An Agriculture Canada researcher says Canadians are just starting to investigate the impacts of using distillers grain as more of it becomes available to feeders.
Tim McAlister, who works at the research centre in Lethbridge, is feeding cattle distillers grain derived from wheat at levels up to 60 percent to measure various effects. The cattle will be slaughtered this summer with results to follow.
“The performance of the cattle on it are better than what we would have originally projected, but I have my reservations that it is as good as feeding barley,” he said.
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Distillers grain has been used as a protein source, but researchers are trying to determine if it can be used for energy to replace barley.
The study is also testing manure from cattle fed distillers grain.
Nitrogen and phosphorus levels are concentrated in the fermentation process during ethanol production. Consequently, the animals receive more nitrogen and phosphorus than a traditional diet, which leads to more nitrogen and phosphorus in their rumen and manure.
“That is probably the biggest negative we see right now with the use of distillers grain,” said McAlister.
John McKinnon of the Western Beef Development Centre in Saskatoon has worked with wet and dry distillers grain for a number of years and has found no problems when assessing carcass weights, backfat thickness and marbling scores.
“With our experience in Canada with wheat based distillers grain, we haven’t seen any negative influence of inclusion rate on any aspect of carcass performance or finishing performance,” he said.
His studies have looked at feeding the ethanol byproduct at blends of five, 10, 15 and 20 percent.
However, McKinnon said more research is needed as more of the product becomes available in Western Canada. He is starting a three-year project and Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Brandon is also embarking on a cow-calf project feeding distillers grain.
“I think it is an area that has a very significant change in the way we feed cattle in Western Canada,” he said.
