Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/55123
Title: Physical and chemical characteristics of feedlot pen substrate bedded with woodchip under wet climatic conditions
Contributor(s): Wilkes, Janelle  (author)orcid ; Tait, Amy L (author)orcid ; Flavel, Richard J  (author)orcid ; Turnell, James  (author)orcid ; Cowley, Frances C  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2022-10
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1017/S002185962200048X
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/55123
Abstract: Wet winter conditions can create animal welfare issues in feedlots if the pen surface becomes a deep, wet, penetrable substrate. Feedlot pens with a clay and gravel base (N = 30) bedded with 150 mm (W15) and 300 mm (W30) depth of woodchips were compared to a control treatment with no bedding over a 109-day feeding period, while irrigated to supplement natural rainfall. The pad substrate was measured for variables which would affect cattle comfort and value of the substrate for composting. The penetrable depth of control pens was higher than both woodchip-bedded treatments from week 2, and increased until the end of the experiment. Meanwhile these scores were steady for W30 throughout the experiment, and increased for W15 only after week 10. Moisture content of the pad was higher throughout the experiment in the control pens than in the woodchip-bedded pens. In the control pens, the force required to pull a cattle leg analogue out of the pen substrate was three times that required in woodchip-bedded treatments. The W15 treatment increased C : N in the substrate to the upper limit of suitability for composting, and in W30, C : N was too high for composting after a 109-day feeding period. Overall, providing feedlot cattle with 150 or 300 mm of woodchip bedding during a 109-day feeding period improved the condition of the pad substrate for cattle comfort by reducing penetrable depth and moisture content of the substrate surface stratum, but composting value decreased in W30 over this feeding period duration.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: The Journal of Agricultural Science, 160(5), p. 413-422
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1469-5146
0021-8596
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 300306 Animal welfare
300302 Animal management
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 100103 Management of solid waste from animal production
100401 Beef cattle
109902 Animal welfare
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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