Manipulating Forage-to-concentrate Ratios to Enhance Performance and Carcass Traits of Holstein Steers

Modern dairy beef feeding requires close attention to a host of nutrition and management factors that affect gain, efficiency of gain, carcass traits, and profitability. One tool the nutritionist and feedlot operator has is manipulation of forage:concentrate (F:C) ratios. Initial research and development in F:C ratios was primarily to determine the performance response by dairy beef steers to increasing dietary energy density. During this process, some determinations were made relative to forage source and grain source and processing. As the dairy beef feeding segment of the US feedlot industry developed, and value-based marketing was implemented in marketing dairy beef steers, feedlot operators and nutritionists must evaluate manipulation of F:C ratios to enhance performance, carcass quality or both. The following is a review of pertinent literature concerning manipulation of F:C ratios with special regard to effects on enhancing feedlot performance and carcass traits. Due to a lack of inclusive research reports, the reader is referred to other excellent reviews in these proceedings for selfinterpretation on the interaction of anabolic growth promotants, ß-agonists, intake manipulation strategies, and use of alternative feeds with manipulation of F:C ratios on enhancement of carcass performance and carcass traits, although some speculative remarks as to this interaction are included herein.