IMPACTS OF STRESS FACTORS ON PERFORMANCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING OF FARM ANIMALS (FROM W1173)

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0228053
• Multistate No.: W-2173
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2011
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2016
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762

Performing Department
Prairie Research Unit

Non Technical Summary
Cattle encounter multiple sources of stress in their lifetime. Of particular interest in our studies will be weaning, transportation, and heat stress. Conventional practice in the U.S. is to wean calves from their dams by abrupt remote separation. The separation of the calf from its dam alone is a psychological stress along with other sources of stress that commonly occurs at weaning (transport, crowding, and introduction to new environment). Stress weakens the immune system response to disease challenge and calves become more susceptible to respiratory infections. Methods that can potentially decrease stress at weaning can be of great value to producers. The weaning process can be performed in more gradual ways to potentially decrease stress on the calves. The use of anti-suckling nose-clips has been promoted as one such method. These nose-clips allow the calf to maintain physical contact with its mother while suckling is prevented. The calf wears the nose-clip for a period of time (ranges from 3 to 14 days) while remaining in the paddock with the dam. The nose-clips are removed and calves are subsequently remotely separated from dams. There may be different effects on animal behavior and performance due to differences in nose-clip designs. At weaning, calves are often transported, compounding the stress experienced by the animals. However, transport is also a common stress experienced later in life when cattle leave pasture-based stockering programs and enter a feedlot finishing system. Most feedlots are located in the mid-west which means cattle from Mississippi must be transported a considerable distance. Heat stress can occur in all life stages of cattle. In the southern U.S. in particular, heat stress can cause decreases in animal performance. A variety of methods exist to help alleviate this stress, the most basic of which is to provide shade. Multiple sources of shade are usually available, and the optimal one to use may be a combination one that meets both the animals need and the producers capabilities. Evaluation of these stressors and potential methods of reducing their impact on beef cattle should lead to development of improved management strategies for producers. Application of these improved management regimes should improve animal performance, health, and well-being by reducing the impact of the stressor in question.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
315	3310	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
315 - Animal Welfare/Well-Being and Protection;

Subject Of Investigation
3310 - Beef cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

grazing behavior

weaning stress

transport stress

heat stress

gps

Goals / Objectives
OBJECTIVES: 1.Identify measures of animal stress and well-being and characterize factors affecting the biology of stress and immune responses 2.Identify and assess genetic components of animal stress and well-being 3.Development of management strategies and/or tools to enhance farm animal well-being under conditions of climatic change or other stressful environments.

Project Methods
A series of weaning trials will be conducted at Mississippi State's Prairie Research Unit to evaluate the efficacy of various methods to reduce the stress of weaning. Multiple two-stage weaning techniques will be used including anti-suckling nose-clips (of various designs), fence-line weaning, and combinations of these methods. Animal intake will be measure using our GrowSafe Feeding Facility. Calf body weights will be measured pre- and post-weaning and during a preconditioning period. Blood will be collected for analysis of various indicators of stress (cortisol, acute phase proteins, and others). Fecal samples will be collected regularly throughout the trial for evaluation of fecal cortisol. Animal behavior will be monitored with GPS, bite counters, and activity monitors (measure time spent grazing/standing/lying, and count number of steps taken). Experimental pastures have been established at Mississippi State's Prairie Research Unit to evaluate forage systems using native warm season grasses (NWSG; Big bluestem, Little bluestem, and Indiangrass) or Bermudagrass during the summer grazing season. Cattle will be finished either in a commercial feedlot or in a forage-finishing system. A transportation study will be conducted with the cattle transported to the feedlot. Trailer conditions will be evaluated (temperature, relative humidity, space allowance, vibration) as well as animal behavior (via video monitoring). Subsequent feedlot performance will also be assessed. Sudangrass will be planted and harvested as baleage for feeding in winter in the GrowSafe Feeding Facility at Prairie Research Unit. Regrowth of those annual warm-season pastures will be grazed after NWSG forage becomes limited. High-nutritive value cool-season pastures will be grazed by cattle from Fall to Spring. Throughout the year animal weight will be recorded every 28 days along with measures of forage availability, quality, and utilization. Cattle behavior will be recorded via GPS collars and activity monitors. These pastures contain multiple sources of shade, both natural and artificial (trees, brush, man-made shade structures). Use of these different shade options will be monitored via GPS, along with other heat-stress related behaviors such as number of visits to water source and time spent standing/lying/grazing. These behaviors will be related back to measures of animal performance and meteorological conditions.

Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Mississippi and Southeastern U.S. beef cattle producers and land owners with native warm season grasses and cow-calf producers implementing on-farm weaning are the target audiences who will benefit from these research findings. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project involved training of data collectors, each of whom has acquired new knowledge in this process. Graduate students were involved in this project and received training as a result of that involvement. Data analysis including laboratory and field procedures was taught to personnel involved in this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Outreach efforts were conducted to share research results with producers firsthand via field days at the research location as well as via presentations to producer and academic audiences off site. Beef cattle producers in the area were specifically targeted to attend these events. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This serves as the final report. This project is complete.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Previously stated goals of the project were met. Significant findings are detailed in the publications listed in this report that summarize these relevant research efforts. Accomplishments include determination of beef cattle growth performance and grazing behavior as well as forage nutritive value of native warm-season grasses relative to bermudagrass. Efficacy and production impacts of anti-suckling noseclips for weaning calves were also established. These results have immediate applications for beef cattle producers in the region. As such, results were disseminated via several outreach events to both academic and producer audiences to share the information discovered via this project.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Kurve, V. P. Joseph, J. B. Williams, H. T. Boland, S. K. Riffell, and M. W. Schilling. 2012. Meat quality and consumer sensory acceptance of beef from cattle that are fed native warm season grasses during the stocker phase. Eastern Native Grass Symposium, Charlottesville, VA. October 1-4, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Monroe, A. P., S. K. Riffell, J. A. Martin, L. Wes Burger, Jr., and H. T. Boland. 2012. Response of a breeding grassland bird to native warm-season grass pasture conversion. Eastern Native Grass Symposium, Charlottesville, VA. October 1-4, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T., B. J. Rude, J. A. Martin, S. K. Riffell, and L. Wes Burger, 2012. Native warm season grasses for stocker cattle production. Eastern Native Grass Symposium, Charlottesville, VA. October 1-4, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T., J. A. Parish, J. R. Parish, T. F. Best, and C. Young. 2012. Behavior of beef steers grazing five different tall fescue cultivar-endophyte combinations. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Int. Ann. Mtg., Cincinnati, OH, October 2124, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T., R. Palme, W. Epperson, S. T. Willard. 2012. Determination of stress in beef calves weaned using different methods. Non-invasive Monitoring of Hormones Conference. Univ. of Vet. Med. Vienna, Austria. September 23-26, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T., B. J. Rude, J. A. Martin, S. K. Riffell, and L. Wes Burger. 2012. Beef steer performance when grazing native warm-season grasses. ADSA-AMPS-ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Joint Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ. July 15-19, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Oloyede, B. S., B. J. Rude, H. T. Boland, and B. S. Baldwin. 2012. Nutritional profile of native warm season grass grown as a mono- or multi-species pasture. ADSA-AMPS-ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Joint Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ. July 15-19, 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Monroe, A. P., S. K. Riffell, J. A. Martin, L. Wes Burger, Jr., and H. T. Boland. 2012. Converting bermudagrass to native warm-season grass pasture: Effects on dickcissel nest success. Southeastern Prairie Symposium, Mississippi State University. May 14-17, 2012. Mississippi State, MS.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Oloyede, B. S., B. J. Rude, S. Riffell, J. Martin, H. T. Boland, and B. S. Baldwin. 2012. Nutritional profile of native warm season grass grown as a mono- or multi-species pasture.. Southeastern Prairie Symposium, Mississippi State University. May 14-17, 2012. Mississippi State, MS.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Kurve, V. P. Joseph, J. B. Williams, H. T. Boland, S. K. Riffell, and M. W. Schilling. 2012. Effect of feeding native warm season grasses during the stocker phase on beef carcass charactersistics and meat quality. Southeastern Prairie Symposium, Mississippi State University. May 14-17, 2012. Mississippi State, MS.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T., J. A. Martin, S. K. Riffell, L. Wes Burger, Jr., and B. J. Rude. 2012. Performance of beef steers grazing native warm season grasses in Northeast Mississippi. Southeastern Prairie Symposium, Mississippi State University. May 14-17, 2012. Mississippi State, MS.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Oloyede, B. S., B. J. Rude, S. Riffell, J. Martin, H. T. Boland, and B. S. Baldwin. 2012. Nutritional profile of native warm season grass grown as a mono- or multi-species pasture. 10th Annual Mississippi State University Graduate Student Research Symposium. April 14, 2012. Mississippi State, MS.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boland, H. T. 2012. Grazing of Native Warm Season Grasses, Southeastern Prairie Symposium, Mississippi State University. May 15, Bryan Farms Tour, West Point, MS.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Boland, H. T. 2011. How weaning management can get calves off to the right start for stockering. Stocker Cents, Cattle Business in Mississippi, September issue.

Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Grazing began in 2011, with 225 British-crossbred beef steers (1.1 steer per acre, 525 lb initial body weight) that were allotted to one of the three summer forage treatments (three replicates per forage system): 1): Big bluestem, little bluestem, and Indiangrass mixed sward (MIX); 2) Indiangrass monoculture (IND); or 3) Bermudagrass (BG). Cattle grazed these pastures for 110 days. Animal weight was recorded every 28 days and cattle behavior was recorded by activity monitors (IceTag pedometers). At the end of the summer grazing season, 75 steers were sent to a commercial feedlot in Iowa to be finished on a grain-based diet. Those cattle were harvested, and carcass data collected. The remaining 150 steers are currently being finished on forages at the Prairie Research Unit. An annual warm-season grass(sudangrass) was planted in summer and harvested as baleage for feeding during winter. These forage-fed steers are grazing tall fescue during the Fall/Winter . A subset of steers from this group was taken off pasture in winter to be fed baleage in the GrowSafe Feeding Facility at Prairie Research Unit where individual animal intake is being recorded. Those cattle will go back to tall fescue pastures with the remaining steers in the spring where they will continue to graze until they reach harvest weight. PARTICIPANTS: H. T. Boland, Co-PI; J. A. Martin, Co-PI; S. K. Riffell, Co-PI; L. W. Burger, Jr., Co-PI; B. Rude, Co-PI; B. Baldwin, Co-PI; A. P. Monroe, Graduate Student TARGET AUDIENCES: Mississippi and Southeastern U.S. beef cattle producers and land owners with native warm season grasses are the target audience that will benefit from these research findings. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Data from the summer grazing period were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS (SAS Inst., Cary, NC) and a significance level of α ≤0.05 was used, with trends defined at 0.10 > α > 0.05. Average daily gain (ADG) of steers did not differ between treatments during periods 1-28, 56-84, or 84-110. However, during the peak of the season (days 28-56), ADG was greater (P < 0.02) in IND (1.1 kg) and MIX (0.9 kg) than BG (0.64 kg). Overall season ADG tended (P ≤ 0.10) to be greater for IND (0.6 kg) and MIX (0.6 kg) than BG (0.4 kg). Percent of the day that animals spent grazing (IND 45%, MIX 45%, BG 46%), lying down (IND 41%, MIX 40%, BG 38%), or standing still (IND 13%, MIX 13%, BG 14%) did not differ within period or overall during the season. Time spent walking did differ between treatments with IND steers walking less (1.6 %, P< 0.05) than BG (2.3 %) or MIX (2.2 %) steers. The performance data indicates that NWSG show promise for use in beef grazing systems in Mississippi.

Publications

• Monroe, A. P., S. K. Riffell, J. A. Martin, L. W. Burger, Jr., and H. T. Boland. 2011. Dickcissel nest success in Bermudagrass and native warm-season grass pastures. Poster. Mississippi Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Annual Meeting, Lake Tiak-O-Khata Resort, Louisville, MS, Oct 6 and 7.