Whole or ground maize grain for cattle grazing annual ryegrass pasture

Abstract

Supplementary feeding with grain and varying forage allowance (FA) are the main management tools farmers have to manage growth rates of cattle on high quality pastures. The cost of grain and the need for processing are important in determining the economic benefits of supplementary feeding. This experiment investigated the average daily gain and grain conversion efficiency of thirty—six Hereford steers (LW 278 ± 15.5 kg) grazing annual ryegrass pasture (first grazing) at two levels of FA (2.5 and 5.0 kg DM/100 kg LW) with no supplement or fed each morning, at 1 kg/100 kg LW, whole (WM) or ground (GM) maize grain. The experiment lasted 56 d starting on 6 June 2002.