PSII-5 - Effect of progressive limit feeding in feedlot steers: a pilot study

The objective was to analyze the effect of progressive limit feeding on growth and performance during the finishing phase in feedlot steers. Thirty-nine steers (BW = 469 ± 31 kg) were divided into three blocks by weight. In each block, five steers were randomly assigned to a pen to be progressively limit fed (PLF), while the remaining eight steers were fed a common finishing diet ad libitum in a control (CON) pen. Progressive limit feeding refers to maintaining a previously growing animal at constant size by reducing the amount of feed offered by 3.29% daily for 14 consecutive days. Thus, on d 14, PLF steers were consuming 63% of original dry matter intake (DMI). All steers were fed ad libitum from d 15 until slaughter (d 106). Steers were fed a finishing diet, consisting primarily of dry-rolled corn, corn silage, and modified wet distillers grains. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS 9.4. Final BW was not affected (P = 0.82) by treatment; PLF and CON steers were 665 and 669 kg, respectively. Treatment did not affect overall ADG (P = 0.73); however, treatment did affect (P = 0.01) d 15-83 ADG as PLF steers gained 2.28 kg/d compared with 1.90 kg/d for CON steers. Overall DMI of PLF steers was 9% less (P = 0.02) than for CON steers (9.9 and 10.9 kg/d, respectively). Treatment did not affect (P = 0.10) DMI from d 15-106. Overall gain:feed (0.183 and 0.173 for PLF and CON steers, respectively) was not affected (P = 0.46) by treatment. Carcass characteristics were not affected (P ≥ 0.24) by treatment. A similar overall growth performance and reduced DMI for PLF steers suggests that progressive limit feeding may be a cost-effective approach to finishing feedlot steers.