7 focus areas for efficient beef finishing rations

Concentrate on the factors you can control this year to run a tight ship and maximise your three-to-four-month beef finishing window.

This is the message of beef consultant Simon Marsh, formerly beef specialist at Harper Adams University. Below, he gives some finishing tips.

See also:  Alternative feeds for beef cattle and what to consider

1. Basic targets

Once adequate frame is achieved on a beast, the finishing period should:

• Last 90-120 days
• Aim for maximum fleshing with a good finish (fat class 3-4L) and weights, grades and kill-out percentage.

The exceptions to this short finishing phase are dairy-bred bulls and weaned, suckled calves that are intensively finished post-weaning.

2. Management

• Cattle coming off grass into a finishing unit need managing carefully.
• Always make ration changes gradually (7-14-day period). Provide ad-lib long fibre, ideally from grass silage, to help adjust the rumen.
• Get feedback on liver abscesses from your abattoir, as they are linked to acidosis.

3. Forage

High-quality forage (maize, grass, wholecrop, red clover) can replace some concentrates. Focus on growing the crop with the highest dry matter (DM) and metabolisable energy (ME) yield on your farm.

• Forage should be high in ME (>11.5).
• Ad-lib cereal diets will need at least 10% of DM as forage.
• Finishing rations with 25% or more as forage will result in less acidosis.
• A trial involving intensively finishing weaned South Devon steers replaced 50% of cereals with good-quality maize silage with no significant growth drop.
• While evidence and anecdotal reports suggest an expensive feeder wagon gives improved performance, many producers achieve good results without one.
• A Teagasc study refuted the textbook advice to “feed a maximum of 0.5kg of concentrate feed for every 100kg of liveweight in one feed”. Results showed no significant difference in performance between the growth of 540kg continental bullocks fed grass silage and 7kg of concentrates as a total mixed ration (TMR) and those given one feed.
• Minimise investment in machinery. They burn fuel, rust, and depreciate in value.

4. Energy

Starch is a key growth driver, promoting propionic volatile fatty acid (VFA) production in the rumen. This is more effective for growth and fat deposition than energy from digestible fibre, which produces more acetic acid.

• Ideally, cereals should be just lightly cracked.
• Starch content is usually capped at 30% by feed mills as the cereals are over-processed, but trials at Harper Adams University found 45% starch could be fed without issue (backed up by abattoir feedback and cattle liver scores) in a home mix.
• Oats can be included cost-effectively only if they are cheaper than barley by £50/t, because of lost performance. A small inclusion (10-15%) can be justified in high-starch rations to reduce acidosis risk.
• Alternatively, beet pulp, citrus pulp, soya hulls or nutritionally improved straw can help manage acidosis risk.

Research

• The best “rocket fuel” for cattle at Harper Adams was moist crimped maize grain – it is higher in starch than barley (71% versus 59%), and higher in bypass starch (35% versus 15%), which helps limit acidosis problems.
• It is thought that disappointing results from 100% wheat diets for bulls were because the wheat became glutinous in the rumen, leading to more acidosis. Another diet swapping 20% of barley with dried maize grain showed no improvement in performance.

5. Protein

Crude protein (CP) requirements are determined by the animal’s genetic potential. Intensively fed continental bulls will require more CP than steers and heifers.

• First, satisfy the rumen-degradable protein requirements of the animal.
• Including two protein-rich feedstuffs in a ration is best, in case of a quality issue with one of the two.
• Soya is the highest protein source (47-52% CP in DM) and including it allows maximal inclusion of home-grown cereals. But links to deforestation in South America and big import distances have harmed its reputation.
• Other options are distillers (26-32% CP), rape (39%), linseed meal (35%), peas (24%) and beans (29%).
• Feed-grade urea (280% CP) is an option, but must be limited to 1% in a barley-based home mix, fed ad-lib.
• To determine which protein sources to feed, use a “least-cost formulation” approach to the ration.

Research

• Include lower-protein feeds at a higher level. For example, beans would account for 30% of the ration at Harper Adams.
• Protected protein sources have been evaluated at Harper Adams and showed performance benefits only in young (3-6 months) continental bulls.
• Harper Adams recently compared feeding 12.5% versus 16% CP (in the DM) rations for eight-month-old 300kg continental heifers on a maize silage-based TMR. A significant response in performance was seen in those fed the higher-protein feed.
• Continental dairy-bred bulls did significantly better on a 16% CP diet (in the DM) than a 14% diet at Harper Adams. But Holstein bulls grew more slowly – this was put down to an oversupply of protein for this breed type, and energy wasted processing and urinating it.
• Note that 14% “in the DM” is equivalent to feeding a 12% “as fed” beef ration on a barley beef system.

6. Moist co-product feeds

• Potato and bread waste offer good energy and starch values, but must be fed with care to avoid acidosis, as they have been processed.
• Check that you can ensure a continuity of supply for consistent rations, because a lot of co-products are now disappearing into anaerobic digester plants.
• Know the DM of products to calculate cost/t DM as well as unit of energy and protein. Co-products always look cheap but are 50-75% water.
• Consult with an experienced nutritionist to formulate a balanced ration.

Research

• A study at Scotland’s Rural College found that losses were as high as 20% when draff was not correctly ensiled.

7. Feed additives

• Check the strength of the yeast by looking at the colony-forming units (CFU/g), inclusion rate and subsequent feed rate.
• Be aware of the additional cost. The inclusion rate of many additives can easily put £5-£7/t on a feed. One yeast is currently about 7p a head a day.

Research

• Harper Adams carried out five trials with yeasts. Two of them worked – one live yeast (Yea-Sacc) and one dead yeast (Diamond V XP) – which were both fed in a home mix.
• The three trials that did not work involved a live yeast included in a compound feed. The heat process involved in making the compound feed may have denatured the yeast. However, some yeast manufacturers now claim their yeast will survive the heat of processing.
• Harper Adams also evaluated Crina, a blend of essential oils, and Acid Buf, a rumen buffer based on marine algae. Both products improved daily liveweight gain and reduced days to slaughter in barley beef rations.