The poor animal performance obtain with rations containing a high amount of oats indicated a need to more accurately describe the place of oats in growing and finishing rations for cattle. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to study whole, rolled or ground and pelleted oats as the only grain for feedlot steers. Feedlot performance and digestibility were determined and compared for each form of oats

Embry, L. B.

Luther, R. M.

Rosenboom, R. W.

English

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South Dakota State UniversityOpen PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access InstitutionalRepository and Information ExchangeSouth Dakota Cattle Feeders Field Day Proceedingsand Research Reports, 1981 Animal Science Reports1981Oat Grain Rations for Growing and FinishingCattleR. W. RosenboomSouth Dakota State UniversityL. B. EmbryR. M. LutherFollow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/sd_cattlefeed_1981This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Reports at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access InstitutionalRepository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in South Dakota Cattle Feeders Field Day Proceedings and Research Reports,1981 by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For moreinformation, please contact michael.biondo@sdstate.edu.Recommended CitationRosenboom, R. W.; Embry, L. B.; and Luther, R. M., "Oat Grain Rations for Growing and Finishing Cattle" (1981). South DakotaCattle Feeders Field Day Proceedings and Research Reports, 1981. Paper 6.http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/sd_cattlefeed_1981/6CATTLE FEEDERS DAY OAT GRAIN RATI ON S  F OR GROWIN G  AND F IN I SH I N G  CATTLE R .  W .  R os enb oom ,  L .  B. Embry and R .  M .  Luth er D ep a rtment of Anima l Sc i enc e Rep ort CATTLE 8 1 - 5  Summary Feeding and digestio� trials were conducted t o  determine performance of growing and finishing steers fed oat s as the only grain in rations without added roughage . Oat grain was fed whole , rolled or ground and pelleted. Similar weight gain was obtained when animals were fed whole and rolled grain. Steers fed rolled oats consumed less feed ( 1 . 1  lb. average daily) .  This lower feed consumpt ion with about the same rate of gain resulted in lower feed requirement s (5. 1 %) in comparison to  whole oats. Steers fed ground and pelleted oat s gained at a faster rate ( 1 0 . 8 %) than control s .  They also consumed slightly less daily feed ( . 6  lb. ) and had lower feed requirement s ( 1 2 . 9%) . The digestion trial showed an improvement of 4 . 9 % in digestibility of prot ein and organic matter for rolled oats over whole oat s. Digestibility of rolled or ground and pelleted oats was similar. Maj or problems with feeding oats without added roughage to cattle appear to be inadequate feed intake for high levels of production and those associated with digestive disorders. Whole oats appeared to present less of these problems than rolled or ground and pelleted oat s. Comparisons were not made with other grains. However , gain was less and feed requirement s were higher than typical for high-concentrate rations witha corn grain. Introduction Oat s are the world ' s  fourth largest grain crop and South Dakota ranks first in oat s production in the United States. Traditionally , oat s have been used in limited amount s  in rat ions for starting catt le on feed , wintering breeding f locks and herd s ,  creep feeds and growing and backgrounding operations . The availability may make the grain a feasib le alternative as a maj or feed grain if economic condit ions are favorable. Less supplemental protein is needed for cattle when feeding oats due to  the higher protein content . The energy value is substantially lower than for corn grain primarily due t o  the high percentage of hulls. Light weight oat s  contain more hulls and , therefore , more f iber. This i s  why variation in the test weight may play a maj or role in feeding value. Oat grain has approxi­mately the same fiber and energy contents as a ration with 60% shel led corn and 40% alfalfa hay. It  is thus evident that oats must replace roughage as well as other grain in the ration or production will be reduced. 24 - 2 .-Processing methods such as . rolling , grinding o r  pelleting are attempts to improve animal performance and utilization of a feedstuff. Reduction in part icle size has been shown to affect rate of passage through the digestive tract and may improve digestibil�ty. However , excessively fine grinding can result in digestive upsets that may decrease animal performance. Process ing roughages has often been shown to improve gains and feed efficiency. Process­ing concentrates more often has resulted in improved efficiency only. The poor animal performance obtained with rations containing a high amount of oats indicated a need to more accurately describe the place of oats in growing and finishing rations for cattle. