Livers from 228 cattle from western New South Wales were sampled and copper concentrations determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Information collected on each beast included its origin, herbage on offer preslaughter and its slaughter data.
Statistical analyses using a tree-based classification model generated six classes. Within each class individual animals had similar copper levels of about 40, 60, 67, 100, 100 and 164 p.p.m. DM. From the description of each class it was concluded that relatively high copper levels were associated with cattle having access to ample dryforage, nil scrub and with carcass weights <246 kg. Other measured variables were not significant. It was concluded that the copper levels of these cattle were higher than those published for non range cattle and the importance of this needs to be investigated.
September 24-27, 1996
Port Augusta, South Australia
ISSN 1323-6660
Full-text publications from the Australian Rangelands Society (ARS) Biennial Conference Proceedings (1997-), Rangeland Journal (ARS/CSIRO; 1976-), plus videos and other resources about the rangelands of Australia.