Simple Way To Feed Distillers Grain

Simple Way To Feed Distillers Grain LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 32-3-10 Wet distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol industry, is a cost effective cattle feed that's a good source of protein, energy and minerals. But the soupy mixture is difficult to handle and spoils easily. A contest was held recently in Iowa to come up with ways to store, handle and feed distillers grain. The first place idea came from Arnold Maynes, who purchased an old $300 ground-driven John Deere manure spreader to dispense feed to his cows. "I took the bottom set of flippers out so the feed drops off in chunks," Maynes says, adding that his mix includes 20 percent ground corn stalks. He has a semi load of wet distillers grain delivered and mixes it with the corn stalks in his feed wagon. He dumps the mix in a pile and packs it to remove air to prevent spoilage. Distillers grain only keeps a couple of weeks, but with his process, Maynes says the feed keeps up to six months. He worked with a nutritionist to figure how much distillers grain to feed. When feeding his 300-head herd 15-lbs./animal three times a week, a semiload of wet distillers grain lasts a week and a half. It's important not to feed too much, Maynes said, but his younger cows have been thriving on it since he started feeding it a year ago. Using inexpensive equipment and methods are important, Maynes says, since available feeds continually change. "It makes the trip to feed the cows in the pasture much quicker," he says. He loads the manure spreader with a tractor bucket. The cattle like it so well, that whenever he wants to move them to a different pasture, he leads them with pickup and manure spreader full of the distillers grain feed. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Arnold Maynes, 1759 Brooks Rd, Corning, Iowa 50841 (ph 712 621-1344; ammaynes@frontiernet.net).

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