On many units today fixed costs per kg liveweight gain are greater than feed costs per kg at between 30 - 50p per kg. Fixed costs are fixed . Fixed costs are not fixed . Feed for finishing cattle must be mixed to achieve the best results. Trials at SAC have shown that finishing cattle offered a hopper of ad lib cereals and another hopper of mineralised protein had identical growth rates and feed conversion efficiency compared to animals offered the same feeds in a single, pelleted total mixed ration.
High performance requires high protein feeds .
Cereals are currently a cheap feed . New developments in urea treated moist grain and whole crop cereals, harvested with a forage harvester containing a primary grain processor , can minimise these costs and produce a better quality feed. Cereals are not being efficiently used if some grains pass through the animal undigested. Finely ground cereals, producing flour, reduces the feed value of cereals due to the effects of acidosis. To obtain maximum performance cereals should be just cracked with some whole grains always being visible in the dung.