By Mike Surbrugg
msurbrugg@joplinglobe.com
MOUND VALLEY, Kan. — Feeding dried distillers grain (DDG) in feed bunks to grazing cattle could mean more time on grass and less in feedlots.
The cost of animal gain is cheaper when cattle eat more grass and less $4-a-bushel corn in feedlots, said Karl Harborth, Kansas State University’s Southeast Area Extension livestock specialist in Chanute.
He spoke during a Beef Cattle and Forage Crops Field Day on May 3 at Mound Valley.
DDG is a byproduct of making ethanol.
Kansas has eight dry mill ethanol plants, including one at Garnett. Those plants create a market for more then 76 million bushels of corn and sorghum a year and produce 684,000 tons of DDG, according to the annual report issued by the KSU Southeast Agricultural Research Center.
DDG has 25-30 percent crude protein, high energy content, high levels of fiber, low starch and is available, Harborth said.
On the down side, it has an average 10 percent fat content, variability of content, sulfur levels are questionable, storage is needed and availability can change, he said.
He provided information about tests where DDG was fed to steers grazing either native pasture or Bermuda grass in 2006 at Mound Valley.
The DDG for the 2006 study was purchased at a price of $100 a ton.
It was used as a supplement to steers grazing either native prairie or Bermuda grass pastures and is being continued this year.
At 2006 prices, it was economically justified to feed DDG at a half-percent or 1 percent of steer body weight for steers grazing native prairie. After 161 days, steers getting no DDG had gained 262 pounds; those eating 3.3 pounds of DDG per day gained 344 pounds; and those eating 6.6 pounds per day gained 353 pounds.
After 126 days in the feedlot, those steers coming off native pasture finished at 1,215 pounds; those supplemented with DDG while grazing weighed either 1,308 or 1,277 pounds, with lower weights from eating more DDG.
A companion study with DDG supplementing Bermuda grass for 89 days produced no economical gains, according to Lyle Lomas, center head and livestock specialist.
“We do not know why this happened,” he said.
The future of DDG as a cattle feed will change as more ethanol plants go online, Harborth said.
The big issue will be to find a way to make DDG palatable to swine and poultry that rely entirely on fed grain.
Mike Surbrugg is The Joplin Globe’s farm editor.
