Ground Wheat Grain for Midlactation Cows: Challenging a Common Wisdom

Table 1

Dry matter based dietary ingredients at higher and lower inclusion rates of ground wheat grain in midlactation diets.

Ingredients and nutrients; (DM based)	Dietary ground wheat grain
	Lower (10%)	Higher (20%)
Alfalfa hay	42.8	42.8
Wheat straw	4.8	4.8
Ground barley grain	10.5	1.1
Ground wheat grain	9.7	19.1
Ground corn grain	5.8	5.8
Soybean meal	12.0	12.0
Whole cottonseed	6.8	6.8
Fish meal	3.6	3.6
Fatty acids-calcium soaps (powder)^1	0.8	0.8
NaCl	0.42	0.42
Calcium carbonate	1.05	1.05
Sodium bicarbonate	1.05	1.05
Minerals and vitamins supplement^2	0.63	0.63
DM %	92.5	93.5
CP %	18.5	18.6
Starch %	18.1	19.5
NDF %	39.5	40.5
peNDF3>8	18.4	18.0
peNDF3>1.18	37.3	34.8
NEL^4, Mcal/kg	1.60	1.62
Calcium %	1.0	1.0
Phosphorous %	0.5	0.5

¹Berg + Schmidt (GmbH & Co.) KG, Hamburg, Germany.
²Contained 250000 IU/kg vitamin A, 50000 IU/kg vitamin D, 1500 IU/kg vitamin E, 2.25 g/kg manganese, 120 g/kg calcium, 7.7 g/kg zinc, 20 g/kg phosphorus, 20.5 g/kg magnesium, 186 g/kg sodium, 1.25 g/kg iron, 3 g/kg sulfur, 1.25 g/kg copper, 14 mg/kg cobalt, 56 mg/kg iodine, and 10mg/kg selenium.
³NDF content of TMR or forage multiplied by their physical effective factor (pef) or the proportion of particles retained on the 19-mm, 8-mm, and 1.18-mm sieves of the PSPS [10, 11]. NDF content of TMR or forage multiplied by its pef or the proportion of particles retained on the 19-mm and 8-mm sieves of the PSPS [12].
⁴Estimated from NRC [13].