1. SOUTHEAST AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER BEEF CATTLE RESEARCH PROGRAM
Lyle Lomas
SEARC Head & Animal Scientist

2. COLLABORATORS Joe Moyer, Forage Agronomist, SEARC
Jaymelynn Farney, Southeast Area Beef Systems Specialist

4. SEARC BEEF CATTLE RESEARCH
STOCKER CATTLE
INTRODUCED FORAGE SPECIES
GRAZING PERFORMANCE
SUBSEQUENT FINISHING PERFORMANCE
INDIVIDUAL CARCASS DATA

5. INTRODUCED FORAGES Tall fescue Bermudagrass Smooth bromegrass
Crabgrass
Legumes
Ladino clover
Red clover
Lespedeza

6. SEARC BEEF CATTLE RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS
EVALUATION OF VARIOUS FORAGES AND/OR FORAGE SYSTEMS
SUPPLEMENTATION OF GRAZING STOCKER CATTLE

7. EFFECT OF VARIOUS FORAGE SYSTEMS ON GRAZING AND SUBSEQUENT FINISHING PERFORMANCE

8. FORAGE SYSTEMS Tall fescue with non-toxic endophyte (MaxQ)
Midland 99 bermudagrass + wheat double-crop system
Red River crabgrass + wheat double-crop system

9. EFFECT OF FORAGE SYSTEM ON GRAZING PERFORMANCE
MaxQ WhBerm WhCrab
No. of days
Initial wt, lb
End wt, lb
Gain, lb
Daily gain, lb a b b
Gain/acre, lb

10. EFFECT OF FORAGE SYSTEM ON FINISHING PERFORMANCE
MaxQ WhBerm WhCrab
No. of days
End wt, lb
Daily gain, lb
Feed:gain
OA gain, lb
OA daily gain, lb a b b

11. Summary
Total grazing gain was similar between the various forage systems.
Cattle grazing wheat + bermudagrass and wheat + crabgrass had a greater grazing ADG and overall ADG with those that grazed tall fescue with the non-toxic endophyte.
Forage system had no effect on finishing performance or carcass traits.

12. WHY SUPPLEMENT GRAZING CATTLE?
Forage supplies are limited.
Forage is deficient in one or more nutrients.
Delivery of feed additives for animal health, parasite control, etc.
To increase body weight gain.
Value of supplementation is expected to exceed the cost.
Improve carcass quality?

13. EFFECTS OF CULTIVAR AND DISTILLERS GRAINS SUPPLEMENTATION ON GRAZING AND SUBSEQUENT FINISHING PERFORMANCE OF STOCKER STEERS GRAZING TALL FESCUE PASTURE

14. TALL FESCUE CULTIVARS Non-toxic endophyte Kentucky 31 MaxQ HM4
Endophyte-free
Toxic endophyte (70%)

15. SUPPLEMENTATION TREATMENTS
No supplement
1.25 acres/steer
30-46 lb of N fertilizer/a in fall
DDG at 0.75% BW/hd/day
1 acre/steer
No fall N applied

16. DDG AS N SOURCE DDG contains 4% N
Approximately 90% of N consumed is excreted in urine and feces
Steers consumed an average of 5.9 lb of DDG/hd/day during 196 day grazing phase
Each steer returned 0.21 lb N/day to pasture (42 lb N/acre)

17. EFFECT OF DDG ON GRAZING PERFORMANCE (196 days)
DDG (%BW/HD/DAY)
Final wt, lb a b
Gain, lb a b
Daily gain, lb a b
Gain/acre, lb a b
DDG/hd/day, lb
DDG/lb of extra gain

18. EFFECT OF DDG ON FINISHING PERFORMANCE
DDG (%BW/HD/DAY)
No. of days
Daily gain, lb a b
Feed:gain
Hot carcass wt, lb a b
Yield grade
% USDA Choice

19. SUMMARY
Steers supplemented with DDG while grazing had greater (P<0.05) grazing gain than those that received no supplement.
Pastures with supplemented steers produced greater (P<0.05) gain/acre than those with unsupplemented steers.
Steers supplemented with DDG during the grazing phase had lower (P<0.05) finishing gains and higher (P<0.05) carcass weights than those that received no supplement.

20. EFFECT OF FESCUE CULTIVAR ON GRAZING PERFORMANCE (196 days)
HE31 LE31 HM4 MAXQ
Initial wt, lb
End wt, lb a b b b
Gain, lb a b b b
Daily gain, lb a b b b
Gain/acre, lb a b b b

21. EFFECT OF FESCUE CULTIVAR ON FINISHING PERFORMANCE (108 days)
HE LE HM4 MAXQ
Initial wt, lb a b b b
End wt, lb
Daily gain, lb
Feed:gain a b b b
Hot carcass wt, lb a b b b
Yield grade
% USDA Choice

22. SUMMARY
Steers that grazed LE31, HM4, or MaxQ had greater (P<0.05) grazing gains than those that grazed HE31.
LE31, HM4, or MaxQ produced more (P<0.05) gain/acre than HE31.

