“Feedlot Nutrition Made Easy – Use of Distiller’s Grains in Growing and Finishing Diets”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
Because of the modern “Bio-economy”, distiller’s grains (DG) are here for the foreseeable future and, depending on their price relative to corn and soybean meal, can be efficiently utilized in beef cattle diets. Distiller’s grains provide energy, protein, and minerals to the beef cattle diet, and are highly palatable. However, there are just a few guidelines to keep in mind when formulating diets with DG.
In forage-based diets for growing cattle, the fiber in DG can be an excellent source of energy. If the forage is of good quality, there are few limitations on the use of an energy source like DG. However, if you are trying to utilize very poor quality forage such as winter range, corn stalks, or wheat straw, addition of more than 4-5 lb per day (dry matter basis) may depress digestion of the forage.
In grain-based finishing diets, optimum inclusion level is based on fat and sulfur content. If your water is high in sulfur, you may not wish to exceed 20% of the dry matter as DG; if your water is extremely high in sulfur, you may not wish to use any DG. However, if sulfur is not an issue, feed conversion has been demonstrated to be maximized with inclusion of 25-35% (dry matter basis) wet DG in dry rolled corn-based finishing diets. If DG are priced well below corn, you may wish to exceed this level to improve cost of gain, although feed conversion may increase slightly.
Wet DG makes an excellent “conditioner” for a dry diet, holding ingredients together and reducing sifting out of denser ingredients. Conversely, dry DG is best used if there is a wet ingredient included, such as silage.
The value of DG is driven by its intended purpose. If we are feeding very low quality forage, we will determine price on an equal lb of crude protein basis in comparison to soybean meal, as protein is the first limiting nutrient we need to supplement. If we are feeding high quality forage such as corn silage, spring pasture, or alfalfa hay, the first limiting nutrient is energy, so we should price DG against corn.