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Implementing Available Summer Feeds by Dr. James I. Sprague, Nutrition Consultant Green Chop Forage for Feedlot Rations Green chop alfalfa, forage sorghum or whole corn plants added to feedlot rations add succulence and palatability. Alfalfa green chop also is high in protein and can save the cost of a high protein supplement. The Nutrients in Green Chop are more Available Forages harvested as green chop (or pastures) are more nutritious than similar forages harvested as hay or silage. Dry hays lose their leaves in the harvesting process, plus during the grinding many leaves escape as dust into the wind. The ensiling process preserves the energy of forages, however the value of the protein is changed. The protein is in a different form after the ensiling. It is more soluble and possibly less utilizable. Forage sorghum often gets very mature when it is harvested as hay, but forage sorghum harvested as green chop (or silage) can be harvested at a more ideal time. The cutting schedule of a green chop system can be adjusted by making hay a part of the crop. Stockpiling Small Grain Hay Small grain hays are available to be stockpiled at reasonable cost in the summer time. Oat hay is particularly palatable at all stages of maturity. Wheat hay is best if harvested in the boot stage, but can be harvested as late as the flowering stage. Mature wheat hay, with high grain content, is not palatable since the straw becomes woody and not as nutritious as early cut forage. Millet hay is used in some areas as starter hay and hospital forage. It is usually a later summer crop and is often planted when wheat is hailed out. Like other small grain forages, the earlier the cutting time, the better the quality and palatability. Summertime Silage: Wheat, Oats, and Rye Small grain silages are another opportunity feed available in the summer. The advantage of making silage rather than hay is dry hay is difficult to make. Silages have advantage over making hay as the harvesting time of small grain forage is often at the same time as early summer rains. These rains make curing difficult or nearly impossible in the big windrows of small grains. Irrigated wheat, with a high tonnage or forage, is much easier to harvest as silage than hay. If a late freeze damages a wheat grain crop, it can be harvested as excellent silage. The harvesting must start promptly or the plants will dry out and become difficult to pack in the silo. Small grains that have been invaded with weeds also make acceptable silage as a salvage method. A Second Grain in the Ration during the Summer Wheat, barley and rye can become competitive to corn at harvest time. The late Tom Cooper, a pioneer large feeder at Fort Morgan, Colorado, would purchase steam rolled (not flaked) barley or wheat each summer when it became available. He would purchase the grain from elevators, which had steam-rolling equipment. The second grain was processed and delivered at or below the price of corn. He believed it was pound per pound as good as his medium cracked corn. The reason may have been the wheat or barley raised the protein in the rations or the synergetic effect of the second grain. Other feeders in the area along the Front Range of Colorado use this alternative grain program during the summer. In recent years the High Plains feedlots can usually purchase wheat during harvest at no more than 10 percent over corn prices. When feedlots use dry rolled wheat or flaked wheat as part of the summer ration, one of the advantages is a spike of the protein level. Another advantage used at feedlots that have steam flaking equipment is the second grain, which if dry processed, takes some processing time from the flaking equipment. We suggest the level of a dry processed second grain be a maximum 15 percent of the ration dry matter. If wheat is flaked properly, it can replace 100 percent of the corn in a feedlot ration, but we usually limit the flaked wheat as a substitute for corn to no more than one third of the grain. By-Product Ingredients "Wheat-mids" (wheat mill run) can become competitive to grains during the summer months. The reason for this opportunity is the demand for the "wheat-mids" from the feed manufacturers during the summer is diminished because cattle are on pastures and not in confinement. The by-product must be sold, so it is discounted at that time of year. By-products of the milling industry are potential energy and protein sources all year. Wet corn gluten feed, brewers grain, distillers' grains and bakery products are valuable feed ingredients. Vegetable Crop Residues The list is unlimited. Sweet corn fodder following the harvest of the ears makes a good, succulent forage. It can be used as a green chop or silage. Cattle producers have used pea vine silages for generations. Cull potatoes processed by a speed grinder are a grain substitute. Carrots are palatable and supply starch and a highly digestible fiber. Feeding Grain on Grass Feeding a limited high grain ration has been used by successful cattle people for generations. This practice is still used by farmer feeders. As the grass matured the feeder can increase the grain amount fed each day until the cattle are practically on full feed and the roughage from the pasture is the only roughage. Some commercial feedyards have a pasture close to the feeding pens. Feeding on the pastures is somewhat the same as feeding on wheat pasture. As the pasture changes with the summer season, more ration can be supplied to keep the gains optimum. The cattle coming to the feeding pens have a good reputation of continuing on feed and reaching "harvest" finish quickly. There are several possible summer grasses that can be used. We have seen pastures of "crab/goose grass", brome alfalfa mixtures, straight alfalfa, Matua grass, fescue pastures, and mixed grass pastures. Irrigated grass pasture operations are self-feeders with a limiter like salt, ammonium sulfate, magnesium oxide, and fat. A feedlot that has beef tallow as a ration ingredient can use this ingredient as a limiter. Ten- percent tallow will limit the intake to one percent of the body weight. Feed manufacturers usually do not like to add this much fat to a ration because the tallow coats the mixer blades and then contaminates other mixes. Tallow can be added to pellets following the pelleting process and coat the pellet to help control intake. The process takes special equipment by a feed manufacturer and is usually not available. Pasture management is a major part of feeding on grass. Rotation grazing is needed. The electric fence has helped manage these programs. |
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