The effect of artificial lighting and cobalt supplementation on the performance and coat shedding of steers intensively finished in yards

Abstract

Forty steers were intensively finished in yards on rations of 90 per cent sorghum grain and 10 per cent of either sorghum silage or stubble. There were no significant differences in rate of body weight gain or efficiency of feed conversion of steers fed the two rations. The experiment commenced on July 2, 1965. An abrupt increase at this time in daylength by flood-lighting, for two 2-hour periods daily, had no significant effect on rate of body weight gain, feed efficiency or coat shedding of steers subjected to natural seasonal increases in daylength. The administration of a cobalt pellet to steers fed a low-cobalt sorghum grain had no effect on coat shedding or rate of body weight gain.