Agriculture and Environment: Beef  Better Management Practices:
Improve Feed Assimilation  Cattle that produce less waste
because they have an enhanced capacity to assimilate feed should
be encouraged as part of an overall conservation strategy.
There are at least two ways to address this issue. One way is to
identify microorganisms that break down feed more completely
into amino acids and other nutrients that are more easily
digested and utilised by cattle.  Another way is to use breeding
programs to create animals that have an improved capacity to
assimilate feed, or plants that are more easily digested and
assimilated by the animals. With better assimilation of feed,
less land would be needed for the production of grains and for
pastures.  Use microorganisms to ferment feed Growth hormones
that are injected in animals directly or put into feeds to
stimulate rapid growth cause the animals to convert feed fats to
proteins and therefore grow faster.  They do not, however,
reduce total feed used. Another, per