Feeding steam-flaked diets with and without dry-rolled corn and Feeding steam-flaked diets with and without dry-rolled corn and dried distillers grains results in similar feedlot performance dried distillers grains results in similar feedlot performance

Introduction Increased ethanol production in the United States has increased availability of by-products, giving producers an alternative to cereal grains. The by-product we evaluated was dried corn distillers grains with solubles. Research has been conducted at Kansas State University to evaluate the quantity of distillers grains that can be added to a finishing diet without negatively affecting feedlot performance or carcass value. Feeding cattle distillers grains is an important option for feedlots to consider. The second issue that has arisen is the energy costs associated with processing grains. In Kansas, two of the more common methods for processing grains are steam flaking and dry rolling. Previous research has shown that the nutritive value of distillers grains can be influenced by grain processing method. This experiment was designed to evaluate feedlot performance and carcass merit in heifers fed flaked-corn diets with added dry-rolled corn and/or dried corn distillers grains.


Feeding Steam-Flaked Diets With and Without Dry-Rolled Corn and Dried Distillers Grains Results in Similar Feedlot Performance 1 Introduction
Increased ethanol production in the United States has increased availability of by-products, giving producers an alternative to cereal grains.The by-product we evaluated was dried corn distillers grains with solubles.Research has been conducted at Kansas State University to evaluate the quantity of distillers grains that can be added to a finishing diet without negatively affecting feedlot performance or carcass value.Feeding cattle distillers grains is an important option for feedlots to consider.The second issue that has arisen is the energy costs associated with processing grains.In Kansas, two of the more common methods for processing grains are steam flaking and dry rolling.Previous research has shown that the nutritive value of distillers grains can be influenced by grain processing method.This experiment was designed to evaluate feedlot performance and carcass merit in heifers fed flaked-corn diets with added dry-rolled corn and/or dried corn distillers grains.

Experimental Procedures
Crossbred yearling heifers (n = 689) were used in a finishing trial to evaluate the effects of feeding dry-rolled corn (DRC) and dried corn distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) in steam-flaked corn (SFC) diets.Diets consisted of SFC with 0 or 25% DDGS and 0 or 25% DRC in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement.Heifers were blocked into light and heavy weight groups according to initial body weight and fed in 28 dirt-surfaced pens with 23 to 25 heifers per pen.Heifers in the heavy and light weight blocks were fed once daily for 137 or 157 days, respectively.Weights were determined at the beginning of the study and directly before shipment to a commercial abattoir in Emporia, KS.At slaughter, incidence and severity of liver abscesses and hot carcass weights were recorded.After a 24-hour chill, kidney, pelvic, and heart fat; ribeye area; 12th rib fat thickness; incidence of dark cutting beef; marbling scores; USDA quality grades, and USDA yield grades were recorded.

Results and Discussion
Cattle fed the different diets had similar average daily gains, feed intakes, and feed conversion efficiencies.Similar results were also found for quality and yield grades; 12th rib fat thickness; kidney, pelvic, and heart fat; incidence and severity of liver abscess, marbling score, and total carcass value.Cattle fed DRC had higher dressing percentages compared with their counterparts fed no DRC (P<0.05).Cattle fed DRC also tended to have larger ribeye areas than cattle fed no DRC (P<0.10).

Implications
Feeding flaked-corn diets with DDGS or DRC yielded similar feedlot performance and carcass value.

Table 1 . Composition of finishing diets containing steam-flaked corn (SFC) with 0 or 25% dried corn distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and/or 0 or 25% dry-rolled corn (DRC)
2Optaflexx was included at 200 mg/animal for the final 42 days on feed.

Table 2 . Performance characteristics of heifers fed steam-flaked corn (SFC) diets containing 0 or 25% dry-rolled corn (DRC) and/or 0 or 25% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS)
1 Final weight, average daily gain, and efficiency were computed by using carcass-adjusted final weights.Final live weight = hot carcass weight divided by a common dressed yield of 0.635. 2 Statistics were performed as gain:feed, reported as feed:gain.