Effects of Level of Dried Distiller’s Grains Supplementation on Native Pasture and Subsequent Effects on Wheat Pasture Gains

One hundred twenty crossbred steers (450 lb, +/37 lb) were stratified by weight and randomly assigned to one of two feeding blocks. The cattle grazed dormant rangeland for 56 days from October 12 through December 7. Each block was supplemented three times a week with the equivalent of 7 days of dried corn distiller’s grains (DDG) at 0, 0.25, 0.50, or 0.75% body weight (BW)/d on a dry matter basis. On rangeland, daily gain increased linearly (P < 0.0001) with level of DDG. After grazing rangeland, block 1 was moved to wheat pasture for 76 days to determine if the rangeland supplement influenced gain on wheat pasture. Cattle did not receive protein/energy supplement while grazing wheat. During wheat grazing the non-supplemented steers had compensatory gains. At the end of wheat grazing there was no difference in BW between the non-supplemented and 0.25% BW supplement group. Although the final BW was greater for the 0.50 and 0.75% BW compared to the non-supplemented group. Compared to the 0.50 and 0.75% BW levels of supplementation, the non-supplemented steers overcame 46 and 53%, respectively, of the initial weight difference during wheat grazing. Supplementing with corn DDG efficiently improved gains of steers grazing dormant rangeland in the Texas Panhandle. However, compensatory gains during the subsequent wheat grazing period decreased the overall efficiency of supplementation.