 Hello, I'm Wader DeHorse, the research specialist at the Carrington Research Extension Center, and today I'll be talking about a research project involving alternate grains and feedlot rations. Last fall, we received a number of phone calls from producers looking for ways to utilize an abundance of low-quality wheat. So with that, we decided to conduct a pair of research projects feeding wheat to feedlot cattle. Wheat is a highly fermentable grain that can cause issues with ruminal fermentation and pH in feedlot cattle if it's not properly managed. Poor management can lead to bloat and acidosis, which down the line will impact feed efficiency in the feedlot. When feeding wheat or any highly fermentable grain, there are a few ways to mitigate risk associated with acidosis. These include adding products which help regulate feed intake, such as rumensin. Another way to mitigate risk is controlling the degree to which highly fermentable grains are processed. In the case of wheat, producers should target a very coarse roll and avoid the production of fines. This will help slow the rate of fermentation. Another way to regulate ruminal pH is by adding roughage. However, the negative side to adding roughage to the diet is that increasing roughage decreases the amount of starch and potentially decreases average daily gain of feedlot cattle. To tell you a little bit about the research we are doing, we are conducting two studies. One of the studies utilizes four steers with rumen and duodenal cannulas. Our treatments for this study include a controlled diet with 10% roughage, which is typical in a feedlot ration, and three experimental diets including 12, 14, and 16% roughage on a dry matter basis. This project allows us to collect samples that will provide us with information on rumen fermentation, pH, and digestibility. Our second study in this project is a traditional feedlot study where we are utilizing the same rations that I talked about before. With this study, we hope to get information about typical feedlot performance data, including average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed efficiency, and carcass data. Our hopes are that running these combined studies will help provide information to producers that will help them maximize performance while minimizing risk. Thank you for listening. I'd also like to thank our supporters, North Dakota S-Bear, and their producers who consigned their steers in the North Dakota Angus University.