Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1966

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Animal Science

Abstract

Production of silage per acre varies in different areas of the United States. The type of forage used has a large effect on the tonnage of silage produced. Two of the common crops used for high production of silage in South Dakota are corn and forage sorghum. When stored as silage, sorghum has produced as high as 27 tons of feed yielded on and one-half to two times as many tons of silage per acre of corn. Ruminant animals are well adapted to utilizing large amounts of roughages in their rations. These animals have the capacity to consume three to six pounds of silage per hundred pounds of body weight per day. The experiment conducted herein was initiated at South Dakota State University to determine the amount of beef produced per acre from feeding forage sorghum silage as compared to the amount of beef produced per acre when feeding corn silage. Forage sorghum silage was compared to corn silage when both were fed as the only source of feed in a fattening ration for yearling steers and also when cracked shelled corn was added to the rations the last 71 days of trial two and 69 days of trial three. This was done to determine if more economical weight gains could be obtained and also if the addition of a higher yield energy feed would result in a higher carcass grade and yield. (see more in text)

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Silage
Sorghum
Animal nutrition

Format

application/pdf

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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