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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #202118
Title: Effects of Grain By-Products as Supplements for Stocker Cattle Grazing Bermudagrass

Author
item DAVIS, TYLER - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item KEGLEY, ELIZABETH - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item COFFEY, KENNETH - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item Coblentz, Wayne
item OGDEN, ROBIN - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item HORNSBY, J. - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Experiment Station Bulletins
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2006
Publication Date: 9/1/2006
Citation: Davis, T.E., Kegley, E.B., Coffey, K.P., Coblentz, W.K., Ogden, R.K., Hornsby, J.A. 2006. Effects of Grain By-Products as Supplements for Stocker Cattle Grazing Bermudagrass. Discovery Journal. 7:19-26.

Interpretive Summary: Two experiments were conducted to compare corn, dried distillers' grains (DDG), and pelleted soybean hulls (SH) as supplements for cattle grazing bermudagrass. Supplementation with corn or DDG at 0.5% of body weight improved average daily gains of stocker cattle grazing bermudagrass compared to supplementation with SH. However, in situ disappearance of bermudagrass was not different in a second experiment when these supplements were fed at the same rate of bodyweight daily. All supplements produced desirable rates of gain for stocker cattle grazing bermudagrass in Arkansas.

Technical Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to compare corn, dried distillers' grains (DDG), and pelleted soybean hulls (SH) as supplements for cattle grazing bermudagrass. In Exp. 1, 66 crossbred steers (306 ± 3.2 kg) were stratified by weight and allotted randomly to six 2.4-ha bermudagrass pastures for a 107-d study. One of three supplement treatments (corn, DDG, or SH) was assigned randomly to each pasture group and was offered at 0.5% (as fed) of body weight. Calves were weighed at 28-d intervals and supplement was adjusted after each weigh period. In Exp. 2, five ruminally cannulated steers grazed bermudagrass pasture and were individually fed supplements (corn, DDG, or SH) at 0.5% of body weight in a 3 x 3 replicated, incomplete Latin-square design with a 14-d adaptation and a 5-d sampling period. In Exp. 1, supplementation with DDG and corn increased (P < 0.04) the average daily gain compared to supplementation with SH (0.89, 0.87, and 0.74 kg for DDG, corn, and SH, respectively). In Exp. 2, in situ dry-matter-disappearance kinetic measures of bermudagrass were not affected by the type of supplementation. The potential extent of digestion for DDG (93%) was lower than for corn (97%, P = 0.01) and SH (96%, P = 0.06). Supplementation with corn or DDG at 0.5% of body weight improved the gain of stocker cattle grazing bermudagrass compared to supplementation with SH, but these differences were not explained by differences in bermudagrass degradation kinetics.