Steam flaking corn can effectively improve beef cattle production performance

Corn flake is made of corn by high-temperature steam treatment and pressing. It is a process of hot and humid processing of corn. It can improve the biological value of corn by changing the physical and chemical state of corn.

Steam flaked corn in Europe and America has been widely used in beef cattle and dairy cattle production. The method of direct feeding of steam flaked corn is widely used, which not only saves resources but also improves production efficiency.

Since the introduction of steam flaking technology and equipment in China, it needs to be further promoted, especially in the field of beef cattle production.

In addition to beef cattle, cows, mutton sheep, pigs and other livestock, corn flakes can also be used to feed hairy crabs, crayfish and other aquatic products.

Steam flaking corn can effectively improve beef cattle

Production performance:

After treatment, the pressed corn improved the total digestive tract absorption of starch, crude protein and dry matter. High temperature steam has bactericidal effect on raw corn grains, which can reduce animal diseases and prevent diarrhea. As the main energy feed for beef cattle, the digestibility and utilization of corn directly affect the production performance and meat quality of beef cattle. The unprocessed corn will affect the contact of microorganisms and enzymes with starch, thus hindering the digestion and utilization of starch by beef cattle. In order to effectively use corn, corn is usually processed before feeding.

Most beef cattle farmers think that the price of steam pressed corn is high, beef cattle breeding does not need to be as sophisticated as cow breeding, and meat can be grown with crushed corn, so they are unwilling to invest. However, we suggest that farmers use steam pressed corn instead of crushed corn, which can significantly improve the weight gain and feed returns of beef cattle, and the meat quality of the fed beef cattle is good.

Steam flaked corn vs. crushed corn

Advantages:

Compared with crushed corn, steam pressed corn can improve the digestibility of rumen starch of cattle by 24%, rumen bypass starch by 26%, and total digestive tract starch by 10%. The total digestive tract starch digestibility of steam pressed corn is 99.1%. In addition, the use of steam pressed corn can also promote the digestion and metabolism of other substances and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus emissions. Steam compression of corn increased the digestibility of nitrogen in small intestine and total intestine by 10% and 8%, respectively.

The relevant enterprises made a correlation comparison on the effect of steam pressed corn on the production performance of beef cattle during the fattening period. They selected 28 beef cattle with similar weight and randomly divided them into groups ①, ②, ③ and ④ for four months. Under the same conditions of concentrate, silage and distiller's grains, only the proportion of steam pressed corn in group ①, ②, ③ and ④ concentrate feed replacing ordinary broken corn was changed to 0%, 30%, 60% and 90% respectively. The research data showed that the daily weight gain of the four groups was 985.3 g, 1181.6 g, 1273.7 g and 1351.4 g respectively. The results showed that the daily weight gain of corn fed by tablet was the most obvious.

A large number of studies have shown that steam flaking is an effective method of corn processing, which can improve the production performance of beef cattle. The feeding method of steam flaking corn and the proportion of concentrate and coarse fodder in the diet should also be reasonably adjusted according to the beef cattle variety and growth cycle.