Abstract The objective was to determine the effect of early starch intake on future, finished performance in beef x dairy calves. One hundred twenty, day-old, Holstein x Angus steers were obtained and weaned after eight weeks on to a higher-starch diet (HS) with nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) levels at 30% or lower-starch (LS) starter ration of 17% NSC. At day 60, calf groups were split and continued on a HS pellet or a TMR ration for 60 more days. From this point, all calves received a common growing ration for 140 days, then moved to a finishing yard and fed a common finishing ration for 200 days. In the calf nursery stage, the HS calves ate significantly more grain (0. 45 vs 0. 43 kg/day, P = 0. 04) and had only a numerical advantage over LS calves in weaning weight (81. 6 vs 80. 6 kg, P = 0. 26). After 60 days in the receiving stage the HS-pellet, LS-Pellet and LS-TMR calves were 13 to 25 Kg heavier (P = 0. 01) than the HS-TMR calves. However, a month later the weight difference had narrowed and there were no weight differences between groups by the end of the trial. All calves were marketed at 465 days of age. Steers graded 15% Prime, 66% CAB, 15% low Choice and 4% Select with no difference in the quality or yield grade between groups. The LS-TMR group had a numerically heavier carcass weight, numerically less rumen condemnations and significantly fewer liver abscesses (P 0. 04). Overall, steers in this project averaged 19% liver abscesses. The biggest impact from a carcass merit and gain perspective was from multiple treatments for respiratory issues. Calves with a documented health issue had a significantly lighter carcass weights (P 0. 01) and returned 91 less compared to non-treated animals. When combining all input differences relative to output, the LS-TMR group had a numerically higher net carcass value.
Dahlke et al. (Wed,) studied this question.