Cracked dry or finely ground high moisture shelled corn as a supplement for grazing cows

Feeding shelled corn as the primary supplement in cracked dry form or groun d high moisture form to grazing cows was studied in an experiment using 32 cows in late lactation. Each of the two forms of corn accounted for 74.7% o f the concentrate supplement, which was fed at 9 kg/d (DM). The experiment was 13 wk, during which cows grazed permanent native pasture containing mos tly grasses and some clover. Milk yield was 2.4 kg/d higher for cows fed gr ound high moisture shelled corn than for those fed dry cracked shelled corn . Milk fat content was lower (3.28 vs. 3.67%), but protein content was high er (3.26 vs. 3.15%) for the high moisture corn supplement. Results suggest that high moisture corn can serve as a better supplement for grazing cows t han dry corn, likely by providing more metabolizable energy and microbial p rotein due to more fermentable and digestible starch.