Use of barley or corn silage when fed with barley, corn, or a blend of barley and corn on growth performance, nutrient utilization, and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the source of silage, cereal grain, and their interaction on growth performance, digestibility, and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle. Using a completely randomized design within an 89-d finishing study, 288 steers were randomly assigned to 1 of 24 pens (12 steers/pen) with average steer body weight (BW) within a pen of 464 kg ± 1.7 kg (mean ± SD). Diets were arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial with corn silage (CS) or barley silage (BS) included at 8% (dry matter [DM] basis). Within each silage source, diets contained dry-rolled barley grain (BG; 86% of DM), dry-rolled corn grain (CG; 85% of DM), or an equal blend of BG and CG (BCG; 85% of DM). Total tract digestibility of nutrients was estimated from fecal samples using near-infrared spectroscopy. Data were analyzed with pen as the experimental unit using the Mixed Model of SAS with the fixed effects of silage, grain, and the two-way interaction. Carcass and fecal kernel data were analyzed using GLIMMIX utilizing the same model. There were no interactions detected between silage and grain source. Feeding CG increased (P < 0.01) DM intake by 0.8 and 0.6 kg/d relative to BG and BCG, respectively. Gain-to-feed ratio was greater (P = 0.04) for BG (0.172 kg/kg) than CG (0.162 kg/kg) but did not differ from BCG (0.165 kg/kg). Furthermore, average daily gain (2.07 kg/d) and final body weight did not differ among treatments (P ≥ 0.25). Hot carcass weight (HCW) was 6.2 kg greater (372.2 vs. 366.0 kg; P < 0.01) and dressing percentage was 0.57 percentage units greater (59.53 vs. 58.96 %; P = 0.04) for steers fed CS than BS, respectively. There was no effect of dietary treatment on the severity of liver abscesses (P ≥ 0.20) with 72.0% of carcasses having clear livers, 24.4% with minor liver abscesses, and 3.6% with severe liver abscesses. Digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and starch were greater for BG (P < 0.01) than CG or BCG. As expected, grain source affected the appearance of grain kernels in the feces (P ≤ 0.04). Feeding CS silage increased the appearance of fractured corn kernels (P = 0.04), while feeding BS increased fiber appearance in the feces (P = 0.02). Current results indicate that when dry rolled, feeding BG resulted in improved performance and digestibility compared with CG and BCG. Even at low inclusion levels (8% of DM), CS resulted in improved carcass characteristics relative to BS.