Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Lafayette, Indiana
A.H. 94 November, 1952
CORN COBS FOR WINTERING BEEF COWS
Robert Totusek, E. C. Hornback, T, W, Perry and W. M. Beeson Department of Animal Husbandry
Corn cobs, when supplemented with 3.5 pounds of Purdue Cattle "Supplement A" per day to make good their nutritional deficiencies, have proved to be an excellent source of roughage for growing calves and yearlings. Under this system of feeding, calves and yearlings were thrifty in appearance, maintained an active appetite and grew at a rate of from 1,25 to 1,50 pounds per steer daily,
iiany owners of brood cow herds have in mired whether this type of ration would be satisfactory for pregnant cows during the wintering period. In order to determine the value of corn cobs as the only roughage for brood cows during gestation and lactation, an experiment was designed to (a) determine whether ground corn cobs could serve as the sole roughage for beef cows during gestation and lactation and (b) to compare ground corn cobs (supplemented) with mixed hay for wintering beef cows during gestation and lactation,
Twenty-four purebred Shorthorn cows at the Purdue Livestock Experimental Farm were divided into two lots of 12 cows each on the basis of age, condition, weight and stage of pregnancy. Both lots had access to water and a mineral, mixture of 2 parts steamed bonemeal and 1 part iodized salt. The iodized salt in the mineral mix was fortified with cobalt at the rate of 1,0 ounce of cobalt sulfate or 0,5 ounce cobalt carbonate per 100 pounds salt, No salt was offered other than that in the mineral mix, In addition to water and minerals, Lot 1 received only mixed hay (alfalfa- brome-timothy) of average ouality, 19 pounds per head daily for the first 84 days and 21 pounds the last 84 days of the wintering period. Lot 11 received, in addition to w^ater and minerals, 14.5 pounds of ground corn cobs, 1.0 pound of dehydrated alfalfa meal and 3,5 pounds of Purdue Cow Supplement per head daily (a total of 4.5 pounds of supplement per head daily, including the alfalfa meal). Purdue Cow Supplement is very similar to Supplement A, the only difference being that Supplement A was fortified with additional vitamin A in order to meet requirements for gestation and lactation in beef cows.
Rations fed to the two lots of cows and the composition of the Cow Supplement are summarized below:
Experimental Procedure