Distillers grains

Linwood, Ontario - Whenever dried distillers grains or gluten is selling for less than corn, theyre cheaper feed for cattle, Mike Warsco of Perry, Michigan told the annual meeting of the Waterloo Cattlemens Associations annual meeting here recently.

But there are things to watch out for, especially the dry matter content, sulfur and mycotoxins, he said.

They can all vary widely from one ethanol plant to another and even among batches from the same plant, he said.

Warsco works for Akey Nutrition of Louisburg, Ohio, which provides ration services to Jones Feed Mills, a significant supplier in this area.

He said its important to know how dried-down the dried distillers grain is, both to determine whether its a price bargain and to formulate a balanced ration.

The same is true for wet distillers grains.

Sulfur can have toxic effects on cattle and can lead to polio, he said. It should be held to .4 per cent or less. That means testing the farms water supply because it might range from less than 400 parts per million to more than 3,000 parts per million.

Mycotoxins also need to be monitored, he said, even beyond the results from the ethanol distiller. Those companies typically draw a sample of about a cupful from a huge pile of corn delivered from a lot of farms, so the feed a farmer gets might have mycotoxins higher than levels the ethanol supplier indicates, Warsco said.

He said many of the alternatives to corn and soybeans supply all of the phosphorous cattle need, so that supplement can be saved.

He recommended checking the cost of alternative feeds every month and asking a feed mill supplier to work out a low-cost ration for the farm. He said the situation will be different for almost every farm and will change from months to month.

Sometimes ethanol plants are eager to move a lot of product and it can pay to pick up the bargain and store it in airtight bags, he said.

But he cautioned that bags might break and the feed may spoil and that there will be some shrink as the distillers grains dryabout two to three per cent for dried distillers grains and 10 to 15 per cent for wet distillers grains.

He also recommended checking distillers grains for off odours and dark colourboth indications of lower feed value because nutrients may be tied up and the cattle cant extract them.