Effects of Diet Fed During Backgrounding in Drylot on Ruminal Function of Cattle During Adaptation to Pasture1

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of type of diet fed in drylot on the changes in the ruminal environment and in situ forage DM disappearance during adaptation from drylot diet to vegetative pasture. Sixteen ruminally cannulated steers were used in a randomized complete block experiment (BW = 535 ± 3.6 kg in Block 1 and 333 ± 3.2 kg in Block 2). Eight steers were assigned to four treatments in each block: ad libitum bermudagrass hay with either a dry supplement (DS) or a molasses-based supplement (MBS) or limit-fed a high-concentrate diet with either a dryprotein supplement (LFDS) or molassesbased protein supplement (LFMBS). Ken