– Jerad Jaborek, Michigan State University Extension Beef Feedlot Systems Educator
Including corn silage at greater levels in the finishing diet can be economically favorable when the price of corn grain is high.
The business model of the cattle feeding industry is built upon the concept of adding value to feedstuffs by converting them to beef. Beef has much more value as a human edible protein source compared with typical cattle feedstuffs, including corn. Let’s investigate the question: Is it more economical to feed beef cattle corn or corn silage in feedlot diets? Michigan State University Extension offers more information about this subject on its beef nutrition site.
Some great research conducted at the University of Minnesota by DiCostanzo and colleagues investigated different corn crop harvest endpoints and the economic returns per acre when fed to heavy yearling feedlot steers in an integrated crop and livestock operation. The corn crop was harvested as either corn silage at 39 days, earlage at 56 days, high moisture corn at 70 days, or dry corn at 86 days after corn began silking, with the high moisture corn and dry corn being rolled before storing.
Each diet consisted of one corn crop endpoint at 75% dry matter. The remainder of the diets consisted of either dry rolled corn for the silage diet and grass silage for earlage, high moisture corn, and dry rolled corn diets at 11%, along with wet distillers grains at 10% and 4% supplement on a dry matter basis. Steers had a lesser dry matter intake when offered high moisture corn. Steers also had the greatest average daily gain when offered dry rolled corn, followed by cattle offered high moisture corn, and lastly, cattle offered earlage and corn silage.
Steers offered dry rolled corn or high moisture corn were the most . . .
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