DISTILLERS GRAINS FEEDING RECOMMENDATIONS
The purpose of this document is to provide an introductory source of information on distillers grains feeding recommendations for beef, dairy, swine and poultry. This guide is by no means a comprehensive resource for distillers grains feed guidelines. Instead, it is meant to provide a small sample of recent feeding recommendations and associated research. The distillers grains inclusion levels recommended in each of the respective papers in this book may vary slightly and are based on independent feeding trial results. These recommendations are based on extensive research conducted by animal scientists and nutritionists from leading universities.
The National Corn Growers Association provides these feeding recommendations to assist producers in understanding generally-accepted feeding levels. However, all rations for specific herds should be formulated by a qualified nutritionist. Moreover, the NCGA has no control over the nutritional content of any specific product which may be selected for feeding. NCGA makes no warranties that these recommendations are suitable for any particular herd or for any particular animal. The NCGA disclaims any liability for itself or its members for any problems encountered in the use of these recommendations.
Background
Continued rapid expansion in the ethanol industry will mean explosive growth in the supply of distillers grains. Ethanol production in the United States has grown dramatically in the past five years, and following passage of the Renewable Fuels Standard in 2005, this growth is expected to further accelerate.
The industry produced 5 billion gallons of ethanol in 2006, more than three times the 1.47 billion gallons produced in 1999. During the 2006/07 crop year, an estimated 2.15 billion bushels of corn will go to ethanol production, according to USDA. That represents approximately 18 percent of projected U.S. corn production.
A coproduct of dry-grind ethanol production is distillers grains, which are used by the livestock and poultry industries as a source of energy and/or protein in feed rations. The most common forms of distillers coproducts generated by dry-grind ethanol plants include: Distillers Wet Grains (DWG); Distillers Dried Grains (DDG); Distillers Wet Grains with Solubles (WDGS); Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS); and Condensed Distillers Solubles (CDS).
Wet and dried distillers grains with solubles are the most common forms of distillers grains being marketed to livestock and poultry producers today. According to industry sources, approximately 60% of distillers grains are sold domestically and internationally in the form of DDG or DDGS. The remaining 40% are sold domestically as WDG or WDGS for use in ruminant feed markets, normally in close proximity to the plant producing the WDG and WDGS.
Ethanol plants produced approximately 7.3 million tons of distillers grains in 2004. Of that amount, more than 6.5 million tons (89%) were consumed domestically, while 786,603 tons (11%) were exported. Dry grind plants are projected to produce more than 10 million tons of distillers grains in 2006/2007.
Assuming that the majority of future ethanol growth will be in dry grind production, it is estimated that plants will be generating approximately 16 million tons of distillers grains in 2012, or more than twice the amount produced in 2004. Accordingly, more distillers grains will be entering the feed market with each passing year.
Beef Feeding Recommendations
Dairy Feeding Recommendations
Swine Feeding Recommendations
Poultry Feeding Recommendations
Additonal Charts
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Last reviewed April 17, 2007 |
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