Nutritional quality control begins with knowing and adjusting for variations in the moisture content of feed ingredients. Moisture variations in feeds are almost always of more importance than variations in protein, mineral, and energy.
Inventory control is affected by moisture content of feeds.
Some feeds on hand are constantly changing in moisture content, and these changes frequently lead to financial losses when a price adjustment is not made for moisturegains or losses. Either of these without the other is of limited use in obtaining good nutritional quality control and inventory management. A steer eating 20 pounds of 15.5 percent moisture corn would only have to eat 18.8 pounds of 10 percent moisture corn to obtain the same nutrients. If 15.5 percent and 10 percent moisture corn cost the same, the latter would result in a cost reduction of a little over 6 percent. Some cattle feeders have spent thousands of dollars for processing equipment that improves the value of grain by a similar proportion.