Effect of Wet Brewers Grains or Dried Distillers Grains as Supplements to Round Bale Silage or Dry Hay on Intake and Digestibility in Steers

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different forage and supplement combinations on forage and supplement intake and ruminal parameters in steers. Six ruminally fistulated steers were assigned to 1 of 4 treatments during 4 different data collection periods. Treatments were 1) Hay +wet brewers grains (WBG); 2) Hay +dried distillers grains (DDG); 3) round bale silage (RBS) + WBG; and 4) RBS + DDGS. Forage was offered in 2 feedings per day at 110% of the previous day’s forage intake. Supplements and a mineral premix were offered to steers once daily in the morning. Supplements were offered at 0.5% of body weight (BW) on a dry matter (DM) basis. Forage, supplement and total dry matter intake (DMI) and apparent total tract digestibility were measured for each forage-supplement combination. Ruminal pH and ammonia-N concentration were measured for each foragesupplement combination. Forage type (hay or RBS) did not affect forage DMI, but DDG tended to increase forage DMI compared to WBG. Supplement DMI tended to be greater for steers fed Hay compared to RBS. Supplement DMI was similar between supplements. Total DMI was similar between forage types, but total DMI was greater for steers when offered DDG compared to WBG. Total tract digestibility did not differ between forage types, but DDG supplementation had greater total tract digestibility than WBG. Daily mean ruminal pH was greater in RBS fed steers compared to Hay. In contrast, supplement type did not affect mean daily ruminal pH (mean = 6.32). Daily mean ruminal ammonia-N concentration did not differ between forage types. Likewise, daily mean ruminal ammonia-N concentration did not differ between supplement types. Ruminal pH and ammonia-N concentration were maintained in ranges adequate to support normal ruminal metabolism and support adequate cattle performance.