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to study whole , rolled or ground and pelleted oats as the only grain for feedlot steers. Feedlot performance and digestibility were determined and compared for each form of oats. Procedure Feeding Trial Ninety-six Hereford , Hereford-Angus and Limousin cross steers were u sed in a growing-finishing experiment. They were allotted into 1 2  pens of eight steers each on basis of weight and breed group (four Herefords , two Hereford­Angus and two Limousin crossbreds per pen). Processing treatments for the animals included ear tagging, injecting with Clostridium chauvoei-septicum-novyi-sordelli bacterin , Warbex pour-on and a Tramisol injection. Experimental treatments were oat grain fed whole , rolled to a fineness to essentially eliminate any whole kernels or finely ground and pelleted (3/16 inch). Oat grain was full fed with 2 lb. of a corn-base supplement which furnished minerals and vit�min A and monensin. The steers were adapted to the oat rations over a period of 10 days by gradual reduction in alfalfa­brome haylage and increases in oat grain. The .cattle had been full fed the haylage without grain for about 6 weeks prior to the experiment. After increasing to a full feed , feeding was in amounts to be available at all times and offered once daily. After several weeks on the experiment , implant treatments of zeranol and Synovex were sup�rimposed upon replications of dietary treat�ents for the experiment. Results showed no response to implants under conditions of the experiment. Results , therefore , have been presented for 'oat grain treatments averaged for implant treatments. Digestion Trial Two digestion trials were conducted with the rations fed in the feeding trial. Collection periods were 5 days for each triai · after suitable preliminary and adjustment periods for the experimental diets and conditions of the digestion trials. twelve steers weighing about 600 lb. were selected for each digestion trial with Angus used for one and Herefords for the other. Two steers could not be managed in the metabolism crates and one was not used because of poor feed consumption. Data for the two digestion trials were combined with 7 ,  6 and 8 steers fed whole , rolled and pelleted oat rations , respectively. 25  - 3 -Results Feeding Trial Results of the feeding trial are shown in table 1 .  The experiment was terminated after 180 days . Feed consumption and weight gain at this t ime were considered unsatisfactory for the use of oat grain in all-concentrate f inishing rations for cattle. Weight gain became progressively less with increasing weight , f inish and time on experiment . Additional time on the experiment did not appear needed to evaluate effects of the processing methods on animal performance and feed utilization . The cattle were not marketed for carcass data because of inadequate weights and finish at this time . Steers fed the ration with whole oats gained 1 . 85 lb . daily . The oats were high quality with a test weight of 39 . 1  lb . per bushel . Rolling the oats and reducing the density per bushel had essentially no effect on weight gain of the steers . Rolling the oats appeared to reduce feed consumption. Steers fed rolled oats consumed an average of 1 . 1 lb . less feed daily than those fed the whole oat ration. The lower feed consumption with about the same rate of gain gave lower feed requirement s in comparison to whole oats ( 5.1%) . Table 1 .  Whole , Rolled or Ground and Pelleted Oats Fed Steers Feedlot Performance June 7 to December 4 ,  1 9 79-- 1 80 Days Item Density of oats as fed to cattle , lb . /bushel Number of steersa Avg . initial wt . ,  lb . Avg . final wt . ,  lb . Avg .  daily gain, lb . Avg . daily feed (dry) , lb . Feed /gain Whole 39 . 1  31  640 968 1 . 85bc 1 6 . 9  b 9 . 15 Rolled 2 6 . 4 32 636 964 b 1 . 83 15 . 8  b 8 . 68 c Ground and pelleted 45 . 6  30 634 1 003  2 . 05c 1 6 . 3  7 . 9 7c a Initially 32 steers per treatment group . The loss  in the control was undiagnosed but not believed related to ration . The two in the pelleted grogpcwere from acidosi s .  ' Means in the same row with different superscripts  are statistically different (P< . 05 ) . Steers fed the ground and pelleted oats gained 2 . 05 lb . daily . This improvement over the whole oat group amounted to 1 0 . 8% .  Feed intake was at  a lower rate than for whole oats ( . 6  lb . daily) . The higher gain with slightly less feed gave a feed requirement of 1 2 . 9 %  less than for whole oats. The ground oats did not make a good f irm pellet . Considerable crumbling occurred and it was estimated that about one-half of the oats offer ed was in a meal form. 26  - 4 -D igest ion Trial Results for the two digestion trials are shown in table 2 .  Feed consump­t ion was less under the conditions of the digestion trials than for the feeding trial . This is commonly observed because of the restraining of  animals necessary. However ,  the average weight of  the steers during the feeding trial was greater . As a percentage of average body weight , feed intake during the digestion trial was only slightly reduced . DM Table 2 .  Apparent Digestibilities o f  Various Forms of Oats by Feedlot Steers (Composite of  Two 5-Day Trials ) Item Whol e  Rolled consumed/ s teer/day ,  lb . 1 2 . 0 10 . 4  Digestion coefficients , % Dry matter 69 . 1 1 7 2 .  53, b Crude protein 7 6 .  79a 80 . 5 9a Organic matter 70 . 38 73 . 84 Ground and Eelleted 10 . 7  70 . 7\ 80 . 9 7 7 2 .  33  a , b  Means in the same row with different superscripts are s tatistically different (P< . 05 ) . Digestion coefficients were slightly higher for rolled and ground and pelleted oats than when fed whole. Values shown represent 4 . 9 % greater d igestion both for protein and organic matter for rolled oats over whole oats . There were smaller differences between ground and pelleted and the rolled oats . 2 7  

Oat Grain Rations for Growing and Finishing Cattle

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Oat Grain Rations for Growing and Finishing Cattle

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