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Effects of feeding corn condensed distillers solubles and crude glycerin alone or in combination on growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing steers
Crossbred steers (n=250; initial BW=336±16 kg) were used in a randomized complete block experiment to evaluate the effects of feeding corn condensed distillers solubles (CCDS) and crude glycerin (CG) alone or in combination on feedlot performance and carcass characteristics of finishing beef steers. Cattle were stratified by initial BW and randomly allocated to 32 pens with 8 steers/pen (8 pens/treatment). Six animals were removed from the trial due to reasons unrelated to treatment. Steers were fed a steam-flaked corn-based diet with four dietary treatments consisting of 0% CCDS or CG (CON), 10% CCDS (CDS), 10% CG (GLY), or a combination of 5% CCDS and 5% CG (C+G) included on a DM basis. All treatment diets contained 15% (DM basis) corn wet distillers grains (CWDG). Animals were fed for an average of 167 d and weighed by pen every 30 d of the experiment. At the end of the finishing phase, cattle were weighed and transported to an abattoir in Amarillo, TX. Liver abscess severity and HCW were collected on the day of harvest and USDA yield and quality grades, LM area, marbling score and 12th-rib subcutaneous fat thickness were determined after a 48 h chill. Performance data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS with treatment, day, and the interactions as fixed effects, weight block as a random effect, and pen as the experimental unit. Growth performance and gain efficiency were not different (P > 0.10) across all treatments. The CDS steers tended (P = 0.09) to have a greater fat thickness than GLY but treatment had no effect (P > 0.10) on carcass weight, marbling score, yield grade, LM area, or % grading USDA choice. Therefore, feeding additional byproducts such as CCDS and CG alone or in combination in a finishing diet did not alter live animal performance or carcass characteristics of beef steers compared to the control treatment.
Keywords: wet distillers grains, condensed distillers solubles, crude glycerin