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Feed analysis eliminates the guess work, increases feed use efficiency        Apr. 25, 2005
Benefiting the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a bonus feature of improved feed and forage management practices.
When it comes to hay and silage quality, what you see isn’t always what you get, says a cattle management specialist with the Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Aquaculture (PEIAFA).

Visual appearance doesn’t always tell the story, Dr. Les Halliday, a specialist in cattle nutrition, told cattle producers attending a recent one-day workshop on feeding strategies for the cow-calf herd. “Generally if hay and silage look good and smell good the quality should be good, but not always,” says Halliday. “You can have good looking feed that is low in protein, and you can have hay that looks poor but has surprisingly good feed value.

“The bottom line is to base your feed ration on a proper feed analysis,” he says.

Halliday was one of eight specialists addressing the workshop at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada experimental farm at Nappan, on the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border.

The workshop, supported by a number of provincial and federal government agencies and programs, along with the Eastern Canada Soil and Water Conservation Centre (ECSWCC) and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, (CCA) delivered several important messages to the more than 60 producers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, who attended.

On the production side, regardless of feed quality, a properly balanced ration can improve feed efficiency, reduce feed costs and improve cattle performance, the workshop was told. Even some of the poorest quality hay and silage can have a fit at some stage of the feeding program, provided there is a benchmark analysis which indicates what supplements are needed to balance the ration.

On the environmental side, producing higher quality forages and improving feed efficiency helps reduce production of greenhouse gases. Improved feed efficiency reduces the amount of methane gas produced in the rumen and emitted by cattle for every pound of feed consumed. In the field, healthy, vigorously growing forage stands, also help capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, some of which is eventually stored in the soil in the form or organic mater and other carbon compounds.

One of the key sponsors of the workshop was the beef cattle component of the federal Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture (GHGMP), which is administered by the CCA.

. “From both a soil health and a beef cattle production perspective, the goal of the workshop was to identify improved management practices that not only benefit production, but also benefit the environment,” says Gordon Fairchild, a soil conservation specialist with the ECSWCC headquartered in Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

“This workshop was intended to show producers how to get more value from forage-based feeding programs, and, at the same time, further their understanding of the greenhouse gas mitigation impacts of those practices. For example, “Having feed tests done, and then balancing feed rations based on those feed tests, serves to ensure that producers are getting the most efficient use from every pound of feed they provide to their cattle.” "Improved feed efficiency, in turn, reduces the amount of methane produced in the rumen and emitted by cattle for every pound of feed eaten", he says. The emission of methane from the rumen represents a loss of energy from the feed consumed; energy, some of which, could have gone towards the production of meat and milk. There is a clear economic and environmental benefit from adopting feeding management strategies designed to reduce this energy loss by improving feed efficiency.”

The workshop, through a hands-on session working with both round bale hay and bale silage stressed the value of a feed analysis to increase feeding options. “This analysis goes a long way towards helping producers make better, more cost-effective management decisions about feeding options.’

“Even some of the poorest feed can have a fit with different classes of cattle at different times of the year,” says Halliday. “Depending on the quality, producers can decide if what they have is suitable for growing heifers, or is better suited to cows early in their lactation. Maybe the particular feed has a better fit later in lactation when nutrient requirements are reduced.”

A producer may want to save good quality hay for calves using a creep feeder, while more mature forage should be fed to other livestock.

“If you have cattle in good condition you can likely feed them poor quality hay after weaning, toward the late part of mid-gestation,” says Halliday. “But having cattle with a good body condition score is the key.

“If producers don’t have that option and need to feed that hay at other times of the year, then a feed analysis will help them figure out the proper feed supplements to balance the ration,” he adds. “Rather than add more grain, for example, we can use protein to pull the energy out of the forage. We stress using a protein source rather than more grain. A half-pound of soybean meal can sometimes do more for the ration than two pounds of grain. Using raw or roasted soybeans provides both a protein and an energy kick to the ration.”

In producing bale silage, Halliday says it is important to begin with and maintain a proper seal on bales so the forage ferments properly. If there is a “slow fermentation” the protein can convert to ammonia and produce poor quality silage with a distinctive odor.

“There are different types of protein,” he explains. “You could end up with good crude protein content but because the protein was damaged by the fermentation it cannot be used as efficiently as protein conserved in a better form.”

Properly wrapping bale silage will help protect quality. Halliday recommends rather than the standard four layers of plastic wrap, bales should have six to seven wraps. Also protecting bales from physical damage will protect forage quality. Even small holes in the plastic caused by rodents or other pests is enough to affect the fermentation process.

And with an abundant supply of feed potatoes this year, it’s important for cattle producers to properly handle potatoes used in livestock rations. The most important aspect is to chop raw potatoes before feeding, says Halliday.

“The high energy vegetable fits well in cattle rations,” he says. “Many producers add five to 10 pounds of potatoes as a daily cow ration supplement. However, potatoes need to be chopped and properly distributed in rations to avoid risk of choking.”

Raw whole potatoes also fit well in a blend with chopped forage being made into silage. A number of fact sheets are available on the Internet at:
www.gov.pe.ca/af/agweb/index.php3?number=70545&lang=E

“In developing a feeding strategy it is important to know the quality of the feed you have available and then match that to the type and condition of livestock to be fed,” he says. “With proper planning nearly all feed regardless of quality can be used effectively in a properly balanced ration.”

A summary of the talks by the eight beef and crop specialists at the workshop is being posted on the Eastern Canada Soil and Water Conservation Centre website at http://www.ccse-swcc.nb.ca/  . The proceedings will also be available in a CD format by contacting the ECSWCC office.

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© Canadian Cattlemen's Association, 2005.
 

© Canadian Cattlemen's Association, 2005
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