Beef producers make daily decisions about their animals’ feed based on factors such as age, sex, role in the herd, and cost. Kansas State University beef cattle nutritionist Phillip Lancaster highlighted the importance of these considerations in a recent Beef Cattle Institute Cattle Chat podcast episode.

Lancaster discussed the use of cracked corn for steers raised to the finished stage on the farm, emphasizing the difference in digestibility between whole corn and cracked corn. He explained that, since steer rations typically contain a high level of corn, feeding cracked corn provides a significant benefit, increasing the net energy of gain by approximately 5%.

For the steers, Lancaster explained that the price of corn would influence his recommendation.

“Is it cost-effective to feed cracked corn? If the feed mills are charging $10 a ton to crack the corn, then the price of the corn needs to be about $6 per bushel or higher for that to pay off,” Lancaster said.

For cows receiving a feed supplement alongside a high-forage diet, Lancaster recommended feeding whole corn instead of cracked corn. Since whole corn makes up a smaller portion of the diet and the cows can break it down by chewing their cud, it is more cost-effective.

Even if whole corn kernels are observed in the feces, it doesn’t indicate that the animal didn’t extract energy from the corn. While whole corn is less digestible than cracked corn, bacteria can still penetrate the hull, allowing some starch from the inside to be digested.