Feeding Corn or Molasses to Cattle on Orchardgrass Pasture
1971
Cattle grazing an orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) pasture were self-fed corn plus fat, molasses plus urea, or no supplement, at three stocking rates within each supplement treatment. Forage availability, supplement consumption, and the interaction between them accounted for 87% of the variability in ADG. Gain/ha increased linearly with stocking rate, until stocking rate became too high to permit grazing all season. Molasses increased ADG and gain/ha, and corn increased these still more. Supplements increased slaughter and carcass grades, overall meat desirability, and all components of desirability except color. Supplement will increase return to land, labor, and management, unless beef prices are unusually low and supplement prices are unusually high; feeding corn will usually be more profitable than feeding molasses.
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