John B. Hall and Wayne Smith
University of Idaho, Nancy M. Cummings REEC
All-Natural Excell™Out Performs Monensin
A 42-day backgrounding calf trial at the University of Idaho showed .23 pounds ADG improvement over Monensin fed calves when Excell™ was included in the liquid supplement.
At the time of the trial, this extra gain was worth $15.32 net return per steer. Feed efficiency data indicates all-natural Excell performed equally to slightly
better compared to Monensin
fed steers.
160 cross bred steers were blocked by weight and breed and randomly assigned to one of two liquid supplement treatments. The Monensin treatment was fed at the rate of 200 mg per head per day and the Excell™ liquid treatment was fed at 5 grams per head per day. Cattle were fed ad lib on a diet consisting 75% ground alfalfa hay, 10% cracked corn, 10% wheat middlings, and 5% liquid supplement.
Trial Results
The All-Natural Fermentation Product with Ionophore Performance
Results
Steers fed Excell™ liquid at 5 grams per head per day gained .23 lbs. more per day, (7.3%) than the Monensin fed steers and total gain was 9.8 pounds (7.5%) more than the Monensin group over the 42-day feeding period.
Dry matter intake for the Excell™ fed steers was 23.4 lbs. per day compared to 22 .3 lbs. per day for the Monensin group or a 4.5 % increase.
The Feed:Gain ratio for the Excell™ group was 6.96 (2.7%) less compared to 7.16 for the Monensin group. Although the Excell™ fed steers consumed 1 pound more dry matter per day, the additional .23 pounds of ADG improved the Feed:Gain ratio by 2.7% over the Monensin treatment.
The performance benefit of feeding Excell™ in the backgrounding ration provided a positive economic return of $ 15.32 per steer which is an 8:1 return on investment over the value of Monensin.
Based upon the results of this study, Excell™ is a viable all-natural alternative to Monensin.
The Next Generation Of Animal Health!
