If you’re a farmer or in the agricultural industry, you understand the importance of raising healthy livestock. Not only do these animals determine the success of your farm or dairy, but they produce offspring that provide for the next generation of your operation.
When your animals are healthy and thriving, business does, too. But animals that are underweight, require large amounts of feed, don’t produce the highest quality products, and have other complications can quickly impact your bottom line – for the worst.
Cue The Corn
Corn has become a popular item for roasting lately. It provides the benefits of an earlier harvest and higher digestibility than the raw form. In addition, flame roasting corn for your dairy cows can effectively remove mold spores and reduce toxin levels that are harmful to them. The roasting process also brings out a “caramelized” flavor that the cows and other livestock really enjoy.
Raw vs. Roasted
Roasting is extremely helpful for feed, and roasting is a convenient way of salvaging poor-quality corn that may have accumulated mold or toxins in the field or storage bin. Many farmers are coming on board with roasted corn instead of raw corn. A significant contributor to this may be because roasting the corn improves taste. This is both enticing for the cows and lets farmers like you eliminate the flavor enhancers often needed to encourage maximum daily feed intake.
How It Benefits Dairy Cows
Roasting corn benefits dairy cows in many ways, including:
- Better Digestion
- Purer Feed
- Improved Rumen Health
Better Digestion
Roasted corn is easier for the cows to digest. In addition, roasting the corn increases the speed of starch availability, meaning the starch becomes more soluble, resulting in a higher energy value.
Purer Feed
Roasting corn with an open flame helps to dry away moisture and burn off potential mold spores from each kernel. By roasting with an open flame, you can experience lower vet bills, better breeding, fewer abortions, and less physical stress on the animal, allowing them to produce more milk and meat products.
Improved Rumen Health
High-energy roasted corn makes room for more forage in the ration and the added fiber from forage creates a healthy environment in the rumen. This improves feed intake and better digestibility of feeds, producing more milk and better cattle gains.
As opposed to high-moisture raw corn, feeding dry roasted corn provides a more consistent dry matter feed and less acidic feed in the diet, which will keep a lower rumen Ph to avoid potential acidosis.
What does this all mean for you?
Simply put, roasted corn allows dairy cows to actually gain more healthy weight while consuming less feed – overall resulting in improved profits.
Start Improving Your Bottom Line
If you’re ready to improve the health of your dairy cows while also increasing your profits, the team at Roast-A-Matic is here to get you started. Contact us today to learn more about how grain roasting can work for your operation.
