Supplementation of Brewer's Grain to Beef Cattle Grazing Native Rangeland - 5006

Principal Investigator: Josh Davy, UCCE Tehama County

Image of SFREC Beef Cattle consuming spent brewer's grains on rangeland as a alternative to commercially available supplements of equal crude protien

This study will examine the utility of spent brewer’s grain as a winter feed supplement for range cows in an effort to identify and promote sustainable waste management and alternative and affordable supplements for beef production. More pointedly, this project would supplement fall-calving cows at SFREC with brewer’s grains during nutrient demanding periods (i.e., parturition and lactation) and compare differences among maintenance traits (i.e., body weight (BW) and body condition score (BCS) with the current winter supplementation protocol utilized at SFREC. This study is a counterpart to previous work done by Robinson, Davy and Nader (2013) using rice strawlage as a winter feed source in the continuing investigation of identifying alternative and affordable supplements for the beef industry.