Receiving Stocker Cattle Performance is Similar With Either Corn or Sorghum Wet Distillers Grains

Distillers grains are an excellent energy and protein feed source for beef cattle. Corn distillers grains have been fed to beef cattle for many years, but sorghum distillers grains are becoming more popular and may be more cost effective than corn. Sorghum is very comparable to corn in terms of energy, but has a higher crude protein value. All distillers grains are available in a wet and dry form. The moist texture of wet distillers grains can help to reduce sorting at the bunk and appears to improve intake in young calves. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of corn and sorghum wet distillers grains on performance and digestibility of receiving stocker calves.


Introduction
Distillers grains are an excellent energy and protein feed source for beef cattle.Corn distillers grains have been fed to beef cattle for many years, but sorghum distillers grains are becoming more popular and may be more cost effective than corn.Sorghum is very comparable to corn in terms of energy, but has a higher crude protein value.All distillers grains are available in a wet and dry form.The moist texture of wet distillers grains can help to reduce sorting at the bunk and appears to improve intake in young calves.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of corn and sorghum wet distillers grains on performance and digestibility of receiving stocker calves.Key words: corn wet distillers grains, sorghum wet distillers grain, receiving stocker cattle

Experimental Procedures
Crossbred steers (n = 263, 644 lb initial body weight) were obtained from a single source in central Texas.Steers were organized in a generalized randomized complete block design, blocked by truck (n = 4), and stratified by weight within block.Steers were assigned to one of four treatments: 1) cracked corn with wet corn distillers grains; 2) cracked corn with wet sorghum distillers grains; 3) rolled sorghum with corn wet distillers grains; or 4) rolled sorghum with sorghum wet distillers grains.This procedure had 24 pens of equal size and used 6 pens per treatment.Upon arrival, calves were weighed, tagged, and allowed to rest overnight with free-choice access to brome hay and water.The day after arrival all calves were dewormed and vaccinated for respiratory and clostridial diseases.Calves received Dectomax (Zoetis, Florham, NJ), Excede (Zoetis, Florham, NJ), and Vision 8 with SRUR (Merck Animal Health, Duluth, GA).On day 7, steers were administered a modified-live vaccine, Bovi-Shield Gold (Zoetis, Kalamazoo, MI) for protection against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis.On day 21, steers were revaccinated against respiratory disease with Pyramid 5 (Boehringer Ingelheim, St. Joseph, MO). 1) were mixed and fed daily for a total of 90 days.Steers were fed a common diet consisting of wet corn gluten feed, cracked corn, alfalfa hay, grass hay, and supplement from days 83 to 90 to equalize gut fill.The amount of feed delivered to each pen was recorded daily and total mixed feed samples were collected weekly.Steers were weighed on days 0 (initial processing), 21, 40, 83, and 90.Steer health was monitored daily.If body temperature was between 103°F and 104.5°F and the steer had visual signs of suffering from a respiratory disease, the animal was administered Bio-Mycin 200 (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.St. Joseph, MO) per label instructions.If the body temperature exceeded 104.5°F, the animal was administered Resflor Gold (Intervet Inc.Roseland, NJ) per label instructions.

Results and Discussion
Overall, there were no differences in diet consumption across treatments (P≥0.25;Table 2).From days 0 to 83, average daily gain was not different for corn vs. sorghum wet distillers grains (P≥0.10) or for corn vs. sorghum grain (P≥0.35).In terms of feed efficiency, all steers converted feed similarly regardless of treatment (P≥0.22).Corn and sorghum wet distillers grains appear to be similar in the nutrients allocated to the growth of the animal.There were differences observed on days 83 to 90 among grain type or wet distillers grain type.However, during this period a common diet was fed to the steers to equalize gut fill and the results from this week are not comparable to the period the steers were on the treatment diets.

Implications
Sorghum wet distillers grains can be fed at the same level as wet corn distillers grains to growing stocker steers and will produce similar responses in terms of gain, intake, and efficiency.The slight differences observed in the digestibility study did not affect the performance of the steers.Overall, sorghum wet distillers grains are a viable alternative to wet corn distillers grains to feed cattle in the receiving and growing yard.  b,c,d Within a row least squares means without a common superscript differ (P≤0.05).
1 SEM = standard error of the mean.
2 For treatment corn grain/ corn wet distillers grains initial n = 66, final n = 65: steer died from breaking leg in chute.

Table 2 .
Effects of wet corn or sorghum distillers grains with corn or sorghum grain on gain, intake, and efficiency in crossbred Angus steers