—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 24,1977 88 Cement dust puts mysterious gain on cattle WASHINGTON, D.C. - Georgia farmers who fed cement kiln dust to their cattle as a mineral sup plement noticed such significant weight gains that the dust has become the subject of research by scientists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In studies by scientists of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), steers fed a low-quality forage diet containing cement kiln dust not only gained weight faster but also ate less feed and produced higher-grading carcasses than steers on a control diet. Dust-fed steers graded an average of top choice: control steers averaged top good. The AES scientists at the Belts ville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Md., do not know why cement kiln dust increases weight gains and they caution farmers against feeding cement kiln dust to BHHi ■pip * ■y 1 -T'H ■ our friends. With appreciation for w-s- s MERRY CHRISTMAS! FROM THE GANG AT HIESTAND DIST. Burnell, Paul Sr, Paul Jr, Bert and Galen Hiestand I CLOSED DURING THE HOLIDAYS- I | OPEN TUESDAY, JANUARY 3 | uVIIWIPIIPIiIOWMIMMHIMIPIINMMffIIVOVIIWIVKWUWi their cattle until further research can be done. Cement kiln dust results from mixing and curing the ingredients used to make Portland cement - 99 per cent of all cement made in this country. The cement mixture is heated to 1500 degrees Celsius and mixed; about 12 per cent is filtered out of the air as dust. Nearly 33,000 tons of dust are collected daily by Portland cement plants in this country. Only a small amount of the dust is recycled for making cement or used for agricultural liming. Dr. William E. Wheeler, an AES animal scientist, has several theories why the dust increases weight gams. “The dust is high in minerals, particularly calcium (27 per cent),” he said. “It could be the mineral content of the dust; the high temperatures to which the dust is heated; or the fineness of the dust people in the world.,enr clients.. pour confidence we wish pon a 1 p bout the consistency of face powder). “The research does in dicate that we have a long way to go in understanding the mineral requirements of livestock,” Dr. Wheeler said. “Our control diet was formulated to satisfy all National Research Council (NRC) recommendations for growing-finishing steers, whereas the dust diet was not. Yet the cattle fed cement kiln dust had a 28 per cent faster rate of gam than those fed the control diet.” Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Robert R. Oltjen, now director of USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Neb., became interested in the effects of cement kiln dust on cattle when they were contacted by three Georgia farmers. The farmers were liming their pastures and decided to add some of the high-calcium dust to the diet of over wintering steers. Although the steers were getting a nutritionally poor diet (50 fV>S “’I per cent soybean straw and 50 per cent snapped com), they gained almost 4 pounds per day when kiln dust was added to the diet. “We talked with the far mers and obtained some of the cement kiln dust from Georgia,” Dr. Wheeler said. “We knew the implications for beef production would be tremendous if cattle gained as well on controlled tests as they did on the farm.” Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Oltjen formulated two diets and fed them to two groups of seven steers weighing an average of 750 pounds. The control group received a diet con sisting of 53 per cent hay, 34 per cent cracked com and supplemental protein, minerals and salt, to meet NRC recommendations for growing-finishing steers. The dust-fed group received Employment program set for elders LANCASTER - The Senior Citizen Employment Program, sponsored by the Lancaster County Office of the Aging, is continuing to interview interested ap plicants from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every Tuesday. Beginning January 3, 1978, these interviews will be conducted at the Office of Aging, 50 N. Duke Street, Lancaster. For more information, please call Office of Agmg at 299-7979. For the big MGS MGS Trailers are exceptionally versatile for contractors, farmers, gardeners, land scapers. movers, appliance dealers, motorcyclists, snowmobilers, car dealers, anti que car buffs, and anyone with bulky materials to move. MGS Trailers are built with strength and mobility from end to end: top to bottom. Designed and crafted for easy service and long, dependable usage by Pennsylvania Dutch craftsmen. MGS Trailers offer a wide variety of sizes, styles and heavy-duty equipment to assure you'll get the trailer to exactly meet your needs. UTILITY TRAILER Model 907 Bed size 4’ x 6’4" ■ 1430 lb capacity • Weatherlzed exterior wood bed • Heavy-duty wheel-axle assembly CAR & EQUIPMENT TRAILER Moael 917CT88 • Two 17” width loading ramps • 5000 lb capacity • Tandem axles ■ Electric brakes w/safety switch MGS TRAILERS DIRECT FROM FACTORY SALES Located along Muddy Creek Church Rd , R D 3. Denver. PA 175 (1 Mile North of Pa Turnpike, Exit 21) Open daily 8 to 5, Saturday 8 to 12 noon. Phone: 215-267-7528 the hay and com plus 3.5 per cent cement kiln dust and no additional supplements. The control diet contained 12 per cent crude protein; the dust diet, 8 per cent. Steers fed cement kiln dust gained .64 pound more per day during the 112-day study and required 21 per cent less feed per pound of gain than control steers. Dust-fed steers gained about 3 pounds per day; control steers, about 2.3 pounds per day. “Tremendous amounts of cement kiln dust are produced not only in this country, but in many of the developing countries,” Dr. Wheeler said. “This opens up new avenues of research that could lead to low-cost haul or little haul. . . TRAILERS Division of MGS, Inc. production of quality beef.” Additional research now underway at Beltsville indicate that the kiln dust increases gains not only in cattle hut also in sheep. Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Oltjen conducted gross studies of the liver, spleen, rumen, kidneys and heart of steers fed the control and dust diets. They found nothing abnormal in any of the organs: however, they said that studies must be done to determine whether or not residues from the dust ac cumulates m either edible tissues or organs of the animals. Cement kiln dust has not been approved by regulatory agencies as a feed additive. FLATBED TRAILER Model 908L6 • Bed size 6' x 8’ 1430 lb capacity • Stop, tail 8i turn signal lights • A-frame tongue Ji MOTORCYCLE TRAILER Model 900 MC • Frqme size 6’4" long • Two cycle rolls • Third rail provisions A-Frame tongue
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