Getting the best from beef finishing rations

Getting more beef for your buck is the aim for any beef finisher, but with escalating cereal prices and forage shortages, how do you get the best from your ration this season?

According to Keenan nutritionist, Seth Wareing it all comes down to knowing what is in the ration and balancing accordingly. Ultimately, when ignoring this simple rule, performance will suffer.

“This year’s high-quality, high-starch cereals will make diets more risky and emphasise the need for diets to be well balanced – failure to do so could cause rumen acidosis,” he says.

With some grass silage crops of high quality, but low fibre, balancing these well will also be important.

“Because beef prices have not increased in line with cereal costs, it is crucial cattle perform to the best of their ability.”

Forage analysis is a must to ensure any available forage is used as efficiently as possible. “The small quantity of available forage means you can’t afford just to ‘lob’ it at cows.”

Test, do not guess forage quality, says feed adviser Melanie White. “It is important to know protein and energy levels so forage can be balanced accordingly.”

And those looking to cash in on high cereal prices should think twice, she says.

“It is a false economy to sell cereals and then have to buy in starch. With such high cereal prices, it will be a struggle to buy in starch for less, so it is well worth checking the cost of alternatives.”

But those looking to replace a proportion of bought-in cereals used in the diet have a number of options.

Beet pulp can replace a portion of cereals in a direct swap – ie, 1kg of beet pulp would replace 1kg of cereal, explains Mr Wareing.

“Using this also allows you to feed bigger quantities of bread and potatoes.”

Switching from feeding wheat to barley or using a mixture of the two, may also be more cost effective, says Ms White.

“To stretch out dwindling forage stocks using urea-treated whole-crop or moist feeds could also be a good option.” Soya hulls can also replace wheat straw in finishing rations, by providing good levels of fibre and protein.

And looking to local suppliers for possible cereal substitutes is one way of tackling ration costs, although assessing feed value of alternative feeds is a must to ensure value for money, Mr Wareing continues.

“Some feeds, such as vegetable waste, may appear good value, but they are actually low quality, reducing their worth.”

However, sourcing alternatives can act to reduce ration costs and improve feed efficiency. “One of my beef finishing clients has managed to source Yorkshire puddings to replace a proportion of cereals in the diet.

“Traditionally this diet would have been made up of two-thirds barley, but now this has reduced to a quarter. Cattle now receive 4kg of Yorkshire puddings a head a day and 3.5kg of barley, allowing bought in cereal costs to be considerably reduced.”

Buying in rape straw may also provide an opportunity to cut the amount of wheat and barley used for bedding, says Ms White.

“This method was adopted in the drought years of the 1970s and has been used by some farmers this year so straw can be included in the ration.”

However, rape straw can also work well in the ration, although it is important not to over process as it has the potential to turn to dust, says Mr Wareing.

Stuart Grey, Great Ryle, Northumberland, managed to buy rape straw for about £35/t less than wheat straw and as a result is hoping to make cost savings this season.

“We have not done the calculations yet, but I hope this will reduce feed costs this winter.

“We didn’t grow as much wheat this year, so we needed to buy in. We may decide to mix wheat and rape straw together and feed that way, but I think we will use the wheat for bedding and rape in the ration.”

This will be fed to the farm’s 130-cow Limousin cross and Aberdeen Angus cross suckler herd, and followers, which are kept as stores and sold at 12 months old.

“Rape straw is actually better for rumen function than wheat straw, providing good scratch factor and stimulating the rumen more,” he says.