Effects of Sprouted Barley on Feeding Behavior and Dry Matter Intake in Growing Steers

Abstract Beef cattle production is a key component to the global food supply and is a valuable source of protein for human consumption. Decreased land and water availability in the Intermountain West region of the U.S. poses challenges for conventional production systems. An alternative option to overcome these challenges is through vertical, controlled environment farming. These systems are used to sprout cereal grains that can be used as feed for beef cattle. In this trial, 60 commercial Angus steers (328.24 ± 6.48 kg) were each stratified into one of four treatment groups (n=15). Treatment groups consisted of a typical ration for the region served as the control and treatments groups had a 5%, 10%, or 20% (DM) inclusion of sprouted barley grain. Animals were fed for 60 days and body weights were measured on days 0, 30, and 60. Intake and feeding behavior were measured throughout the 60 days by Vytelle bunk units. The PROC MIXED procedure of SAS was used to analyze all data where day was used as a repeated measure to determine the main effect of treatment. There was a treatmentxday effect (P = 0.006) on DMI demonstrating steers that received 10% or 20% sprouted barley had a linear increase in intake throughout the trial, where steers that received 0% or 5% sprouted barley showed a linear increase in intake over the first 30 days, but then plateaued the last 30 days of the trial. Additionally, a treatmentxday effect was observed for feed bouts (P = 0.0004) and bunk visits (P = 0.0001), showing that steers receiving 5% or 20% sprouted barley had consistent bunk visits and feed bouts throughout, where 0% sprouted barley increased the first 30 days then decreased the last 30 days, and 10% sprouted barley decreased over the first 30 days then increased the last 30 days. Treatment had no effect (P = 0.85) on weight gain over the trial period. These data demonstrate that including sprouted barley in the ration of backgrounding cattle has no effect on overall animal body weight gain, but does affect dry matter intake and feeding behavior.