23. Steers that grazed LE31, HM4, or MaxQ had higher feed:gain and heavier carcass weight than those that grazed HE31.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013, high endophyte pastures grazed by steers supplemented with DDG had less (P<0.05) available forage DM than high endophyte pastures grazed by unsupplemented steers.

24. EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION DURING THE GRAZING PHASE ON QUALITY GRADE

25. EFFECT OF GRAIN SORGUM SUPPLEMENTATION ON GRAZING PERFORMANCE (207 days)
Grain Sorghum Level (lb DM/hd/d)
Initial wt, lb
End wt, lb a b b
Gain, lb a b b
Daily gain, lb a b b
Gain/acre, lb a b b

26. EFFECT OF GRAIN SORGUM SUPPLEMENTATION ON FINISHING PERFORMANCE (112 days)
Grain Sorghum Level (lb DM/hd/d)
Initial wt, lb a b b
End wt, lb a b b
Daily gain, lb
Hot carcass wt, lb a b b
Marbling score a ab b
% USDA Choice

27. SUMMARY
Grain sorghum supplementation resulted in greater (P<0.05) grazing gain and greater (P<0.05) gain/acre.
Cattle supplemented during the grazing phase maintained their weight advantage through the finishing phase, were heavier (P<0.05) at slaughter, and yielded heavier (P<0.05) carcasses than those that received no supplement.

28. Supplementation with 3.6 lb/day of grain sorghum during the grazing phase resulted in greater (P<0.05) marbling score than feeding no grazing supplement.

29. QUESTIONS

30. EFFECT OF INTERSEEDING LEGUMES INTO ENDOPHYTE-INFECTED TALL FESCUE PASTURES ON FORAGE PRODUCTION AND STEER PERFORMANCE

31. Why Interseed Legumes? Improve nutritive quality of pasture
Increase gains of grazing livestock
Reduce N fertilizer rates
Increase profitability
Reduce adverse effects of endophyte on animal performance
“Repair” pastures with thin stands

32. Objective
1.To evaluate grazing and subsequent finishing performance of steers that grazed high-endophyte tall fescue pastures interseeded with lespedeza, red clover, or ladino clover.
2. To evaluate the effect of grazing on legume persistence.

36. Procedure 6 year grazing study Legumes planted each of first 3 years
No legumes planted during final 3 years
Pastures grazed from late March or early April to early Oct. or early Nov.
Stocking rate of one steer (570 lb) per acre
No supplemental protein or energy
Measured legume cover, available forage, grazing and subsequent finishing performance

37. Legumes ‘Marion’ or ‘Korean’ lespedeza, 15 lb/a, $45
‘Kenland’ red clover, 13 lb/a, $24
‘Regal’ ladino clover, 4.7 lb/a, $15.50

38. Year 1

39. Year 2

40. Year 3

41. Legume Coverage (%) Lesp Red Ladino Year 4 0.2a 0.5a 9.4b

42. Grazing Daily Gain Lesp Red Ladino Year 1 1.18 1.06 1.17
Year a 1.46a 1.87b
Year a 1.03a 1.23b
Year
Year

43. Cattle Performance Year 3
Lesp Red Ladino
Grazing gain 301a 321a 411b
Grazing ADG 1.37a 1.46a 1.87b
Finishing gain
Finishing ADG
Total gain 806a 796a 889b
Carcass wt. 781a 789a 858b

44. Cattle Performance Year 4
Lesp Red Ladino
Grazing gain 207a 230a 276b
Grazing ADG 0.92a 1.03a 1.23b
Finishing gain 517ab 537a 492b
Finishing ADG
Total gain
Carcass wt

45. Conclusions Grazing gains were highly correlated with legume coverage.
Legume treatment during the grazing phase had little effect on finishing performance or carcass traits.

46. To provide sufficient legume to improve performance of cattle grazing high endophyte tall fescue, lespedeza and red clover should be interseeded every year, and ladino clover should be interseeded at least every 2 years.

