With limited forage reserves on many farms, farmers should be asking what the best feed option for finishing cattle is this winter.

For cattle that will be ready for slaughter inside the next 100 days, it may be an option to move them on to an ad-lib meal system at some point within the final finishing phase.

Not only will this increase daily weight gain, it will also save on fodder that can be directed towards other cattle groups.

Even where cattle are on high quality silage, moving to ad-lib meal feeding will improve weight gain for certain types of cattle and again, save valuable forage.

On average-quality silage (66 DMD), steers and heifers will already be eating 7kg to 8kg of meal per day, so increasing to ad-lib feeding will not provide a massive jump in intake.

At these meal levels, they are probably eating 15kg to 20kg/day of silage on a fresh weight basis.

The silage will be contributing little towards daily liveweight gain in finishing cattle. It will merely act as a fibre source to keep rumen function correct.

Before you moving cattle on to an ad-lib diet, there are several factors to be considered before going down this route. These include:

1. Animal type

Bulls are the ideal animal for ad-lib meal feeding as they can sustain high levels of weight gain over longer time periods compared to other cattle types.

Steers that are mainly continental beef breeds will perform well on ad-lib meal feeding, but feeding period should be restricted to around 60 to 70 days from target finishing date.

Heifers and traditional beef breeds are less suited to ad-lib meal feeding as these cattle can quickly become over-fat, thereby falling out of market spec and worth less.

However, if they are to be offered ad-lib meal, then limit the feeding period to 30 to 40 days and monitor fat cover daily. Market once they are suitably covered.

2. Silage quality

Get your silage tested to determine feed value. If silage is at 66 DMD (average quality) or less, then ad-lib finishing should definitely be considered.

Such silage will not support high levels of liveweight gain without increased levels of concentrate feeding, therefore cattle will take longer to finish.

A longer finishing period means cattle will consume more silage as they spend more days on farm. Moving to al-lib meal feeding will increase energy intake, thereby reducing the finishing period and saving feed.

If you have a limited supply of good quality silage (70+ DMD) and it is likely to run out before forward cattle reach their target slaughter weight, consider moving cattle on to an ad-lib meal now.

This way, you are not upsetting the animal’s diet by introducing lower quality silage later in the finishing period.

3. Ration type

Normally you would be looking to keep protein levels as low as possible in a finishing diet. But in the case of ad-lib feeding, increasing the protein level to 14% may prevent certain cattle types from becoming too fat too soon.

4. Housing weight

Steers need to be within 60kg from finishing weight for ad-lib meal feeding to be a viable option. For heifers, they should be no more than 40kg from finishing weight.

With bulls, they will perform at higher daily liveweight gain over a period of 120 to 150 days. Therefore, they can be 200kg to 250kg from slaughter weight when moved on to ad-lib feeding.

5. Management

Ad-lib feeding requires high levels of management. It is not just a matter of filling the trough and leaving animals to it.

Cattle have to be built up to ad-lib meal and once on these higher meal levels, it is vital that they never run out of feed.

If they do, there is a risk of cattle gorging on meal the next time you fill the trough. This can lead to acidosis. If they do run out of feed, you will have to build them back up to ad-lib feeding again.

Cattle also require at least 20% of their DM intake to be in the form of roughage, so you will still need to offer fresh straw or hay.

Water intake is important. Cattle will roughly drink six litres of water for every 1kg of meal consumed. Water has to be kept fresh.