Corn versus Barley in Finishing Diets: Effect on Steer Performance and Feeding Behavior

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of barley and corn finishing rations on feedlot performance and behavior of steers. Feedlot rations in this study were comprised of a main concentrate of either corn or barley. Steers were fed in a GrowSafe system to measure individual animal intake and behavior. Weight gain, average daily gain (ADG), and gain:feed were measured for each steer. Feeding behavior including time spent eating (min/day), visits per day, time per visit (min), eating rate (g/min), intake (kg/day), and intake per visit (g) were measured for each individual. Corn-fed steers had greater ADG (p < 0.01) and heavier hot carcass weights (HCW; p < 0.01). In addition, corn fed steers had a higher yield grade than barley fed steers (p < 0.01). No treatment effects (p ≥ 0.11) were observed for time spent eating, visits per day, time per visit, eating rate, intake g/kg body weight, or intake per visit. Although corn-fed steers had a greater ADG and HCW than barley-fed steers, they tended to consume more feed (p = 0.06). Depending on the difference of costs associated with feeding corn or barley, barley could be a potential high-quality feed source in beef cattle finishing rations.

Diurnal Ruminal pH and Temperature Patterns of Steers Fed Corn or Barley-Based Finishing Diets

“…1 SEM = standard error of the means. 2 Average daily intake (kg) originally presented in DelCurto-Wyffels [16]. 3 CV = coefficient of variation.…”

“…The size, number, and frequency of meals can have a large effect on ruminal pH [27] with low ruminal pH further contributing to erratic intake patterns [29]. A companion study evaluating the effect of corn-and barley-based diets on intake behavior and performance using the same steers, demonstrated a tendency for corn-fed steers to consume more feed per day and have greater variation in intake per day than barley-fed steers, but showed no differences in number and frequency of meals [16]. However, the differences in regard to intake patterns were not manifested in average daily ruminal pH.…”

“…Experimental design and diets have been published previously in DelCurto-Wyffels et al [16]. Briefly, Angus-based yearling steer calves were fed in a feedlot study from 27 February 2017, to 12 June 2017 (105 days; 427.3 ± 3.7 kg; n = 48) in year 1, and 26 February 2018, to 11 June 2018 (105 days; 406.8 ± 3.4 kg; n = 47) in year 2.…”

“…Average daily intake and intake behavior are presented in a companion study [16]. GrowSafe data were used to calculate intake for each individual steer each hour postfeeding on a daily basis.…”

The Influence of Environmental Conditions on Intake Behavior and Activity by Feedlot Steers Fed Corn or Barley-Based Diets

“…Although the National Research Council reports lower energy values for barley than corn [ 12 ], work by Bowman et al [ 13 ] suggests that barley and corn often have similar net energy values. However, the utilization of these different feedstuffs has been shown to yield differences in performance [ 14 , 15 , 16 ] and digestive utilization in feedlot steers [ 17 , 18 ].…”