47. SUPPLEMENT CONVERSION
Amount of supplement required for each additional lb of gain over that of unsupplemented control steers

48. KANSAS Eleven dry mill ethanol plants
Capacity to produce 440 million gallons of ethanol annually
Requires 157 million bushels of corn and grain sorghum annually (30% of total production)
Yields approximately 1.5 million tons of dried distillers grains annually

49. DDG NUTRIENT COMPOSITION
3X nutrient value of corn
29.5% crude protein (72.8% UIP)
10.3% crude fat
0.83% phosphorus
Complements nutrient composition of mature forages to meet requirements of grazing cattle
Highly palatable

50. DDG FEEDING CONSIDERATIONS
High in phosphorus (0.83%)
Potential nutrient management problem in confined feeding – (3-4 X requirement)
Asset for grazing cattle
Ca:P ratio
High in sulfur (0.40%) = max. tolerable level
From grain and sulfuric acid
Can be toxic when DDG fed at high levels
Mycotoxins - aflatoxin

51. SMOOTH BROMEGRASS
Steer calves grazed from April 6 to October 3 (180 days)
Continuous stocking rate of 0.8 steer per acre or 1.25 acres per steer (473 lb)
Supplemented with 0, 0.5, or 1.0% body weight DDG/head/day (as-fed) – group fed meal in bunks

53. Three replicates (pastures) of each treatment.
Steer gains and available forage were measured and the amount of DDG fed was adjusted every 28 days.
No feed additives or implants were used during the grazing phase.

54. FINISHING PHASE Steers were implanted with Synovex-S.
Steers were fed a finishing diet of 80% ground grain sorghum, 15% corn silage, and 5% supplement (DM basis) for 124 days.
Steers were slaughtered and carcass data were collected.

55. SMOOTH BROMEGRASS 2005-2007 (180 days)
DDG( %BW/hd/day)
Final wt, lb a b c
Gain, lb a b c
Daily gain, lb a b c
Gain/acre, lb 213a b c
Total DDG intake, lb
Daily DDG intake, lb
DDG conversion

56. FINISHING PEFORMANCE (124 days)
DDG( %BW/hd/day)
Daily gain, lb a a,b b
Feed:gain a b b
Hot carcass wt, lb 727a b b
Yield grade a b b
Percent Choice
Marbling score SM SM SM54

58. SUPPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 2008-2010
Steer calves grazed smooth bromegrass pasture from April 6 to November 6 (214 days).
Continuous stocking rate of 0.8 steer per acre or 1.25 acres per steer (initial wt. = 455 lb)
Supplementation treatments were :
No supplement
0.5% of body weight DDG/head/day (0.5C)
No supplement for first 56 days, then 0.5% DDG/head/day for the final 168 days of the grazing phase (0.5D)

59. Steers were group fed DDG in meal form in bunks daily.
Three replicates (pastures) of each treatment.
Steer gains and available forage were measured every 28 days and the amount of DDG fed was adjusted.
No feed additives or implants were used during the grazing phase.

60. FINISHING PHASE Steers were implanted with Synovex-S.
Steers were fed a finishing diet of 80% whole-shelled corn, 15% corn silage, and 5% supplement (DM basis) for 108 days.
Steers were slaughtered and carcass data were collected.

61. SUPPLEMENTATION STRATEGY Smooth Bromegrass (214 days)
DDG( %BW/hd/day)
C D
Final wt., lb a b b
Gain, lb a b b
Daily gain, lb a b b
Gain/acre, lb a b b
Total DDG intake, lb
Daily DDG intake, lb
DDG conversion

62. FINISHING PEFORMANCE (108 days)
DDG( %BW/hd/day)
C D
Daily gain, lb a b b
Feed:gain a b b
Hot carcass wt, lb 741a b b
Yield grade
Percent Choice
Marbling score MT MT MT40

63. NATIVE GRASS 2005 Epp et al. 2007, Manhattan, KS
Big bluestem and Indian grass were dominant species, little bluestem and side oats grama were subdominant species.
Yearling steers (573 lb) grazed from May 1 to August 3 (95 days)
Pastures were double stocked (250 lb/acre for 90 days)

64. First 45 days (May 1-June 14) No supplement was fed.
Oxytetracycline was offered in a mineral mix that was fed free-choice to control foot rot and pinkeye.

65. Last 50 days (June 15 – Aug. 1)
Steers were supplemented with 0, 0.25, 0.5, or 0.75% body weight grain sorghum DDG/head/day (DM basis) – pellets fed in bunks
Level of supplement was adjusted every 14 days based on a projected gain of 2.0 lb/head/day.
DDG from grain sorghum
34.6% crude protein
8.8% crude fat

66. SUMMARY
Supplementation of grazing stocker cattle with DDG increased grazing gain and gain/acre.
Grazing gains of grazing stocker cattle increased as level of DDG supplementation increased.
Supplement conversion was more efficient at lower levels of DDG supplementation and/or when forage was not meeting nutrient requirements of grazing cattle.

67. Cattle supplemented with DDG while grazing had lower finishing gain and higher feed:gain than those not supplemented.
DDG supplementation of grazing stocker cattle will likely be more profitable if cattle are sold at end of grazing phase and ownership is not retained to slaughter.

68. DDG supplementation of grazing stocker will be the most profitable when the price of cattle is high and the price of corn is low.