Distillers grains could provide boost to beef industry

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

With the rapid increase in ethanol production in Western Canada, dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) could become a very popular – and beneficial – feed supplement for beef cattle.

Saskatchewan ethanol plants will have the capacity to produce approximately 170 million litres of ethanol and 150,000 tonnes of wheat-based DDGS this year.

DDGS are the co-product of the ethanol distilling process. After the cereal grain has been fermented and the ethanol distilled and extracted, DDGS is what remains.

“During distillation, most of the fermentable carbohydrates, which are in the starch, are extracted. Left over is a co-product which contains high levels of fat, protein and digestible fibre,” said Dr. Bart Lardner, Senior Research Scientist with the Western Beef Development Centre.

“This co-product appears to be a high-quality energy and protein supplement for beef cows.”

Lardner says that DDGS provides a real opportunity to enhance cattle feed in a low-quality forage situation.

“The protein and nutrients in DDGS are concentrated, so what you get is a high level of protein availability and a high level of energy availability from this co-product,” he stated.

“Typically, a beef cow’s diet is mostly roughage, and, at some points, it’s possible to feed a low-quality diet which would largely be crop residue or straw, for example. DDGS could supplement any deficiencies in energy or protein very well, and bring up these nutrient levels.”

Lardner says there is potentially less digestive upsets when feeding distillers grains. In beef cows, when the diet changes rapidly from high-roughage to high-grain, there can be negative digestive effects due to the shift in the microbial population.

However, feeding DDGS provides needed carbohydrates without the depression in forage digestion. In this case, producers will not see a change in microbial population because the energy is not from starch, but from these highly digestible fibres.

The distillation process also concentrates a variety of minerals, specifically phosphorous, potassium and sulphur. Therefore, producers supplementing their cows’ diets with DDGS are also feeding more of these minerals to the animals.

DDGS is currently priced to match the market rates for barley. However, as more ethanol plants start production, its availability will start to increase.

“As supply ramps up and companies begin looking to get rid of the DDGS, they will have to start pricing it accordingly, and it should start coming down on a cost per tonne basis,” Lardner said.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Bart Lardner, Senior Research Scientist
Western Beef Development Centre
Phone: (306) 682-3139, ext. 249
E-mail: blardner.wbdc@pami.ca