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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2017
The production performance of cattle fed forage-based diets, particularly conserved forages, is poor and unpredictable. It has been shown that protein deposition is limiting in silage-fed cattle (Gill et al., 1987). It has also frequently been reported that the ratio of carcass fat:protein in silage-fed cattle is high (Baker, Young & Laws, 1992). There are few comparative dietary studies on whole-body fat metabolism in cattle. It was therefore the aim of this study to measure some of the parameters of whole-body fat metabolism in cattle fed forage-based diets and thus to determine if the high fat:protein ratio of silage-fed cattle is due to altered rates of whole-body fat metabolism. It was also our aim to determine whether the well-documented effects of β-agonists on fat metabolism are dependent on dietary status.