Substitute Another Grain, Yes or No?
Over the years we have seen cattle feeders change from their "tried and true" programs to try to find a cheaper source of energy by substituting another grain, often with poor results. Examples are substituting a part of the corn in the ration with milo, feed wheat, barley, millet, cull field beans, wheat mids, grain dust, grain screenings, flax screenings, and corn gluten feed. Each of these ingredients can be used successfully if properly processed and handled. The name of the game is "best cost rations, not least cost rations."

Here are some comments and experiences with some of these feeds, and the processing of grain for growing and finishing cattle.

The Difference Between Dry Rolling and Grinding
Dry rolling is defined as grain processed through a roller mill with a differential drive on one roll to get some "grinding" action. (Roller mills that just cut or crimp the grain are not recommended for grain with small grain kernels, such as milo.)

Grinding grain is defined as the use of a hammermill grinder to pulverize the grain down to a particular size, depending on the holes in the screens which the material must pass.

Milo Substituted for Corn
We have seen some disastrous examples of attempting to substitute either flaked milo or dry processed milo for corn.

If cracked corn is being fed and milo is substituted, the milo must be finely ground or rolled to get adequate fermentation of the milo in the rumen. My recommendation is do not do it unless the milo can be properly processed. This is eight corrugations per inch for dry rolling and one eighth inch holes in the screens of the hammermill.

If flaked corn is being fed and the feedlot tries to use flaked milo, then care must be taken to achieve a thin flake with the milo. Corn is more forgiving. Milo must be flaked excellently to achieve the expected results. A poor flake of milo (30 lb./bushel) is nearly as bad as dry rolled milo for growing or finishing cattle.

Wheat, Barley, Rye
It makes a difference if the wheat is dry or steam processed. With dry rolled wheat, the feedlot may have to change the corrugations of the roller mill to get adequate cracking of the wheat berries. The small berries are the problem as they tend to escape the rolling process.

Wheat that is finely ground through a hammermill is not usually used by cattle feeders because of the fines. However, if silage is fed to help pick up the fines, then possibly 25 percent of the corn in a ration could be replaced with ground wheat.

Steamed flaked or steam rolled wheat is an excellent feed for finishing cattle. We have seen up to 50% flaked wheat substituted for flaked corn. We have even seen wheat and corn mixed together and then flaked. The flaking process needs to flatten out the small berries.

Feed-grade wheat can be a good feed. Processing is important. We prefer steam flaking or steam rolling wheat.

Using barley as part of the finish ration is recommended. Again processing the barley by steam flaking or dry rolling is preferred over fine grinding. In my opinion, the fine grinding destroys the fiber factor of the barley.

Rye is an excellent high energy grain with a protein credit. Again it must be properly processed to get good results. We suggest rye be rolled with at least eight corrugations per inch.

Millet
All types of millet are high energy grains, but it must be finely processed to make it work. If it is impossible to get a fine grind, then we suggest you stick with the main grain being used at the feedlot.

Grain Screening
We have seen grain screenings used successfully, but also with poor results. In the case of the poor results, the corn screenings contained considerable whole milo rather than pieces of corn and corn fines. The whole milo appeared in the manure unutilized. Since all grain screenings contain weed seeds, this complicates the use of the manure. We recommend grain screenings be pelleted to prevent the weed seeds from germinating. ©