Inaugural ASAS–CAAV Asia Pacif ic Rim Conference Abstracts

T301 Observation of the feeding management of supercows with an automatic feeding system in Hokkaido, Japan. H. Terui*, T.Ueno, A. Aimaiti, and K. Ataku, Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Hokkaido,Japan.The objective of this study was to observe the feeding management of supercows, very-high-milk-producing cows, often with an annual production of morethan 20,000 kg, held in a back-to-back tie-stall barn for 24 h daily, by using acomputerized automatic feeding system. The feeding system comprised a feeddelivery wagon, grain silos, a forage storage box, and a forage loader, all undercomputer control. Certain amounts of silage needed to be kept in the forage boxon the farm all day. At programmed times, feed ingredients were loaded onto thewagon automatically, and the wagon, which had an electric motor, drove under arail along the feed bunk and delivered forage and other ingredients to individualcows in programmed amounts. The forage portion was fed first, and the grainand dry ingredients were then dropped onto the forage. Cows were divided into3 groups depending on their milk production and received feeds mostly throughthe automatic feeding system. High-moisture by-products were fed manuallytwice a day. This manual 5-times-a-day feeding was replaced with 6-timesa-dayfeeding by the automatic feeding system. The system allowed frequentfeeding, regardless of the convenience to humans, but with suitable timing forthe cows. When the production histories of dairy cows fed automatically werecompared with those fed manually, the automatic feeding system for cows wasconsidered nutritionally more advantageous, but it did not result in remarkablyhigher production or performance of cows. One disadvantage of the automaticfeeding system is that leftover feed cannot be measured automatically. Thus,manual DMI monitoring is required, and maintaining the quality of silageduring storage in the large forage box, where it is exposed to oxygen, couldresult in some problems compared with manual feeding. The automatic feedingsystem could deliver feed ingredients by programming individually formulatedrations (as many as the capacity of the controlling computer), but that may notalways be practical. Thus, dividing the cows into several groups based on theirproduction levels might be suitable for the observed application.Key Words: super cow, automatic feeding systemT302 Growth performance and meat quality in biologicaland conventional Piemontese cattle farms in Italy. K. Guo* 1 , F. Liu 1 , G.Destefanis 2 , and I. Zoccarato 2 , 1 Beijing University of Agriculture, ChangpingDistrict, Beijing, China, 2 Turin University, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.The main objectives of this study were to compare the productive performancesand meat quality of Piemontese cattle on a conventional farm (CF) and abiological farm (BF) located in northwestern Italy. The forage-to-concentrateratio on the BF from 150 d of age to slaughter was 2:1 (DM basis; i.e. 5.1 kg offorage and 2.59 kg of concentrate). On the CF, this ratio from 180 d of age toslaughter was 1:2 (DM basis; i.e. 2.2 kg of forage and 4.33 kg of concentrate).The salughter data were collected from 48 young cattle of both sexes per farm.Physicochemical parameters of the longissimus thoracis et lumborum wereanalyzed using 7 bulls per farm. Laboratory analyses were carried out in theDipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche, Turin University. Statistical analysis wasperformed using ANOVA of SPSS. Results showed the mean slaughter age was21 mo on the BF and 16 mo on the CF. The BW of males at slaughter on the BF(603 ± 73.7 kg) was significantly greater than that of females on the CF (468± 30.1 kg) and was the same for dressing pecentage (68.5 ± 1.1% vs. 65.0 ±1.2%). Average daily gain was significantly greater for males on the CF (1.18 ±0.14 kg/d vs. 0.82 ± 0.08 kg/d) than females on the BF. Meat from the BF hadless water content (73.99 ± 0.55% vs. 75.16 ± 0.46%) and more ether extractcontent (1.22 ± 0.02% vs. 0.54 ± 0.01%) than that from the CF. There were nodifferences in CP content of meat from the BF and CF. Meat from the BF wasdarker than that from the CF (L*: 40.76 ± 1.31 vs. 43.56 ± 0.99), and the yellowand red indexes were higher in meat from the BF than in that from the CF (a*:27.10 ± 1.52 vs. 24.81 ± 1.03; b*: 10.39 ± 0.12 vs. 9.41 ± 0.08), which couldlead to a negative visual evaluation of BF meat. The BF meat had greater driploss and less cook loss than the CF meat (2.48 ± 0.03 vs. 2.07 ± 0.05, 13.81 ±0.11 vs. 15.51 ± 0.18, respectively). The shear force of meat from the 2 farmswere similar. In conclusion, the biological feeding method could not meet therequirements of Piemontese cattle, which caused lower ADG and a remarkableprolongation of the finishing period. The conversion from CF to BF could leadto economic disadvantages; thus, the adoption of a biological farming methodrequires financial and market support.Key Words: biological farm, growth performance, Piemontese cattle87