Three hundred-sixty calf-fed steers were fed either treated or untreated corn stover that was previously ground through a 1-in or 3–in screen. Treated stover diets improved ADG and F:G compared to untreated. Reducing particle size improved ADG and F:G but did not influence DMI. Compared to a control diet with 5% roughage and 15 percentage units more corn, diets with 20% treated corn stover had similar F:G, ADG, DMI, and carcass quality. Up to 15% additional corn can be replaced with treated corn stover when diets contain wet distillers grains, and may be further enhanced by reducing particle size before chemical treatment

Cecava, Michael J.

Erickson, Galen E.

Griffin, William A., Griffin

Klopfenstein, Terry J.

Nuttelman, Brandon L.

Shreck, Adam L.

English

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports Animal Science Department 
2012 
Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment in Finishing 
Diets 
Adam L. Shreck 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Brandon L. Nuttelman 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
William A. Griffin Griffin 
University of Nebraska -Lincoln, wgriffin2@unl.edu 
Galen E. Erickson 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gerickson4@unl.edu 
Terry J. Klopfenstein 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tklopfenstein1@unl.edu 
See next page for additional authors 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr 
 Part of the Animal Sciences Commons 
Shreck, Adam L.; Nuttelman, Brandon L.; Griffin, William A. Griffin; Erickson, Galen E.; Klopfenstein, Terry J.; 
and Cecava, Michael J., "Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment in Finishing Diets" (2012). 
Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports. 691. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/691 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Department at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Beef Cattle 
Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Authors 
Adam L. Shreck, Brandon L. Nuttelman, William A. Griffin Griffin, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein, 
and Michael J. Cecava 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/
animalscinbcr/691 
Page 108 — 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report  © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved.
Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment
in Finishing Diets
Adam L. Shreck
 Brandon L. Nuttelman
 William A. Griffin
 Galen E. Erickson
 Terry J. Klopfenstein
Michael J. Cecava1
Summary
Three hundred-sixty calf-fed steers 
were fed either treated or untreated 
corn stover that was previously ground 
through a 1-in or 3–in screen. Treated 
stover diets improved ADG and F:G 
compared to untreated. Reducing par-
ticle size improved ADG and F:G but 
did not influence DMI. Compared to a 
control diet with 5% roughage and 15 
percentage units more corn, diets with 
20% treated corn stover had similar 
F:G, ADG, DMI, and carcass quality. 
Up to 15% additional corn can be re-
placed with treated corn stover when di-
ets contain wet distillers grains, and may 
be further enhanced by reducing particle 
size before chemical treatment.
Introduction
A previous study (2012 Nebraska 
Beef Cattle Report, pp. ??-??) has dem-
onstrated the potential to replace corn 
with corn stover that has been treated 
with 5% calcium oxide, with no re-
duction in performance or carcass 
characteristics compared to a diet that 
would be commonly fed in Nebraska. 
The focus of this experiment was to 
further investigate ways to enhance 
this feeding strategy, as corn stover 
and distillers grains are abundant 
in Nebraska. We hypothesized that 
reducing particle size may increase 
the extent of digestibility during the 
treatment process, leading to better 
performance.
Procedure
The experiment used 360 calf-fed 
steers (30 pens, 12 steers/pen) (initial 
BW: 822 ± 9.9 lb). The experiment had 
two weight blocks (three replications 
per block), five diets (six replications 
per treatment) and was designed as a 
randomized complete block design. 
Main factors included corn stover, 
which was ground through a 1-in 
or 3–in screen, and then alkaline 
treated with 5% calcium oxide at 50% 
moisture or not treated. Corn stover 
replaced a 50:50 blend (DM basis) of 
HMC and DRC and was fed at 20% 
diet DM (Table 1). The control con-
tained a higher amount of corn (51 
vs. 36%) and lower roughage (5%, 
untreated corn stover ground through 
3-in screen). All diets contained 40% 
modified distillers grains plus solubles 
(MDGS; 59.3% DM). Chemical treat-
ment consisted of water, calcium ox-
ide, and ground corn stover weighed 
and mixed into Roto-Mix feed trucks. 
Feed trucks dispensed treated corn 
stover into a silage bag which was 
packed with a pressure setting of 400 
psi, and this equated to a density of 
