GrowSafe at Green Garden

Calving Ease, Carcass, $Values, have been our goals for many years now at Green Garden. Now we introduce you to our newest tool in providing you the best possible seedstock for your cattle herd, our GrowSafe System. Since 1983, we have been stacking pedigrees for calving ease and carcass merit, with our GrowSafe System we are adding accurate feed efficiency to our selection process. We currently run all our yearling animals through the system to gather as much data as accurately as possible, including RFI, DMI, F:G.

GrowSafe works by measuring the weight of the feed in the bunks every second and identifying when an animal is eating buy recording the EID# as they eat from the bunk. We use Purina® Accuration® Grower mixed with corn and 12% ground hay in our bunks. Each set of animals is warmed up for two weeks, and then they are on test for 50-70 days. At the end of test, the animals are scaned and the bulls are put in a pasture with a rolled milo corn silage ration, and the heifers are put in a pasture and fed a 20% range cube. We like to keep our test as short as possible to keep our yearlings from getting too fat, we like everything to be in good working condition for any area of the country.

Feed Efficiency Data Outputs

DMI (Adjusted Dry Matter Intake)
This is defined as the feed dry matter intake adjusted by multiplying the contemporary group’s average mid-point metabolic weight, and then dividing by the individual’s mid-point metabolic weight. The final value is the difference by subtracting out the contemporary group average. A lower value is desired.

RFI (Residual Feed Intake)
This is defined as the difference between actual feed intake and that predicted on the basis of the animal’s gain and maintenance requirements for its body weight. An average animal would have an RFI of “0”. Animals with a negative RFI value are favored because they have consumed less feed for their weight and gain than the average of their herd mates. Animals with a positive RFI number would be consuming more feed for their weight and gain than the average of their herd mates. A negative value is desired.

F:G (Adjusted Feed Conversion)
This value is the base Feed:Gain ((F:G) = pounds of feed (on a 100% dry matter basis) required for one pound of live weight gain) value multiplied by the contemporary group’s metabolic weight divided by the individual’s metabolic weight. A lower value is desired.