ABSTRACT
Objective
The objective was to evaluate the effects of a winter-feeding system on (study 1)
forage biomass and quality, DMI, beef cow performance, system costs, and (study 2)
ruminal fermentation.
Materials and Methods
In study 1, over 3 yr, 60 dry, pregnant Angus cows were stratified by BW (658.2 ±
15 kg) and randomly allocated to 1 of 3 replicated (n = 2) winter-feeding systems.
Winter-feeding systems included (i) grazing standing whole-plant corn (STCOR; Zea mays L. ‘DKC 26-25’; 10.0% CP, 67.6% TDN); (ii) grazing swathed whole-plant barley (SWBAR;
Hordeum vulgare L. ‘Ranger’; 11.5% CP, 60.5% TDN); and (iii) drylot feeding barley hay (DLHAY; Ranger;
10.3% CP, 54.2% TDN). In study 2 (yr 1 and yr 2), 9 ruminally cannulated beef heifers
(529 ± 39 kg) cycled through the 3 winter systems in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square
design, with 21-d periods to evaluate the effects of system and day of forage allocation
on ruminal fermentation.
Results and Discussion
Forage utilization was greatest (P = 0.01) for the DLHAY (84.4 ± 5.9%), intermediate for SWBAR (63.9 ± 2.5%), and least
for STCOR (51.1 ± 4.4%) system. Winter-feeding system did not differ (P = 0.21) for initial BW (665 ± 17 kg), final BW (679 ± 25 kg), initial (4.2 ± 0.94 mm) and final rib fat thickness (4.9 ± 0.86 mm), and BCS (P = 0.36; final BCS = 2.8 ± 0.10; BCS change = 0.07 ± 0.14; 5-point scale). Mean ruminal
pH was greatest (P = 0.02) for DLHAY (6.59) compared with SWBAR and STCOR forages (6.42 and 6.44, respectively).
The area (pH × min/d) and duration that pH was <5.8 (min/d) was greater (P = 0.02) for SWBAR (50.8 and 231.6, respectively) compared with DLHAY (4.9 and 53.6,
respectively) but similar to STCOR forage (52 and 129.3, respectively). Ruminal pH
increased (P = 0.01) from d 1 to 3 of forage allocation, and duration and area when pH was below
5.8 decreased (P = 0.03) from d 1 to 3 of forage allocation.
Implications and Applications
These results suggest that grazing either standing corn or swathed barley during winter
can reduce (P = 0.01) costs by 25 and 36%, respectively, with no negative effects on cow performance
and minimal effects on ruminal fermentation compared with feeding cows barley hay
in drylot.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
July 23,
2020
Received:
January 9,
2020
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
