Cane Molasses in Cattle Finishing Rations

A 146-day feeding experiment was conducted with 54 yearling beef steers divided among three diet treatments, namely (1) control, (2) low molasses and (3) high molasses. The control diet was barley-beet pulp and alfalfa hay. Treatments 2 and 3 were obtained by feeding 10% and 20% less concentrate than to the steers fed diet 1 and permitting free access to cane molasses. Steers fed diets 1 and 2 gained at the same rate and significantly faster than those fed diet 3. Feed DM intake was slightly increased by diet 2 over diets 1 and 3. Steers fed diet 3 required 7.9% more feed DM per kilogram gain than those fed diet 1 and 6.7% more than the steers fed diet 2. At the low level, molasses DM had a feeding value of 3.6% more than barley-beet pulp DM. At the high level the value of molasses DM was worth 64.4% as much as barley-beet pulp. There was a slight tendency toward lower dressing percentages among the cattle fed diet 3. Carcass prices were satisfactory and varied less than 1% among treatments. Level of molasses in the diet did not affect incidence of liver abscesses. Results from this experiment indicate that approximately 10% replacement of the concentrate is the satisfactory upper limit for molasses in steer finishing diets.