Effects of rapid and delay silo filling and 1177® silage inoculant on performance of growing cattle fed corn and sorghum silages.

Eight concrete stave silos (10 x 50 ft) were used in two trials to evaluate rapid (24 to 36 hr) and delay (15 days) filling, each with our without 1177® silage inoculant. Corn silage was used in Trial 1; forage sorghum in Trial 2. The delay-fill silages had a dry matter (DM) range of 34.4 to 39.9% in Trial 1 and 24.2 to 29.6% in Trial 1. All eight silages were well preserved with the four delay-fill silos having lower total fermentation acids than their rapid-fill counterparts. With corn silage, the rapid-fill silos had higher silage DM recoveries than the delay-fill silos. 1177® improved DM recovery in the rapid-fill silo but not in the delay-fill silo. With forage sorghum silage, the rapid-fill silos lost effluent which contributed to lower DM recoveries than in the delay-fill silos. 1177® improved DM recoveries with both fill procedures for the wetter sorghums. Steer performance was similar (P\u3e.05) for all four treatments within each silage. When silage recovery and steer performance were combined, the 1177® treated silages produced more pounds of beef than their respective controls. When corn and forage sorghum silages were averaged, 1177® produced 3.3 lb more beef gain per ton of crop ensiled than uninoculated controls