approximately 8 lb DM/ ft3. Chemical 
treatment was considered completed 
with a minimum of seven days prior 
to feeding. Untreated corn stover was 
ground and stored under roof (no 
added moisture or chemical). Orts 
were assessed weekly and were only 
observed on 3-in untreated stalks di-
ets. However, this amount was small 
(< 0.5% of total DM offered). Calcium 
oxide replaced limestone in treated 
diets. Cattle were fed once daily for 
151 days. Data were analyzed in the 
MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., 
Inc., Cary, N.C.). Pen was the experi-
mental unit. Block was included as 
a fixed effect. The factorial was ana-
lyzed separately with main factors of 
roughage source and treatment, as 
well as the interaction, included in 
the model. To compare treated and 
untreated diets to the control, means 
were separated by the pDIFF option 
with a protected F-test. Percentage of 
choice carcasses and above were ana-
lyzed in GLIMMIX assuming a bino-
mial distribution. 
Table 1.  Dietary treatments.
 1” Grindsize 3” Grindsize
Ingredient, % of DM Control Treated Untreated Treated Untreated
HMC 25.5 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0
DRC 25.5 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0
Corn Stover—treated1 — 20.0 — 20.0 —
Corn Stover—not treated  5.0 — 20.0 — 20.0
MDGS 40.0 40.0 40.0 40.0 40.0
Supplement2  4.0  4.0  4.0  4.0  4.0
Composition of Corn Stover     
NDF, %  56.0 76.5 56.8 81.1
IVNDFD, %3  58.0 36.0 51.0 36.0
1Treated with 5% CaO and water added to 50% DM and ground through 1-in or 3-in screen.  
2Formulated to provide 360 mg/steer daily Rumensin® and 90 mg/steer daily Tylan®.  
3In vitro NDF digestibility, 48 hour incubation time. 
© The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved. 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report  — Page 109 
Table 2.  Performance and carcass characteristics.
 1” Grindsize 3” Grindsize Factorial P-value
Item Control Treated Untreated Treated Untreated SE F-test Grind1 Trt2 GxT3
Steer performance
Initial BW  823  822  823  821  825  9.9  0.99  0.94  0.80 0.88
Final BW5 1378a 1385a 1319bc 1362ab 1309c  14.8 <0.01  0.24 <0.01 0.60
ADG, lb9 3.67a  3.73a  3.28b  3.58a  3.21b  0.050 <0.01  0.02 <0.01 0.40
DMI, lb  24.01abc  23.60bc  24.50ab  23.45c  24.78a  0.33  0.04  0.87 <0.01 0.53
F:G7  6.54ab  6.32a  7.47c  6.55b  7.72b  0.087 <0.01  0.01 <0.01 0.90
Final BW6 1419a 1372ab 1339b 1360ab 1333b  21.0  0.05  0.52  0.03 0.83
Dressing %8 61.39 63.63  62.06  63.10  61.89  0.007 0.26  0.08 <0.01 0.37
Carcass characteristics
HCW, lb  868a  873a  831b  858a  825b  9.4 <0.01  0.26 <0.01 0.63
12th rib fat, in  0.57  0.55  0.51  0.56  0.52  0.023  0.24  0.51  0.07 0.96
LM area, in2  13.26  13.28  13.16  13.26  12.82  0.175  0.32  0.30  0.13 0.36
Marbling4  595  568  546  590   579  13.4  0.11  0.07  0.27 0.69
% Choice  86.1a  77.5ab  67.6b  81.4a  76.4ab   0.08  0.13  0.08 0.85
Calc. YG  3.48  3.43  3.21  3.41  3.32  0.102  0.38  0.63  0.13 0.50
1Fixed effect of grind size (1” vs 3”).
2Fixed effect of chemical treatment.
3Grind size x chemical treatment interaction.
4500 = Small, 600 = Modest.
5Calculated as HCW/common dress (63%).
6Pen weight taken before slaughter.
7Analyzed as G:F, reciprocal of F:G.
8Calculated as HCW/Final live BW.
9Caculated from carcass adjusted final BW.
abcWithin a row, values lacking common superscripts, differ, when F-test is significant (P < 0.05).
Results
There were no particle size x 
chemical treatment interactions noted 
in this trial. Chemical treatment was 
effective in solublizing approximately 
30% of the corn stover NDF (Table 
1) and this led to increases (P < 0.01) 
in ADG (12.6%) and improved F:G 
(17.4%) relative to untreated corn 
stover. Dry matter intake was lower 
for chemically treated stover com-
pared to untreated (P < 0.01), which 
is reflective of energy density being 
diluted. Reducing particle size of the 
stover from 1 inch to 3 inch also im-
proved (P < 0.01) ADG (3.2%) and F:G 
(3.5%). Compared to control, treated 
stover was not different for ADG, 
F:G, adjusted final BW or final BW 
measured before slaughter, marbling 
score, 12th rib fat, YG, or percentage 
choice and prime. Grind size tended 
to reduce marbling score (P = 0.07). 
Chemical treatment tended (P = 0.07) 
to increase 12th rib fat; however, this 
difference was small numerically. Re-
ducing particle size improves the feed-
ing value of feeding chemically treated 
corn stover in byproduct diets. 
1Adam L. Shreck, research technician; 
Brandon L. Nuttelman, research technician; 
William A. Griffin, research technician; Galen 
E. Erickson, professor; Terry J. Klopfenstein, 
professor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln 
Department of Animal Science, Lincoln, Neb.; 
Michael J. Cecava, Archer Daniels Midland 
Company Research Division, Decatur, Ill.


Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment
in Finishing Diets

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports Animal Science Department 2012 Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment in Finishing Diets Adam L. Shreck University of Nebraska-Lincoln Brandon L. Nuttelman University of Nebraska-Lincoln William A. Griffin Griffin University of Nebraska -Lincoln, wgriffin2@unl.edu Galen E. Erickson University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gerickson4@unl.edu Terry J. Klopfenstein University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tklopfenstein1@unl.edu See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr  Part of the Animal Sciences Commons Shreck, Adam L.; Nuttelman, Brandon L.; Griffin, William A. Griffin; Erickson, Galen E.; Klopfenstein, Terry J.; and Cecava, Michael J., "Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment in Finishing Diets" (2012). Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports. 691. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/691 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Department at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Authors Adam L. Shreck, Brandon L. Nuttelman, William A. Griffin Griffin, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein, and Michael J. Cecava This article is available at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/691 Page 108 — 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report  © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved.Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatmentin Finishing DietsAdam L. Shreck Brandon L. Nuttelman William A. Griffin Galen E. Erickson Terry J. KlopfensteinMichael J. Cecava1SummaryThree hundred-sixty calf-fed steers were fed either treated or untreated corn stover that was previously ground through a 1-in or 3–in screen. Treated stover diets improved ADG and F:G compared to untreated. Reducing par-ticle size improved ADG and F:G but did not influence DMI. Compared to a control diet with 5% roughage and 15 percentage units more corn, diets with 20% treated corn stover had similar F:G, ADG, DMI, and carcass quality. Up to 15% additional corn can be re-placed with treated corn stover when di-ets contain wet distillers grains, and may be further enhanced by reducing particle size before chemical treatment.IntroductionA previous study (2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report, pp. ??-??) has dem-onstrated the potential to replace corn with corn stover that has been treated with 5% calcium oxide, with no re-duction in performance or carcass characteristics compared to a diet that would be commonly fed in Nebraska. The focus of this experiment was to further investigate ways to enhance this feeding strategy, as corn stover and distillers grains are abundant in Nebraska. We hypothesized that reducing particle size may increase the extent of digestibility during the treatment process, leading to better performance.ProcedureThe experiment used 360 calf-fed steers (30 pens, 12 steers/pen) (initial BW: 822 ± 9.9 lb). The experiment had two weight blocks (three replications per block), five diets (six replications per treatment) and was designed as a randomized complete block design. Main factors included corn stover, which was ground through a 1-in or 3–in screen, and then alkaline treated with 5% calcium oxide at 50% moisture or not treated. Corn stover replaced a 50:50 blend (DM basis) of HMC and DRC and was fed at 20% diet DM (Table 1). The control con-tained a higher amount of corn (51 vs. 36%) and lower roughage (5%, untreated corn stover ground through 3-in screen). All diets contained 40% modified distillers grains plus solubles (MDGS; 59.3% DM). Chemical treat-ment consisted of water, calcium ox-ide, and ground corn stover weighed and mixed into Roto-Mix feed trucks. Feed trucks dispensed treated corn stover into a silage bag which was packed with a pressure setting of 400 psi, and this equated to a density of approximately 8 lb DM/ ft3. Chemical treatment was considered completed with a minimum of seven days prior to feeding. Untreated corn stover was ground and stored under roof (no added moisture or chemical). Orts were assessed weekly and were only observed on 3-in untreated stalks di-ets. However, this amount was small (< 0.5% of total DM offered). Calcium oxide replaced limestone in treated diets. Cattle were fed once daily for 151 days. Data were analyzed in the MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, N.C.). Pen was the experi-mental unit. Block was included as a fixed effect. The factorial was ana-lyzed separately with main factors of roughage source and treatment, as well as the interaction, included in the model. To compare treated and untreated diets to the control, means were separated by the pDIFF option with a protected F-test. Percentage of choice carcasses and above were ana-lyzed in GLIMMIX assuming a bino-mial distribution. Table 1.  