Use of by-product feeds to decrease feed cost while maintaining performance of developing beef bulls

Abstract

ABSTRACT In a 2-yr experiment, a total of 58 weanling bulls (initial BW = 280 ± 31 kg) were individually fed to evaluate their performance on the following diets: (1) a commercial diet (COM); (2) a diet containing soybean hulls and corn gluten feed (CGF); and (3) a diet containing soybean hulls and dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS). Animals were weighed and assessed with ultrasound 3 times throughout the experiment. In addition, the 3 diets were subjected to in vitro digestion for 24 h. An ANOVA was performed using SAS, with treatment and year as fixed effects. Data showed that ADG was greater ( P = 0.03) for bulls fed COM compared with CGF and DDGS (2.04, 1.83, and 1.82 kg/d, respectively). Dry matter intake was greater for COM and CGF ( P = 0.02); however, feed conversion was similar across treatments ( P = 0.62). Ultrasound measurements showed similar LM area for all treatments ( P = 0.57). Data from the in vitro tests revealed that IVDMD was least for COM ( P P