SHREDLAGE Provides Better Feeding Efficiency in Finishing Beef Cattle ®
It is becoming a well-known fact that SHREDLAGE® corn silage, produced exclusively by the CLAAS JAGUAR forage harvester, increases milk production in dairy cattle.* Now, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) study** shows that it also benefits beef cattle by improving gains and feeding efficiency.
Roughage is a necessary part of finishing diets for beef cattle, maintaining rumen function and reducing digestive upset. Since roughages are bulky and expensive, the search is on for ways to reduce the amount of roughage fed during the finishing period without causing a negative impact on the feedlot performance.
In the study, cattle that were fed rations containing SHREDLAGE corn silage experienced a 2.9 percent greater average daily gain and a 4.4 percent greater feed-to-gain ratio when compared to control groups fed the percentage of conventionally chopped and processed silage.
A team of researchers at UNL wanted to determine how adding SHREDLAGE as a roughage component to a steamflaked corn diet would affect finishing beef cattle. SHREDLAGE is an innovative conditioning process for long-chopped corn silage, exclusive to the CLAAS JAGUAR forage harvester.
Study details Karla Jenkins, a University of Nebraska Cow/Calf Systems and Stocker Management Researcher, explains the study’s goals this way: “The hypothesis for this study was that if we could have a little larger particle size in the roughage, such as a silage type roughage, that possibly we could reduce the amount fed, which would then reduce the amount in the truck and increase the efficiency of feeding and still maintain rumen function for the animal.” The 128-day study was conducted during the finishing period for beef cattle at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research Feedlot in Western Nebraska. In the study, final finishing diets contained 9 or 14 percent of either SHREDLAGE corn silage cut at 26.5 mm or conventionally chopped and processed corn silage cut at 13 mm. The diets also contained 15 percent wet distillers grains and 5 percent mineral supplement on a dry matter basis. The remainder of the diet dry matter came from steam-flaked corn.
