proteinandenergysupplementationofcropresiduesfor.docVIP

Protein and Energy Supplementation of Crop Residues for Breeding Cattle This word document was downloaded from the website: /en/, please remain this link information when you reproduce , copy, or use it. a href=/enword documents/a Francis L. Fluharty, Ph.D. Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University The current drought conditions in many areas of Southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are a cause for concern as many people are already feeding next winter’s hay supply, causing a severe shortage of hay and an increase in price for that hay still available. The Ohio State University Extension Beef Team has several excellent articles on our web page () dealing with various aspects of nutrition and management. However, over the past three weeks, two of the most common questions I’ve heard are “What can I feed?” and “What’s the value of corn stover?”. Here are a few thoughts to consider. First, the good news is that we have several sources of alternative sources of high-energy feeds in this area including corn, distillers grains, and pelleted soybean hulls. However, the price of these is going up rapidly, and the time to act is now. Additionally, many producers do not have the facilities to store distillers grains or soybean hulls, or the ability to purchase them in semi-load amounts. This has lead many people to turn to corn stover bales or even soybean stubble bales. Usually, our problem in this part of the country is meeting a cow’s or heifer’s energy needs, because our grass/legume mixtures are relatively high in protein. With corn stover or soybean stubble, this is NOT the case, and a readily digestible protein source must be used. To understand the effects of feeding different protein sources, using a variety of feed ingredients as the source of energy, the basics of protein function and ruminal protein degradation must be understood. First, proteins are large molecules that are made of long chains of amino acids linked togethe