Dietary treatments. 1” Grindsize 3” GrindsizeIngredient, % of DM Control Treated Untreated Treated UntreatedHMC 25.5 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0DRC 25.5 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0Corn Stover—treated1 — 20.0 — 20.0 —Corn Stover—not treated  5.0 — 20.0 — 20.0MDGS 40.0 40.0 40.0 40.0 40.0Supplement2  4.0  4.0  4.0  4.0  4.0Composition of Corn Stover     NDF, %  56.0 76.5 56.8 81.1IVNDFD, %3  58.0 36.0 51.0 36.01Treated with 5% CaO and water added to 50% DM and ground through 1-in or 3-in screen.  2Formulated to provide 360 mg/steer daily Rumensin® and 90 mg/steer daily Tylan®.  3In vitro NDF digestibility, 48 hour incubation time. © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved. 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report  — Page 109 Table 2.  Performance and carcass characteristics. 1” Grindsize 3” Grindsize Factorial P-valueItem Control Treated Untreated Treated Untreated SE F-test Grind1 Trt2 GxT3Steer performanceInitial BW  823  822  823  821  825  9.9  0.99  0.94  0.80 0.88Final BW5 1378a 1385a 1319bc 1362ab 1309c  14.8 <0.01  0.24 <0.01 0.60ADG, lb9 3.67a  3.73a  3.28b  3.58a  3.21b  0.050 <0.01  0.02 <0.01 0.40DMI, lb  24.01abc  23.60bc  24.50ab  23.45c  24.78a  0.33  0.04  0.87 <0.01 0.53F:G7  6.54ab  6.32a  7.47c  6.55b  7.72b  0.087 <0.01  0.01 <0.01 0.90Final BW6 1419a 1372ab 1339b 1360ab 1333b  21.0  0.05  0.52  0.03 0.83Dressing %8 61.39 63.63  62.06  63.10  61.89  0.007 0.26  0.08 <0.01 0.37Carcass characteristicsHCW, lb  868a  873a  831b  858a  825b  9.4 <0.01  0.26 <0.01 0.6312th rib fat, in  0.57  0.55  0.51  0.56  0.52  0.023  0.24  0.51  0.07 0.96LM area, in2  13.26  13.28  13.16  13.26  12.82  0.175  0.32  0.30  0.13 0.36Marbling4  595  568  546  590   579  13.4  0.11  0.07  0.27 0.69% Choice  86.1a  77.5ab  67.6b  81.4a  76.4ab   0.08  0.13  0.08 0.85Calc. YG  3.48  3.43  3.21  3.41  3.32  0.102  0.38  0.63  0.13 0.501Fixed effect of grind size (1” vs 3”).2Fixed effect of chemical treatment.3Grind size x chemical treatment interaction.4500 = Small, 600 = Modest.5Calculated as HCW/common dress (63%).6Pen weight taken before slaughter.7Analyzed as G:F, reciprocal of F:G.8Calculated as HCW/Final live BW.9Caculated from carcass adjusted final BW.abcWithin a row, values lacking common superscripts, differ, when F-test is significant (P < 0.05).ResultsThere were no particle size x chemical treatment interactions noted in this trial. Chemical treatment was effective in solublizing approximately 30% of the corn stover NDF (Table 1) and this led to increases (P < 0.01) in ADG (12.6%) and improved F:G (17.4%) relative to untreated corn stover. Dry matter intake was lower for chemically treated stover com-pared to untreated (P < 0.01), which is reflective of energy density being diluted. Reducing particle size of the stover from 1 inch to 3 inch also im-proved (P < 0.01) ADG (3.2%) and F:G (3.5%). Compared to control, treated stover was not different for ADG, F:G, adjusted final BW or final BW measured before slaughter, marbling score, 12th rib fat, YG, or percentage choice and prime. Grind size tended to reduce marbling score (P = 0.07). Chemical treatment tended (P = 0.07) to increase 12th rib fat; however, this difference was small numerically. Re-ducing particle size improves the feed-ing value of feeding chemically treated corn stover in byproduct diets. 1Adam L. Shreck, research technician; Brandon L. Nuttelman, research technician; William A. Griffin, research technician; Galen E. Erickson, professor; Terry J. Klopfenstein, professor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Department of Animal Science, Lincoln, Neb.; Michael J. Cecava, Archer Daniels Midland Company Research Division, Decatur, Ill.

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Reducing Particle Size Enhances Chemical Treatment in Finishing Diets

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