Cracked corn vs. Steamed rolled corn?

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Davidsonranch

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Been working with feed mill to work on mixing some feed (trying like heck to use AAOK's recipe)
Here in SE Oregon, I've ran into some problems getting certain ingredients so I'm working on some replacements that may work?

But the manager at the mill told me some things about corn that I wanted to get everyone's opinions on.  He said when feeding cattle he HIGHLY recommends feeding steam rolled corn over cracked corn.  First because he said the steam rolling process starts to turn the starches in the corn into sugar - therefore making them more fat. Second he said cracked corn is not absorbed / digested as efficiently and the sharp edges are rough on stomaches??  So what is better - or does it make a difference?

Heck while I'm at it let me ask some other questions:
Can steam rolled barley (10-12% protein) be as effective as steam rolled corn? (we have a corn shortage out here and its high $)
What can be used as a substitute for cottonseed hulls?  We can't get them here.  We can get almond hulls?

Any help is appreciated
 

aj

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I worked at a steam flake corn flaked plant back in the 7 year drought we had. One bad thing about flaked corn is shelf life. In the winter time it was a couple weeks and summer time sometimes 3 days. It is high moisture....I think around 19%. The coop would buy it and dry it down there for a while for showfeed to bag. But the drying down deal is a pain. We delivered semi loads to feedlots and dairys. Some farmers came in and got pickup loads also. Plant is still in production there in Brewster. I think the plant generates 5 to seven jobs which helps the Brewster community.
 

Davidsonranch

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So in general taking the low shelf life into consideration with steam rolled corn, is cracked corn the safer / better way to go?
 

GoWyo

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A friend with a feed mill told me that the steam flaking process adds the moisture to the corn.  If I buy a 1,000 lb. tote, it will spoil before I could ever use it.  However, if it gets mixed with some cracked corn, barley and oats and is not too high of a percentage of the various grains, the other grains will take up the excess moisture off the steam flaked corn, which is why a grain mix will have some steam flaked corn and have a long shelf life.
 

Davidsonranch

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That makes sense.  So what about my other question about substituting steam rolled barley for corn?  Also substitutes for cottonseed hulls.  Right now corn and cottonseed hulls appear to be rare items in my neck of the woods.
 

aj

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Barley is excellent feed. I worked for a feedlot that steam flaked the barley at the before mentioned steam flaked plant. The feedlot started raising barley cause it was cheaper than corn to raise under irrigation. I was thinking barley was like 90% feeding value of corn and some reason I was thinking barley was supposed to increase marbling a touch....it sure sweetens up the carcass. The mill finally weaned the feedlot off rolling barley for them cause it got in the way of increased corn output once they got on their feet. Flaked barley is super.
 

aj

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The coop had a gravity wagon with a big bin fan rigged in it wired for 220. They dried the corn down with contraption. In the plant I worked in if they had say 15% moisture corn they would actually pump water in the steam bin getting moisture up to 20 or so. They would steam over night and roll in the morning.
 

cdncowboy

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Barley can be substituted for corn, most of our rations up here use more barley with some corn, the barley builds a little different type of fat than corn.  The way it was told to me is that corn fat is "harder". Think corn is hard to find in Oregon come to the Canadian prairies, and I've never even seen a cottonseed hull.
 

vc

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One of the feeds we use has Cracked Corn, the Grand Champions for the past 3 years has been fed the mix with Cracked Corn. and the kid I helped this year fed the same, his calf never skipped a meal. I think I remember this discusion before, there is a difference but the percentage did not really justify the cost difference, Steamed rolled corn costing more. As far as Almond hulls go, from what I can tell they are close to Cotten seed hulls as far as nutrition and as a roughage, (I could be off on that)  The dairies in Californian us it allot in their feed

Here is the Cracked corn mix:
Champion Choice: Corn cracked, Cottonseed Hulls (Not more than 22.8%), Recleaned oats (fancy), Rolled Barley, Soybean Meal, Molasses, Animal/Vegetable liquid Fat, Wheat Millrun, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Corn Distillers, Linseed Meal Expeller, Urea, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Sodium Sesquicarbonate, Whey Dried, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E supplement, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles, Brewers Yeast Dehydrated, Kelp (Seaweed Meal), Zinc Methionine, Manganese Methionine, Copper Lysine, Cobalt Glucoheptoate, Anise flavor dry, Magnesium Oxide, Monensin, Tylosin Phosphate, Sulfur, Selenium Yeast, Brewers Dried Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, Cane Molasses, Diastatic Malt, Corn Syrup, Propionic Acid, Ammonium Hydroxide, Verxite, Bentonite, Artificial flavoring, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Rice Bran, Cobalt sulfate
 

Davidsonranch

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Does anyone know the overall difference between cottonseed hulls, almond hulls, or linseed hulls as far as nutrition, ruffage, etc?  I am SOL on getting cottonseed hulls after looking for 2 days.  Looks like I can get almond hulls or linseed hulls.  I sure want to try AAOK's recipe but it's not looking like it will happen - at least exactly that is.
 

aj

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In feedlots...the rations I fed were so much % wet corn and a % dry rolled corn. I was told that once a certain % level of wet corn was reached % bloat death starting increasing percentage wise. So the nutritionists drew the line there. This wasn't the flaked wet corn it is just the corn harvested high moisture and stored in the bunkers.
 

AAOK

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Davidsonranch said:
So in general taking the low shelf life into consideration with steam rolled corn, is cracked corn the safer / better way to go?
    YES
 

AAOK

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Barley will substitute fairly evenly. You can substitute shredded Beet Pulp for the cottonseed hulls. Most calves won't eat them quite as well.
 

nkotb

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knabe said:
aj said:
This wasn't the flaked wet corn it is just the corn harvested high moisture and stored in the bunkers.

you mean silage? 

No, in Kansas, we harvest only the actual grain portion of the corn plant wet, then take it to the feedlots where it is cracked and packed in bunkers, similar to silage, but it is only the grain portion of the plant, not the whole plant like in silage.
 

grandchamp58

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Sometimes if our calves take to it well we take cracked corn since it is slot cheaper, and cook a few lbs. In a crock pot. This helps the cattle digest it alot easier and it saves a ton of $. Just put it on low cook while your out during the day and fill the water up to the level of the corn. Put a little molasses in the water before if you think it'll help. Good luck!
 
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