Dried distillers grains enhance the rates of gain for beef cattle.
Texas A&M livestock researcher Jim MacDonald began studying the feeding of DDG even before it was available in his region, around Amarillo.
“We don’t have any in the Panhandle right now. But there are a lot of ethanol plants under construction. It’s just like you guys up in Western Canada, but maybe a year or so ahead. But there isn’t a lot of science on the feeding of the byproducts.”
MacDonald said the price of DDG will likely be more attractive than grains, “so a lot of producers will want to leap on that opportunity.”
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His research has shown that for cattle on dormant or late season pasture, there is potential to use DDG as a fat and protein supplement. He said the gain from the product can better that from corn or silage.
DDG will be a long-term solution to the high feed prices created by the heavily subsidized American ethanol industry that is “gobbling up corn supplies and pushing commodity prices skyward,” said Kansas State agricultural economist Barry Flinchbaugh.
“For at least the next five years, maybe seven, cattle producers are going to be held hostage to high grain prices. But it won’t take that long for the byproducts of the ethanol and biodiesel industries to start piling up. You’ll get those (products) cheap and if you learn how to use them, it’ll be better for the cattle business than volatile, nearly unbankable grain commodities,” he said.
However, Guelph, Ont., economist Larry Martin said Canadian ethanol plants will not be built soon enough to supply the DDG to replace high priced cereals.
MacDonald’s work last fall with 400 pound steer calves on dormant range proved promising for growers who have access to the product.
Calves fed DDG at one lb. per head, per day saw a gain of half a lb. per head, per day.
But as feeding rates were increased, the efficiency of the product fell, so that at a three lb. per day, feeding the steers’ gain was limited to 1.75 lb. per day.
During a summer heifer feeding trial, gains were limited to 10 percent of the DDG fed, due to the availability of grass.
MacDonald said the cost effectiveness of feeding will dictate when and with which cattle DDG will be used.
In the 63 day summer feeding trial, MacDonald paid $152 a tonne for the feed, a $14.63 per head investment, with a return of $22. This created a net of $7.37 per head without calculating the cost of handling the supplemental feed.
“The price of DDG have affected whether or not this will work for producers. Since summer, the byproducts have risen along with corn,” he said.
By fall, MacDonald was spending $225.63 per tonne for DDG.
At that price he would be losing $3.05 per head on feed alone by supplementing summer pasture.
The increased rate of gain on the fall steer calves was enough to offset the higher cost of the DDG.
In that 56 day feeding trial, the cost of supplementing the calves at the highest rate was $19.11 per head. The gain created a $79.85 return for a net of $60.74, without the cost of handling the supplemental feed.
MacDonald’s work indicates that producers using the feed, in winter or summer, should generally provide their animals three lb. per day, if the price of the DDG is affordable.
“There is also an opportunity to supplement cows over the winter and to use the feed early in the pasture season. But each region needs to do its own (research) work to ensure their strategy is effective,” he said.
This winter, prices for DDG from a new ethanol facility at Lloydminster were about $180 per tonne delivered in mid-Saskatchewan, according to cattle producers looking at feeding the product.
While the top feeding rates are the most productive, MacDonald said producers need to be careful of sulfur rates in the DDG.
Sulfuric acid is commonly used to control the pH of the mash in processing. When combined with the use of a different sulfur-containing acid, used to sterilize pipes and tanks, this can result in byproducts containing more than one percent sulfur.
Normally the levels are 0.5 to 0.7 percent.
If producers’ water is high in sulfates and cattle consume feed that contains large amount of the mineral, the result can be deadly. Polioencephalomalacia, or brainers, can be the result.
