Type of corn and grinding degree in a concentrate supplied to suckling calves

Abstract

The objective was to assess the effects of a concentrate consisting of two types of corn: flint and dent, with three different grinding degrees (1, 3 and 5 mm), as a function of intake, performance and digestibility of three crossbred dairy suckling heifers. A randomized block design involving 54 crossbred heifers in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement was used to assess intake and performance patterns. In order to assess digestibility, the experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of 24 crossbred heifers. Weighting and measurements of height at withers and thoracic perimeter were performed. There was no significant interaction between grinding degree and corn type for any of the studied variables. The daily intake of concentrate dry matter was higher for flint corn (243 g/day) as compared with dent corn (160 g/day). The grinding degree caused difference in the dry matter, crude protein and ether extract intake, with higher intake when 3 and 5 mm sieves were used in the process. There was no difference regarding average daily gain and increased withers, croup and thoracic perimeter. Likewise, feed conversion did not differ. Regarding dry matter digestibility, there was an effect resulting from the hardness of corn (78.9% for dent, and 84.3% and for flint corn). As for the grinding degree, the highest value of dry matter digestibility was found when using 5 mm sieves (84.2%), whereas the percentage values found for 1 mm and 3 mm mesh sieves were 79.1% and 78.1%, respectively. It is recommended that heifer calves in the early stage of growth be fed flint corn ground through 3 or 5 mm mesh sieves

Feeding a calf starter containing highly digestible corn may improve calf growth1

“…The ADG reported in this study were slightly lower than those reported by others for calves where the increased amounts of MR were fed with CS ( Cowles et al, 2006 ; Hill et al, 2008 ). The ADG reported in this study is greater than ADG reported0 by Ferreira et al (2012) when feeding different corn types with different grinding degrees. The low ADG might be the result of using cross bred Holstein calves.…”

“…According to Heinrichs and Hargrove (1987) the standard WH for heifers at 4 wk of age is 80.1 cm and 85.6 cm at 8 wk, which are similar to the current data, as wither height at 4 wk was found to be 79.8 cm and at 8 wk, 87 cm. Ferreira et al (2012) obtained WH gain of 15 cm for dent corn and 14 cm for flint corn, which is a bit higher than current calves at 10.9 cm for both CN and MC. This study demonstrated greater WH than reported by Brisola and Lucci (1998) .…”

“…The increase in heart girth reported by Ferreira et al (2012) was of 20.7 cm, which is greater than the 12.18 cm for CN and 12.92 cm for MC. Schalch et al (2001) reported HG gains of 18 cm, in a study involving pure Holstein calves receiving full cream milk and concentrate with 15, 30, and 45% of corn replaced with citrus pulp during 70 d. Maiga et al (1994) had found highest increase in HG for all treatments compared to all other skeletal growth parameters which is similar to the results of this study reporting a numerical increase in HG compared to increased body length, WH, or hip height.…”

Ruminal responses, digestibility, and blood parameters of beef cattle fed diets without forage with different hybrids and processing of the corn

“…Ítavo et al (2009) also did not observed differences between treatments regarding nutrient digestibility when studying the intake, digestibility and total digestible nutrients (TDN) content of diets containing moist corn and sorghum grain silages in sheep. Ferreira et al (2012) evaluated the effects of a concentrate consisting of two types of corn: flint and dent, with three different grinding degrees (1, 3 and 5 mm), as a function of intake, performance, and digestibility of three crossbred dairy suckling heifers. They found regarding DM digestibility, there was an effect resulting from the hardness of corn (78.9% for dent, and 84.3% and for flint corn).…”