The growing demand for corn by the ethanol industry is creating new challenges for the animal feeding industry. According to Alltech, due to the recent and continued rise of the ethanol industry, the percentage of available, consumable corn will continue to decline at a rapid rate. The percentage of corn used for animal feed has dropped from 80 percent to 50 percent and ethanol production has increased by 250 percent in the last two years.

In this country there are 86 ethanol plants capable of producing 4.4 billion gallons of ehtnaol and another 38 plants are under construction.

One of the biggest challenges for the animal feed industry is to determine how best to utilize distillers dried grains (DDGS) in rations for all types of livestock. According to Alltech, 3.2 million metric tons of DDGS are currently used in the animal feed industry to create a high-energy, high-protein feed ingredient that has been found to have three times the level of non-starch nutrients than the original corn. Eventually, as the ethanol industry expands, the animal feed industry will have 40 million tons of DDGS to consume.

"We have to learn how to use this product just like we did soybean meal," Dr. Kate Jacques said. Dr. Jacques is Director of Nutrition for Alltech.

This means learning to adjust to the handling and nutritional concerns associated with DDGS. Dr. Jacques said consistency is a big problem with DDGS. Batch to batch and plant to plant the product can vary. Ethanol plant managers need to better understand their product and understand the animal industry's needs.

Source: High Plains Journal