Effects of sporadic wet brewers grain inclusion on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing cattle

ABSTRACT Objective The objective of this study was to determine the effect of sporadic inclusion of wet brewers grains (WBG) in cattle finishing diets on the growth and carcass performance of finishing cattle. Materials and Methods Forty-two (n = 42) crossbred steer calves were blocked by BW and fed 1 of 2 finishing diets in a randomized complete block design with 7 replications of each treatment. Treatments included a corn silage and whole shelled corn finishing diet (control) and control + 7.2% WBG (DM basis). Calves were weighed on 2 consecutive days at 1300 h every 28 d. Average weights were used to calculate ADG, DMI, and G:F. Cattle were transported 160 km in 2 groups for processing under USDA-Food Safety and Inspection Service inspection. Carcass measurements including hot carcass weight, LM area, 12th-rib fat thickness, KPH, marbling scores, and USDA QG were collected. Statistical analysis was modeled in a 2-way fixed ANOVA using PROC MIXED of SAS. Results and Discussion Calves fed WBG had lower final BW (P = 0.04) and gained less (P = 0.02) than control calves. No differences (P > 0.05) were observed in carcass characteristics between diets except that carcasses from WBG-fed calves had smaller (P = 0.01) LM areas than carcasses from control-fed calves. Implications and Applications These results indicate that WBG may be included sporadically at low levels in cattle finishing diets with minimal effect on growth and carcass performance.