Nutritional requirement is defined as the daily amount of a nutrient that the animal must ingest to reach a certain level of production. It is necessary to understand the requirements of each animal in order to plan the nutritional management of the herd and meet these demands that vary over time.

The first point to plan is where do I want to get to? In other words, what is my objective? Gain weight or keep it off? Get reproductive indicators? And so, understand how it is possible to achieve these expected productive results and how long this will take.

The basic thing is to have water, protein, energy, minerals and vitamins available daily for the herd and that this is well distributed in quantity and quality throughout the year. Therefore, some particularities we need to understand to achieve bioeconomic efficiency, such as:

What is the animal’s weight, physiological state and genetic group and the category it falls into.

As for the category, it can vary as follows:

  • Breeding cow
    • In Sexual maturity
    • In reproductive period
    • Pregnant
    • Giving birth/lactating
  • Growth
    • Calf / calf
    • Steers
      • In the fattening phase
      • Castrated/whole
  • Breeders
    • In development phase
    • In maintenance phase
    • During peak period
  • Productive objectives
    • Final weight
    • Average daily gain
    • Fat deposition
    • Reproduction

 

The factors that directly influence the performance of each animal are mainly the nutritional base, which can be: pasture (native field or cultivated pastures) or confined.

Important points:

– generally, larger animals have greater requirements and this must be taken into account when choosing the animal’s biotype, whether it is of zebu or taurine origin and the production environment in question, which are influenced by tpt and humidity.

– Regarding water, it is essential that it is as clean as possible and the consumption requirement is 10 to 12 liters / day for every 100 kg of PV.

How does reading nutritional requirements work in practice?

It revolves around the % of Crude Protein (CP) and Energy of the food that is most used in % of total digestible nutrients (TDN) and we estimate daily CONSUMPTION in kg of dry matter. But to know which of these levels will meet the requirements, we set the average daily weight gain goals starting from the animal’s initial weight to the animal’s final weight. This can be changed if the objective is to maintain weight, growth, fattening or physiological status if they are female. CP percentages vary between 7 and 20% on average and TDN percentages vary between 50% and 70%. As both levels increase, WEIGHT GAIN increases or reproduction efficiency increases as well.

How do we use this in practice?

Understanding what we have to offer in terms of quality and quantity in our production system and how this is distributed throughout the year according to the seasonality of the fields and types of forage available, we are able to create priorities for each category, classifying them into NEN – Requirement Levels nutritional = High, medium or Low.

Therefore, at various times of the year we carry out specific assessments of the lots and fields on the farm and reallocate the lots according to the situation of the foals and what they offer in quantity and quality at the time that meets the necessary requirements of each lot.

Knowing the factors that affect an animal’s nutritional requirements, it is possible to plan to meet them satisfactorily because the requirement, as we have seen, is not constant or static for the same animal. It can undergo several changes in nutritional requirements in life, as it changes phase and also the available productive conditions that, depending on the season of the year, undergo changes in the supply of quantity and quality of pasture, which is influenced by climatic factors, quality of the field and also investment by the manager in cultivated pastures.