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Mountains Can Move
By Jeanne Bernick
5/16/2008
By Jeanne Bernick, Farm Journal Crops & Issues Editor
Ethanol critics used to point to mountains of distillers’ grains and ask: “What are you going to do with all of that byproduct?” Today, those critics would be hard-pressed to find a mountain—much less a hill—of distillers’ grains.
“The industry is no longer concerned about swimming in distillers’ grains, despite the rise in ethanol production,” says Geoff Cooper, director of ethanol and business development for the National Corn Growers Association. “In fact, every new ton of distillers’ grains coming online already has a home.”
In 2007, the U.S. ethanol industry produced 15.5 million metric tons of distillers’ grains, compared with 3.5 million metric tons in 2000, and 90% of that went straight to domestic livestock. Using relatively conservative assumptions, a recent Center for Agriculture and Rural Development study projects U.S. ethanol will produce nearly 40 million metric tons of distillers’ grains per year by 2011.
Just as corn and soybean exports have hit record highs, so have distillers’ grains. The U.S. exported 2.36 million metric tons of distillers’ grains in 2007, an increase of 88% from 2006 and nearly triple the U.S.’s 2004 levels, USDA reports. The nation’s top customers are Mexico and Canada.
Cooper believes the increase in distillers’ grains demand comes from the increasing need for cheaper feed and from better marketing and education by the ethanol industry.
“For years ethanol plant developers called me to ask what to do with distillers’ grains, and I kept telling them to feed it to animals,” says Kurt Rosentrater, lead scientist on distillers’ grains for USDA–Agricultural Research Service. “It’s as if the agricultural sector has finally realized the true value of this product.”
Distillers’ grains have long been fed to beef and dairy cattle, which together make up 84% of the U.S. market. But now more of the product is being fed to swine and poultry (see chart). Maximum inclusion rates for distillers’ grains in swine finishing diets are near 20%, says Hans Stein, University of Illinois swine nutritionist.
“Swine producers can reduce their corn needs in a ration by 5% if they include just 10% distillers’ grains,” Stein says.
More work on feeding high percentages of distillers’ grains still needs to occur. Problems with higher fat content (corn oil), overfeeding of proteins, phosphorus and sulfur, and the variability in quality from different sources—and from the same source at different times—is a concern in the livestock sector.
Research on flowability issues related to transporting distillers’ grains is also needed. Only 13% of distillers’ grains produced in the Corn Belt stay in the region; the majority is shipped to major cattle-feeding areas, such as California and Texas. Yet up to 20% of railcars that carry distillers’ grains will not unload long after they reach their final destination, he says.
“Distillers’ grains often sit in a railcar and bake, making them hard to get out,” Rosentrater says. “The industry needs to work on controlling moisture and quality related to transport.”
USDA is starting to question whether it should develop standards for distillers’ grains beyond the existing regulatory and industry frameworks. So far, the ethanol industry and the feed grain industry have responded with a resounding “No.”
Recently, the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) advised USDA’s Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration not to develop standards for biofuels products at this time. NGFA is concerned that the standards might stifle innovation, reducing the number and quality of products.
With $5 corn and $13 soybeans, the livestock industry cannot afford to lose alternative feeding products to additional government oversight.
You can e-mail Jeanne Bernick at jbernick@farmjournal.com.
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