BARLEY SILAGE, GROUND WHOLE PLANT BARLEY AND CORN SILAGE FOR FINISHING BEEF CATTLE

Barley silage (mid-dough), mature, dry-ground, whole-plant barley, and corn silage were evaluated for growing and finishing steers over two consecutive crop years. Adequate supplemental protein was provided. Steers fed barley silage gained the least and required the most feed dry matter per unit gain. Furthermore, barley silage produced the least fat cover and lowest dressing percent. Performance of steers fed dry-ground barley was intermediate during the first year, but comparable with performance on corn silage in gain and carcass measurements during the second trial. Digestible energy intake tended to be highest for steers fed corn silage. Sheep were used to determine digestibilities of forages fed in the feedlot studies, and of whole-plant barley at various stages of maturity. Corn silage had the highest energy digestibility of all forages studied. Energy digestibility of whole-plant barley decreased slightly to the milk stage but did not change thereafter. After the milk stage, the barley had a moisture content below 70%, thus enabling direct harvesting for silage.