24 August 2007

2 minute read

North America

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.

Source: Discover Moose Jaw