Grain preserver raises efficiency Propionic acid grain preserver can Increase feed ef ficiency of high-moisture corn fed to beef cattle by as much as three percent over rolled, field-dried corn and by 12.7 percent over untreated, ensiled, high-moisture corn. These are the findings of large-scale feeding trials conducted at the commercial feedlot of Roberts Cattle Company, Lexington, Neb., by Nutrition Service Associates, Inc., Belleville, 111., an independent agricultural research and consulting firm. The trials also showed a 3.6 percent daily weight gain advantage for cattle fed acid-treated corn over those fed dry, rolled corn and an 11.1 percent increase over the ensiled, high-moisture corn. Additionally, under the conditions of this study; chemical grain preservation reduced shrinkage of high moisture com by about 95 percent when compared to untreated, ensiled, high-moisture com. “We think the trials are significant,” reports Gordon Reiners, one of the founders of Nutrition Service. “The large number of cattle used in both trials and the uniform results from one trial to the other indicate that we could expect that these results would be typical.” A total of 860 yearling and two-year-old cattle were studied over full-length feeding periods under commercial feedlot conditions. Reiners points out Uiat the three percent improvement THINK NEW HOLLAND BEEF SALES MONDAY 2:30 P.M. THURSDAY 12:00 NOON Sale Order - Fat Bulls, Steers, Stockers, Beef Cows and Veal Calves. NEW HOLLAND SALES STABLES, INC. Phone 717-354-4341 Daily Market Report Phone 717-354-7281 ’ Abe Diffenbach, Manager Field Representatives - Bob Kling 717-354-5023 Luke Eberly 215-267-6608 * V'/ MODEL 276 BALER WE C. E. WILEY & SON If you have fat cattle or need feeders . . . DO YOU NEED A BALER? FREE FINANCE —Until March 1, 1976 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ISN'T THE CORN BIG! HAVE A HARVESTER FOR YOU NOW. If you can’t afford the new, Check our prices on guaranteed used equipment. Quarryville, Pa. Phone: 786-2895 in feed efficiency of acid-treated com over dried com would represent a substantial saving in feed cost. “We get close-out sheets from 30 to 35 feedlots, and we know Roberts is a top-notch operation,” he explains. “Considering that Roberts is already producing per formance results superior to many other feedlots, the three percent feed efficiency really means something to us." James Roberts, who conducted the day-to-day aspects of the trials at his 10,000-head feedlot, cites the 12.7 per cent improvement in feed efficiency for propionic acid treated com over ensiled, high-moisture com as the most important result of the study. “I think propionic acid proved its worth,” Roberts states. “Any high-moisture com we put up in 1975 will be treated with acid.” On a yearly basis, Roberts buys and feeds roughly a million bushels of com. For the past four or five years, 50,000 to 100,000 bushels of the total have been high moisture com, ensiled in concrete bunkers. In the long run, Roberts believes that propionic acid will prove to be of even greater advantage to the farmer feeder. “He can get all the livestock performance ad vantages that the feedlot can, plus all sorts of harvesting and storage benefits.” FORT COLLINS, COLO. - Cottonseed hulls a by product of cotton-fabric manufacturing are a good source of roughage for winter feeding of cattle, says Dr. Robert R. Oltjen, a nutritionist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Speaking before the an nual meeting of the American Society of Animal Science, on July 28, Oltjen described experiments he and his colleagues conducted at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Md. IVe Have It! Cottonseed hulls make good roughage Scientists at the Center fed steers six different diets containing various com binations of biuret or urea as the non-protein nitrogen (NPN) sources, plus either fish meal or soybean meal. Cattle on all six diets were fed cottonseed hulls free choice as the roughage source. Two additional groups of cattle were fed control diets for comparison. All cattle received trace minerals and were given vitamin injections at the start of the trials and again 60 days later. When cattle were fed only Model 850 Round Baler Inc. Lancaster Farming. Saturday, August 9,1975 Area nutritionists attend conference Mary L. Bryant, Alice Harris, Jean London and Blanche Bowers, Nutrition Aides in Chester County, were four of 250 persons attending the Expanded Nutrition Education Program Conference, July 7- 9, at the University Park Campus of The Penn sylvania State University. “ENEP - Progress and Program Power” was the theme for the conference for aides and aide supervisors working with the Expanded Nutrition Education Program (ENEP) in 59 counties in Pennsylvania. ENEP, a program designed to improve the nutritional quality of diets in families with limited resources, has been a part of biuret or urea as the NPN tonseed hulls provided the source, they gained about cattle with 45 percent one pound per day. However, digestible energy. Cattle ate when 20 percent of the biuret about 3.1 percent of their or urea nitrogen was weight in cottonseed hulls replaced with nitrogen in tfe< P« r de- form of fish meal or soybean meal, cattle gained about 1.5 “These experiments in pounds per day. Adding dicate that it is feasible for additional salt to the diets cattlemen to winter their and limiting the amount of steers on diets containing soybean or fish meal en- cottonseed hulls as the couraged the cattle to eat the roughage source plus NPN cottonseed hulls. The mineral supplements.” scientists found that cot- Oltjen said. the Cooperative Extension Service in Pennsylvania since 19(9. Speakers at the conference included faculty from the College of Human Development at Penn State, Extension specialists and agents and the United States Department of Agriculture. At a banquet concluding conference activities, 28 ENEP aides and supervisors received certificates recognizing five years service to Penn State for work in the ENEP educational program. Marion Miles, Clearfield County, received the state para-professional award given by the Pennsylvania Association of Extension Home Economists. 65