PSXII-12 Silages and roughage sources in the Brazilian beef feedlots

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this survey was to identify silages and roughage sources adopted in the beef finishing diets. Eighty-two feedyards, located in 10 states, were surveyed from January to March 2019 for their feeding practices. Feedlot owners and nutritionists were interviewed by using a common survey form. The form consisted of 5 questions, including feedlot location, feedlot capacity and the number of animals serviced yearly, breed, silages and roughage sources, and roughage: concentrate ratio. Results were tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet for each feedlot. The number of responses per question, and the mean, minimum value, maximum value, and mode (most frequently occurring value) were calculated. Feedlot capacity ranged from 300 to 35,000 (mode = 3,000) and cattle serviced yearly per feedlot ranged from 400 to 90,000 (mode = 6,000). Nellore breed and crossbreed represented 74 and 26% % of finished animals, respectively. Roughage: concentrate ratio ranged from 40: 60 to 10: 90. Thirty-five percent of feedlots adopted 20: 80 ratio, followed by 15: 85 (16%) and 10: 90 (16%) ratios. Whole-plant corn silage was the most common roughage source (57%; Figure 1), followed by sugarcane bagasse (17%), tropical grass silages (16%), and whole-plant sorghum silage (11%). Nutritionists also cited hay (9%), sugarcane silage (5%), and fresh sugarcane (4%) as roughage sources. High-moisture corn, snaplage (grain, cob, husk, shank), and reconstituted grain corn were used by 20, 11, and 1% of feedlots, respectively. Reconstituted grain sorghum was included in 4% of the diets. Thus, 36% of feedlots adopted grain silages (corn and sorghum) in the diets. Overall, Brazilian feedlots have used high-energy finishing diets and corn is the most widely grown crop for silage. Feedlots have shown interest in using grain silages to maximize starch digestion, especially because Brazil grows flint corn and silage machinery industry has made available new equipment.