GRASS HAY AS A SUPPLEMENT FOR GRAZING CATTLE .1. ANIMAL PERFORMANCE

Regrowth grass hay produced on subirrigated meadows in the Nebraska Sa ndhills was evaluated as a supplement for gestating beef cows grazing winter range, Ninety-six crossbred spring calving, gestating beef cows were used in a winter supplementation study on upland Sandhills range from 5 November to 27 February in 1990 and again in 1991, Cows were d ivided into 4 treatments (24 cows/treatment): 1) control (range forage only, no supplement); 2) range forage and 2.2 kg cow(-1) day(-1) of m eadow regrowth hay (15,5% crude protein); 3) range forage and 1.2 kg c ow(-1) day(-1) of a 30% wheat grain and 70% soybean meal:30% wheat sup plement (36.0% crude protein); and 4) range forage with supplements in treatments 2 and 3 fed on alternate days, Meadow hay and soybean meal :wheat supplements provided 0.32 kg of crude protein/cow daily, Supple mented cows gained 3 to 53 kg body weight/year and maintained body con dition, while control cows lost an average of 24.5 kg body weight/year and lost body condition, Intake of range forage was less (P < 0.05) b y cows fed meadow hay and soybean meal:wheat supplements on alternate days than by cows on other treatments, Digestibility of range forage w as lower (P < 0.05) for supplemented cows than control cows, but diffe rences were small (avg, = 2%), Calving date, birth and weaning weights , and pregnancy rate were similar (P > 0.05) for all treatments, We co ncluded that subirrigated meadow regrowth grass hay was an effective a lternative to traditional soybean meal-based supplements for maintaini ng body weight and body condition of gestating beef cows grazing winte r range.