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The Advantage of Grinding Atlas Sorghum Grain for Dairy Cows^*

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kansas

ABSTRACT

Feeding trials with dairy cows were conducted to determine the value of grinding of Atlas sorgo grain as measured by the amount of grain recovered in the feces. Two dry cows (check group) were fed during three ten-day periods on alfalfa hay plus a concentrate of: 1. Whole Atlas sorgo grain, 2. Coarsely ground sorgo grain, and 3. Finely ground grain. Three other groups (I, II, III) were fed the Atlas sorgo grain, ground to the same fineness modulus, both with and without silage. Group I had been receiving for more than a year an experimental ration restricted to the Atlas sorgo plant—sorgo fodder, sorgo silage, and sorgo grain. Group II had been fed the same except cottonseed meal and bone meal were included. Group III received alfalfa hay, sorgo silage, and a grain mixture of sorgo grain, wheat bran and cottonseed meal. Another cow from the college herd was fed exclusively on silage to determine the amount of grain in silage passing through the cow undigested.

Feeding whole grain resulted in excessive waste while coarse grinding was more satisfactory than fine grinding, considering cost of grinding and consistency of feed. In the check group the recovery of grain in the feces averaged 42 per cent for whole grain, 4.8 per cent for coarsely ground, and 1.5 for finely ground. The grain recovered from cows in Group III averaged 4.0 per cent for coarsely ground and 2.7 per cent for finely ground, when silage was fed; and 2.5 and 1.1 per cent, respectively, when silage was omitted.

Cows receiving non-typical experimental rations did not utilize their grain feed efficiently. In group II, when silage was fed, the recovery of grain in the feces averaged 16.2 per cent for coarse grind, and 6.5 for fine grind; while when silage was omitted, 19.7 and 10.8 per cent, respectively, were recovered. Results on group I showed an average recovery of 23.0 per cent for coarse grind, and 11.3 per cent for fine, when silage was fed. When silage was omitted, the recovery averaged 23.0 and 11.4 per cent, respectively.

Increasing daily grain intake (groups I, II, III) when silage was omitted did not significantly change the percentage of grain recovered from the feces.

The silage fed was immature, the grain content as fed being 1.3 per cent. The recovery of grain from the feces of a cow fed exclusively on this silage averaged 10.7 per cent.

^* Contribution No. 140, Department of Dairy Husbandry.