Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Lafayette, Indiana
THE VALUE OF DEHYDRATED AND PELLETED CORN SILAGE, WHOLE CORN PLANT OR WHOLE SORGHUM PLANT FOR BEEF CALVES (1)
W. M. Beeson, M. T. Mohler and T. W. Perry
Several years of research conducted at Purdue University has shown that one of the most practical approaches to lowering the cost of beef cattle gains is increased use of corn silage* Furthermore, it has been shown that the pounds of beef that can be produced from an acre of corn can be more than doubled when the entire corn crop is ensiled as compared to picking and shelling the corn and feeding it as grain* However, many cattle feeders do not follow the practice of feeding corn silage because of such factors as increased labor involved in feeding silage and specialized storage required for holding silage.
Another method of utilizing the entire corn plant in livestock feeding is that of dehydrating and pelleting the crop at the proper time in the fall. This would give a product low in moisture; one which could be stored easily and one which was readily adaptable to automation, handling and feeding.
The objectives of the research reported here were:
1.	Compare the feeding value of dehydrated pelleted corn silage with that of regular corn silage for beef cattle.
2.	To compare the value of dehydrated and pelleted whole corn plant (not ensiled) with corn silage and with dehydrated and pelleted corn silage.
3.	To compare the value of dehydrated pelleted whole sorghum plant with each of the above.
Experimental Procedure
Forty-eight Hereford steer calves from Colorado, which averaged 535 lb. on December 10, 1958, were divided into four lots of 12 each (one steer in lot IV died early in the experiment from causes that could not be attributed to the treatment). The cattle were fed a full feed of their respective roughages plus 3 lb. of Purdue Supplement A per steer per day and free choice minerals. Three lb. of Supplement A per steer per day included 75 nig. of aureomycin.
The treatments were as follows:
Lot I ----Corn silage, free choice; Supplement A, 3.0 lb.; minerals (2 bone-
meal :1 salt, plus loose salt), free choice.
Lot II ---Dehydrated and pelleted corn silage, free choice; Supplement A,
3.0 lb.; minerals, free choice.
^ The authors are grateful to Mr. Everett Schuman for weekly moisture determinations of the silage and of the pellets.
Mimeo AS-252 April 24, 1959 (Progress Report)