By Joshua Kato
The use of spent grains as a partial replacement for maize silage in beef cattle diets can be adopted as a strategy to reduce feeding costs and also as an alternative source of polyphenols from a material that needs to be recycled. A supplement of up to 15
kgs/head/day of wet spent grains is adequate to cover the frequent nitrogen deficiency of beef cattle grazing grass only pastures. A study in which various proportions of spent grains to regular feed were compared found that 15–30% spent grains led to the fastest weight gain. Calves can be fed 2 to 4 kg daily. Because of the low calcium and potassium and high phosphorus contents, an adequate mineral supplement should be offered to growing cattle consuming wet spent grains.
Goats and Sheep
Research results have shown that small amounts of spent grains (5-6% of diet dry matter) confer major benefits on growth performance and health of goats fed cassava foliage as the sole diet. The substitution of sorghum silage by spent grains as roughage has shown to be a viable alternative from the productive and economic point of view for finishing of feedlot lambs.
