The Rural Voice, 2006-01, Page 19Y
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facilitates regurgitation and cud
chewing, that Woodley suggested
adding chopped straw to mixed
rations if the diet includes too many
materials that don't make a good
fibre mat such as wet haylage, finely -
chopped forages, beet pulp, ground
soyhulls, wet brewer's grains and
grain.
Across on the beef side of things,
Rust recognized roughage as a
management tool to keep cattle on
feed but called It an expensive
ingredient in terms of the energy it
provides. Again, some fibre is
important to keep the acid levels in
the stomach in proper order but
larger feedlots are providing diets
with 14 per cent crude protein, he
said.
He provided a table of test results
of 17 feeding trials on 878 steers
feeding corn silage. "The more silage
you feed, the poorer the
performance," he summed up.
Another study showed that there
were gains to be made by processing
corn silage but the capital cost and
the extra power needed meant you'd
need tofinish 2500 head of cattle to
justify the cost, he said.
For Rust, part of the solution is
providing grains that have
different digestion rates.
Wheat, barley, rolled high moisture
corn, steam flaked corn and high
moisture whole, shelled corn are
faster digesting grains while dry,
cracked corn, reconstituted milo,
steam -flaked milo, dry shelled corn,
dry rolled milo and ground corn are
slower digesting grains.
Rust illustrated the importance of
blending grains in a study from
Nebraska that showed a 50/50 ration
of whole and cracked corn and a
50/50 ration of whole and fine -
ground corn required less feed per
pound of gain than complete diets of
whole, cracked or fine -ground corn.
While Woodley was
recommending supplemental fibre for
dairy cattle, Rust was recommending
boosting the protein level even
higher for feeder cattle by adding
urea to match the protein and energy
levels in the feed (protein is always
more expensive than energy, he said).
"What's important is what works
on your farm," Rust said. "My
experience has been 1 make more
money when 1 have urea versus when
LUCK,/NOW Quality Products
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VERTICAL MIXER FEEDERS
GRAIN SUGGIES
Look For Us At The Canadian International Farm Equipment Show
February 7-9, 2006 Toronto
Helm Welding (1983) Limited
Lucknow, Ontario • Phone: 519-529-7627
email: helmwelding@hurontel.on.ca www.Iucknowproducts.com
We'd like to take this time to express our sincere
appreciation for your business in 2006 and wish you and
your family a safe and happy holiday season.
Bruce & Brian Osterndorff
& Staff
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10W\ I
9-366 3-3192
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819- . 19. SUZUKI 11<l)1)01n
1-800-265-4773 Chesley 519-363-2321
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JANUARY 2006 15