Use of barley or corn silage when fed with barley, corn, or a blend of barley and corn on growth performance, nutrient utilization, and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the source of silage, cereal grain, and their interaction on growth performance, digestibility, and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle. Using a completely randomized design within an 89-d finishing study, 288 steers were randomly assigned to 1 of 24 pens (12 steers/pen) with average steer body weight (BW) within a pen of 464 kg ± 1.7 kg (mean ± SD). Diets were arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial with corn silage (CS) or barley silage (BS) included at 8% (dry matter [DM] basis). Within each silage source, diets contained dry-rolled barley grain (BG; 86% of DM), dry-rolled corn grain (CG; 85% of DM), or an equal blend of BG and CG (BCG; 85% of DM). Total tract digestibility of nutrients was estimated from fecal samples using near-infrared spectroscopy. Data were analyzed with pen as the experimental unit using the Mixed Model of SAS with the fixed effects of silage, grain, and the two-way interaction. Carcass and fecal kernel data were analyzed using GLIMMIX utilizing the same model. There were no interactions detected between silage and grain source. Feeding CG increased (P < 0.01) DM intake by 0.8 and 0.6 kg/d relative to BG and BCG, respectively. Gain-to-feed ratio was greater (P = 0.04) for BG (0.172 kg/kg) than CG (0.162 kg/kg) but did not differ from BCG (0.165 kg/kg). Furthermore, average daily gain (2.07 kg/d) and final body weight did not differ among treatments (P ≥ 0.25). Hot carcass weight (HCW) was 6.2 kg greater (372.2 vs. 366.0 kg; P < 0.01) and dressing percentage was 0.57 percentage units greater (59.53 vs. 58.96 %; P = 0.04) for steers fed CS than BS, respectively. There was no effect of dietary treatment on the severity of liver abscesses (P ≥ 0.20) with 72.0% of carcasses having clear livers, 24.4% with minor liver abscesses, and 3.6% with severe liver abscesses. Digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and starch were greater for BG (P < 0.01) than CG or BCG. As expected, grain source affected the appearance of grain kernels in the feces (P ≤ 0.04). Feeding CS silage increased the appearance of fractured corn kernels (P = 0.04), while feeding BS increased fiber appearance in the feces (P = 0.02). Current results indicate that when dry rolled, feeding BG resulted in improved performance and digestibility compared with CG and BCG. Even at low inclusion levels (8% of DM), CS resulted in improved carcass characteristics relative to BS.

Evaluation of hybrid rye on growth performance, carcass traits, and efficiency of net energy utilization in finishing steers

“…The DPs for all treatments were less than expected in this experiment but consistent with the results observed by others during winter in the Midwest ( Pusillo et al, 1991 ; Busby and Strohbehn, 2008 ). The quadratic effect of Rye inclusion on DP could be related to increased concentrations of dietary NDF and ADF; however, increased concentrations of NDF and ADF caused by increased inclusions of dry-rolled barley substituting for DRC had no effect on the DP ( Johnson et al, 2020 ). Feeding endophyte-infested fescue seeds increased the total weight of rumen contents ( Ahn et al, 2020 ), which might explain the DP changes observed in the current experiment as dietary ergot alkaloid intake increased.…”

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

“…Previous work has demonstrated that barley and corn have comparative nutritive value [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. However, research results regarding animal performance have been inconsistent (average daily gain, ADG; quality grade, QG; and yield grade), where some researchers have found that barley-fed animals had equivalent performance or outperformed corn-fed cattle [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], while others have found barley-fed steers to have poorer performance than corn-fed animals [ 10 ]. Disparities in research results comparing barley and corn-fed cattle in performance trials could partially be attributed to variability in the nutritive value of feed barley [ 11 ].…”

Effect of silage source, physically effective neutral detergent fiber, and undigested neutral detergent fiber concentrations on performance and carcass characteristics of finishing steers

“…The greater HCW, marbling score, and greater proportion of carcasses in the AAA quality grade for cattle fed BarS were potentially reflective of its greater energy content despite only a modest dietary inclusion rate. Other studies have also reported that silage source, despite a low inclusion rate, can affect carcass characteristics ( Johnson et al, 2020 ), further suggesting that improved characterization of the fiber source could improve modeling systems used to formulate rations for beef cattle.…”