this system has not been validated for water restriction. The objective of this validation was to evaluate the agreement between direct observations and automated intakes collected by the RIC system under both ad libitum and restricted water conditions. A total of 239 crossbred steers were used in a 3-d validation trial, which assessed intake values generated by the RIC electronic intake monitoring system for both ad libitum water intake ( = 122; BASE) and restricted water intake ( = 117; RES).