U.S. farmers lead the way in producing beef, with 24 to 27 billion pounds produced every year, and global demand continues to grow. This is a great opportunity for American farmers, but the key to taking advantage of it is optimizing beef cattle feed efficiency.
RMS crackers are more robust and consistent than competitor crackers, which means a superior feed product that maximizes critical feed efficiency. We can help you take advantage of the growing demand for U.S. beef with better equipment and more efficient growth.
Growth in the Beef Industry
While consumption of beef in the U.S. has remained relatively stable in recent years, global demand is rising. Most of the demand comes from Asia. Other countries are capitalizing on this growth, with Brazil and China becoming more dominant in the industry, but the U.S. still leads in production and exports.
Complicating factors, like disease and tariffs, make the industry more volatile despite overall growth. For American farmers, being able to capitalize on growth and work around variability is essential to taking advantage of the increasing demand and keeping up with foreign beef producers.
Cracked Corn Feed and Feed Efficiency
Beef cattle can eat a variety of feeds, but corn is considered the standard. Corn is high in starch, making it a very high-energy food. It contains 88% total digestible nutrients and 9% crude protein. It’s also highly palatable to cattle, who eat it readily. However, there are issues with corn, and, for that reason, it shouldn’t make up their entire diet. Feeding cracked corn to cattle too suddenly and in high quantities can cause acidosis, which can be deadly. Beef cattle do best with a mix of high-energy grain, like corn, and roughage.
Also important to consider when feeding beef cattle is feed efficiency. Knowing how to calculate feed efficiency in beef cattle is crucial because feed is one of the highest and most variable costs in the industry. According to studies, increasing feed efficiency has a bigger positive impact on profit than other strategies. A 10% feed efficiency gain can increase profits by as much as 43%.
While a feed efficiency calculation can be as simple as dividing pounds of daily feed by average daily weight gain, improving efficiency is more complicated. It depends on reducing feed waste, but also on how you produce the feed. Cracking corn to the most efficient particle size for nutrient uptake and weight gain is an important part of the equation.
Choosing the Right Cracker for Cattle Feed
Producing the best feed mix for beef cattle, boosting efficiency, and improving profitability to meet global demand depends on equipment. While cattle can eat whole corn, cracked corn provides smaller particles, better digestion and nutrient uptake, and overall greater feed efficiency. A corn cracker is essential to feeding and feed efficiency.
RMS offers both single and double pair corn crackers that are more robust and reliable than competitor products. A robust machine translates to a robust operation with less downtime and lower operating costs. Not all corn crackers are alike. Other corn crackers suffer from having smaller bearings, thinner frames, and steel rolls that need to be changed more frequently.
A better machine makes a better feed product, meaning greater feed efficiency and improved profitability. Inferior crackers produce corn with inconsistent particle sizes. Our crackers produce the right size, time after time.
According to studies, smaller feed particle size correlates with improved digestibility. Inconsistent sizing leads to poor nutrient uptake, wasted input, and slower weight gain. You can rely on RMS corn crackers to last longer, cost less to operate, and produce better feed that actually boosts efficiency.
Contact us today to talk about what to feed beef cattle, cracking corn, feed efficiency, and our top-of-the-line corn crackers. We can discuss your issues, answer questions, and provide a quote.
