Recent Research on Liquid Supplements for Beef Cattle

A recent survey (Williams, 1995) indicated that over 1.7 million tons of liquid feed were manufactured in the 1994-95 production year. An estimated 45% (708,000 tons) of this liquid feed was used in feedlot diets and 55% (960,000 tons) was specified as non-feedlot and presumably most of this was fed to cattle on forage based diets. Past estimates of liquid feed tonnage indicate it has grown an average of 9.7% annually over the last 20 years. The advantages of self-fed liquid feeds in reducing labor and feeding equipment costs has been a contributing factor in their use for grazing cattle.