Feed Products - Beef

A range of products are available for traditional beef feeding programs. Hormel Foods Agri-Nutrition specializes in feeding Holstein Dairy Beef steers. A complete array of products are available for both to allow for a variety of feeding situations. Customized formulations available.

Call us at 1-800-533-2228 or e-mail us at feeds@hormel.com

 
Feeding By-Products of the Ethanol Industry

The dramatic expansion of ethanol production in the Midwest provides an excellent opportunity for livestock feeders to take advantage of the by-products produced by these plants. These by-products, especially those from plants utilizing the dry-milling process, are high in energy, protein and phosphorus. They are referred to as Distillers Grains and are available from many plants in "wet" and "dry" form. The wet distillers' grains are particularly advantageous to cattle feeders because of the value they represent as a source of nutrients and the role they play in "texturizing" the ration. Much research has been done exploring the value of feeding distillers' grains to cattle, some of it specific to feeding Holstein steers.

Many Dairy Beef feeders are successfully utilizing distillers' grains in their rations. However, a number of factors must be considered before including these ingredients in your program. Your Hormel Feed Division representative can discuss with you the advantages and disadvantages of feeding distillers' grains and help you formulate rations to take advantage of the nutritional value they represent.

Holstein Steer Feeding Program

Hormel Agri-Nutrition's Holstein Steer feeding program is based on feeding 300 to 450 pound Holstein steer calves, in uniform lots, to produce high quality beef products. Cattle in this program are fed high energy diets the entire growing period. It requires adequate facilities to provide calves with weather protection, and good management skills. Cattle can be fed in self feeders or bunk fed. Most Holstein steer feeding programs involve about a one year feeding period. Holstein steers show a better performance response to high grain diets than traditional beef breed steers and feeding systems need to be implemented that take advantage of the efficient growth characteristics of young Holstein steers. Holstein steers are less adaptable to environmental stress with less hair, external fat and thinner hide. As a result, they require 10 to 12% more energy for maintenance than beef breeds. They do use that energy more efficiently for protein and less efficiently for fat deposition. Feeding typically involves one of three Hormel Feed products plus corn and a small amount of forage/roughage.

Feeding Wet Corn Milling By-Products to Beef Cattle

The supply of corn milling byproducts is increasing dramatically, especially in Minnesota and Iowa. Two types of milling processes currently exist, resulting in different feed products from each system. The dry milling process produces distillers grains with or without solubles. The wet milling process produces wet corn gluten feed. Both processes can produce either wet or dry product. The majority of plant expansions are dry milling plants. This article will focus on distillers grains plus solubles. The dry milling process removes starch from the corn kernels. That takes about 2/3 of the dry matter out of each kernel. The remaining 1/3 dry matter is then about 3 times more concentrated in the remaining nutrients. For example if corn is about 4% oil (fat) the resulting distillers grains plus solubles will be about 12% oil. An exception to the "three-fold" rule is sulfur content. Corn has about 0.10% whereas distillers grains have up to 1%. The reason for the increased sulfur content is in the extraction process, and is the result of the addition of sulfuric acid to stop the fermentation process.

Most trials with wet corn distillers grains compared to corn grain show the wet corn distillers grains producing improved feed efficiencies in beef cattle. The energy value of wet corn distillers grains is approximately 130 to 150% of corn. As the distance from the plant to the feedlot increases the value of wet distillers grains decreases. Price, cattle performance, distance from the plant and corn price all influence the optimum economic inclusion rate. Wet corn gluten feed is usually calculated at 100 to 108% of the energy value of dry rolled corn.
Since Corn distillers byproducts reduce the incidence of acidosis in feedlot cattle, it well may be possible to reduce the amount of other byproducts used to add fiber to the overall diet. It appears that roughage can be reduced, or eliminated, in dry rolled corn diets that include 35% or more wet corn distillers plus solubles. There is no data available that addresses roughage levels for wet corn distillers alone.

As the ethanol industry evolves there may well be a bigger variety of byproducts available to the feedlot industry.

Differences Between Holstein and Beef Breed Steers

1. Holsteins require 10 to 12% more energy for maintenance than beef breeds.
2. Holstein steers use feed energy more efficiently for protein and less efficiently for fat deposition than beef breeds.
3. Feedlot research has shown that Holsteins require 8 to 10% more feed per unit of gain over the entire feeding period than smaller framed beef breeds.
4. Holstein steers consume 7% more dry matter than beef steers.
5. Holstein steers show better performance response to high grain diets than beef steers.
6. Holstein steers are less adaptable to environmental stress with less hair, external fat and thinner hide.

Corn Grain Processing and Digestion

Grains are fed to livestock to supply energy. The major energy source in cereal grains is starch. To maximize digestion corn and sorghum grain must be processed. Starch from finely ground grain is more fully digested, but finely ground grain can cause metabolic disorders in ruminants. Steam rolling or flaking and fermentation, rather than fine grinding, are used for ruminants to improve digestion of starch. For fermented corn grain with adequate moisture content and for adequately processed steam flaked corn, starch digestion usually exceeds 97%. Compared to dry rolled corn, steam flaking corn for feedlot cattle increases both ruminal and total tract starch disappearance, but shifted the site of starch digestion toward the rumen. However, if starch is digested in the small intestine, energy loss during ruminal fermentation as methane and heat of metabolism is avoided. Starch digestion from high moisture corn is quite high due to extensive starch disappearance both in the rumen and intestines. Whole dry corn that is not chewed, and escapes ruminal digestion has little value for ruminants. Diet composition, intake level, and ruminal passage rate can alter the site and extent of digestion. Increasing the quantity of protein decreased the ruminal starch disappearance. Increasing the amount of starch in the diet increased ruminal starch disappearance. Maximum total tract digestion of starch comes from diets rich in protein but low in NDF.