Feeding Combinations of Dry Corn and Wheat to Finishing Lambs and Cattle

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Abstract
Two finishing trials, one with lambs and one with cattle, were conducted to determine the effect of combinations of dry corn (whole or rolled) with dry rolled wheat on animal performance. The cattle (mixed crossbred yearlings) trial also evaluated methods of getting cattle to full feed by stepping-up using either grain combinations or dry rolled corn and then feeding the appropriate grain combination. In the lamb trial, as the level of dry whole corn increased in the diet of 80 Rambouillet × Suffolk lambs (29 kg), feed intake (linear, P<.01), gain (linear, P<.01; quadratic, P<.15) and feed efficiency (linear, P<.01; quadratic, P<.15) were improved. The major improvement occurred in the first 30 d of feeding when feed efficiency was improved (linear, P<.01; quadratic, P<.01) by the inclusion of dry whole corn. In the cattle trial (272 mixed crossbred yearling cattle, avg = 358 kg), as the level of dry rolled corn increased, feed intake (linear, P<.01), gain (linear, P<.01; quadratic, P<.01) and feed efficiency (linear, P<.05; quadratic, P<.05) were improved. Cattle fed 67 or 33% dry rolled corn with 33 or 67% dry rolled wheat gained 4% faster and 4.4% more efficiently than the average performance of cattle fed 100% corn or wheat. Cattle stepped-up on dry rolled corn and then switched to 100% wheat, tended to gain faster (.1 kg/d) than cattle stepped-up on 100% wheat. Rate of starch digestion of ground wheat in vitro was 35% faster than for ground corn. Feeding a combination of dry corn and wheat results in a positive associative effect on feed efficiency. Stepping-up cattle on dry rolled corn appears to have an advantage before feeding 100% wheat but not when feeding lower levels of wheat in the final diet. Copyright © 1987. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1987 by American Society of Animal Science