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Use of the Esophageal Fistula in Diet Sampling with Beef Cattle¹

Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Stillwater

Abstract

Recovery through an esophageal fistula of organic matter fed to cattle ranged from 84 to 94% for concentrate-type rations. The percentage recovery of the organic matter fed differed greatly for the various roughages with a range of 26 to 81%. Plugging of the cannula was the primary cause of the lower recovery. Under field conditions cannula plugging was not a problem with animals grazing bermudagrass; however, some plugging did occur during collection when grazing native grass forage.

The ash content of known quantities of different feeds offered was significantly lower than the ash content of samples collected through the esophageal fistula. The content of other constituents in concentrate rations differed only slightly. When fed clipped bermudagrass or native grass, the protein, ether extract and nitrogen-free extract contents of the forage offered and collected differed significantly.

The samples recovered by fistula of grazed forage were significantly higher in ash than samples of hand-plucked forage. The other chemical constituents were more variable in the samples obtained by fistula than in the samples hand-plucked. The crude protein content of the samples recovered by fistula tended to be larger than the samples hand-plucked, and the percent of nitrogen-free extract in all fistula samples tended to be less; however, the significances of these differences were not consistent. The lack of consistent differences between samples obtained by fistula and hand-plucking was also observed for ether extract and crude fiber. The functional time of the esophageal fistula varied from 16 wk. to more than 52 wk. under the conditions of this trial.

¹ Journal Article 1501 of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Stillwater. Project No. RR1145.

² Present address: Animal Science Department, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

³ Present address: Beef Cattle Research, Ralston Purina Company, Sacramento, California.

⁴ Present address: Animal Science Department, New Mexico State University, University Park Branch, Las Cruces.