Effect of feeding whole and rolled barley to steers in the morning or afternoon in diets containing differing proportions of hay and grain

Abstract

A 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experiment was conducted with 128 growing-finishing steer calves to examine the effects of feeding whole v. rolled barley in diets containing either a constant proportion of concentrate (0-67) or proportionately 0-33 concentrate for 56 days followed by 0-90 concentrate for 83 days, with the concentrate being given at either 08.00 or 15.30 h. Steers given hay at 08.00 h and concentrate at 15.50 h grew proportionately 0-05 faster (P < 0-05) and had better dry matter (DM): gain ratios (P < 0-05) during the first 56 days than those given concentrate at 08.00 h and hay at 09.00 h. By the end of the trial steers fed at 15.50 h had similar daily gains to steers fed at 08.00 h but required proportionately 0-02 less DM : gain (P <0-05). No significant difference in gain was detected between steers given whole (1-30 kg/day) or rolled (1-38 kg/day) barley, but those given whole barley ate proportionately 0-08 more DM daily and had a proportionately 0-15 poorer DM : gain ratio (P < 0-05). The digestibility of diets containing whole grain was reduced (P < 0-05). Thirty-six steers given whole barley bloated compared with nine given rolled barley (P < 0-05). No significant differences were found either in DM intake or in final proportion of concentrate in the diet between steers given the diet containing proportionately 0-67 concentrate throughout the feeding period and those given the variable concentrate diets. There was a trend for DM: gain ratios to be poorer for steers given the constant proportion of concentrate (6-89 v. 6-65).

Effects of tempering and degree of processing of barley grain on the performance of bulls in the feedlot

“…2). This is consistent with other data where no differences in daily gain were detected between steers fed whole and rolled barley (Mathison et al 1991a;Yaremcio et al 1991). However, steers fed the barley which was only slightly processed ate 3.2 and 6.6% more (P < 0.05) DM daily than those fed the medium-rolled and crushed barley, respectively.…”

“…Since these flakes were much thinner than those prepared by Hironaka et al (1992) (1.61 to 2.00 mm), his results also suggest that no marked reduction in performance would occur if grain is subjected to excessive processing. Similarly, although Mathison (1981) observed a 6% decrease in daily gain when steers were fed ground barley (6.4 mm screen) rather than dryrolled grain, feed efficiency was only reduced by 1%.…”

“…It is possible to estimate the effect of whole kernels in the concentrate mixtures on feed efficiency by making an assumption concerning the estimated loss in feed efficiency from feeding whole grain. Mathison et al (1991a) and Yaremcio et al (1991) reported that feed efficiencies were reduced by 16% when whole rather than rolled barley was fed. However, since there were undoubtedly some whole kernels in the grain used in their trial a factor of 20% is preferred for the loss in feed efficiency expected when whole grain is fed.…”

Microbial attachment and feed digestion in the rumen

“…Thus, unprocessed corn is effectively digested by ruminants and the feed:gain ratios in cattle fed whole corn are similar to those fed rolled corn (Chester- Jones and Ziegler, 1991). Predictably, the feed:gain ratio of cattle fed whole barley is consistently lower than that of cattle fed rolled barley (Mathison et al, 1991;Hironaka et al, 19921, and both barley and wheat must be processed for efficient ruminal digestion.…”

Effect of feeding different physical forms of diets on performance and carcass traits of goats

“…The value of rolling grains or chopping hay is to make the feeds more digestible thereby providing more nutrients to the animals. Rolled barley has been shown to improve growth rate and feed efficiency compared to whole barley in beef cattle (Mathison et al 1991). However, there is less benefit to feeding processed grain as the level of roughage in the diet increases (Hand 1986).…”