Table 1. Experimental design and feeding strategies employed in this experiment (as-fed basis unless otherwise stated).
| Items | Treatments | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCF | TMRGSCF | TMRGEFSCF | TMRW | |||||||||
| G | EF | LF | G | EF | LF | G | EF | LF | G | EF | LF | |
| Feeding strategies (kg/d) | ||||||||||||
| Concentrate | 3–7 | 7–9 | Ad lib. | 7–9 | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | ||||||
| Timothy hay | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | ||||||||
| Tall fescue straw | Ad lib. | 1–2 | Ad lib. | 1–2 | 1–2 | |||||||
| TMR | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | Ad lib. | ||||||
| Number of steers per pen | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Number of replicates | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Total number of animals | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | ||||||||
| Pen size | 4 m × 8 m | 4 m × 8 m | 4 m × 8 m | 4 m × 8 m | ||||||||
SCF, separate feeding of commercial concentrates and forage; TMRGSCF, feeding of TMR up to growing period and SCF from early up to the late fattening period; TMRGEFSCF, feeding of TMR from growing up to early fattening period and SCF up to the late fattening period; TMRW, feeding of TMR for the entire experimental period; G, 7–14 months of age in terms of growth stage, growing period; EF, 15–22 months of age in terms of growth stage, early fattening period; LF, 23–30 months of age in terms of growth stage, late fattening period; Ad lib., Ad libitum; TMR, total mixed ration.