brewers grain

[Petercoates87]

Hey guys. I am in the mist of getting a contract to take brewer grain from a small brewery. Just wondering about the nutritional value of it. do anyone have a chart or something? Can ya use just brewer grain as a substitute for beef ration?

 

[ez14.]

I feed some. The place I get it from makes 40+ recipes so every batch has different nutritional value. I don't get enough to make it my sole feed but you probably could

 

[5S Cattle]

I talked to a guy that runs a bunch of calves that feeds it. He said to not use more than %20 in your ration if you're expecting good gains

 

[Petercoates87]

it was my plan to make it my sole ration feed. hay too of course. I have a small herd 10 head an a small flock of sheep 6. from what I saw online I thought I could use it as a replacement to the beef ration I'm feeding now. that's only at 15% crude protein n this should be 22% + so I thought it would be great.

 

[TexasBred]

it was my plan to make it my sole ration feed. hay too of course. I have a small herd 10 head an a small flock of sheep 6. from what I saw online I thought I could use it as a replacement to the beef ration I'm feeding now. that's only at 15% crude protein n this should be 22% + so I thought it would be great.

Keep in mind that it's usually over 60% moisture so you'll need to feed 15 lbs. per head per day to get the equivalent of 5 lbs. of the dry feed into them.

 

[Petercoates87]

ok this is great it's what I'm looking for. I don't know yet how much I can get I have just emailed this guy a couple times. meeting him this week. ok so give everyone the numbers on my cattle n situation I got cows n calves. I'm feeding a sack per day (25kg or 55lbs) @ $17 Canadian or roughly $12 US. so me getting this grain for nothing is great. he tells me it will be once or twice per week.

 

[mwj]

Make sure that there is a steady supply. If you get them on feed slowly, the rumen bugs will adapt. If you feed 3 wks as planned and then have no brewers grain for a week, you will be looking at a wreck.

 

[Petercoates87]

ok why is that? the guy says once or twice a week pickup so hopefully if this works he will be brewing for a long time.

 

[mwj]

The bacteria is what you are feeding and it takes different ones for forage or grain. If you make feed changes with cattle it needs to be done gradually. Look at the ruminant digestive system and it will explain better what I am saying.

 

[TexasBred]

The bacteria is what you are feeding and it takes different ones for forage or grain. If you make feed changes with cattle it needs to be done gradually. Look at the ruminant digestive system and it will explain better what I am saying.

Brewers grain is actually considered roughage as most of the starches are removed during the process of making beer. Acidosis will not be a problem.

 

[Petercoates87]

An update on the grain. the brewery has started up and I have started feeding to the cows. I have 5 cows and 5 calves. From what I read I decided to give the cows starting off 30lbs per day plus hay and 20lbs to the calves plus hay. Been feeding for 2 straight days now and haven't noticed much difference in their manure. I thought there would be a huge difference like going from hay to fresh green grass. Oh and also they love it, 2 of my cows are jerseys and they won't touch their hay til I put the grain on top of it now lol. Over the next 2 weeks I was going to work them up to 50 lbs a day plus hay what's everyone opinion of that?

 

[CreekAngus]

I used to feed spent malt to my cows, I always mixed in cracked corn, because the brewing process has taken out all sugars and almost all the fiber and guess what? Beer is a fat free food...LOL

 

[TexasBred]

I used to feed spent malt to my cows, I always mixed in cracked corn, because the brewing process has taken out all sugars and almost all the fiber and guess what? Beer is a fat free food...LOL

It still contains a considerable number of calories.

 

[D2Cat]

I've been feeding DDG which comes from the local ethanol plant. I feed 9 cows two 5 gal buckets each day. Been doing it through the winter. They have all the hay they want, but seem to eat much less when they have the DDG. Cost is $10.20 a hundred.

I had a neighbor stop by the other day and in a discussion told me I was feeding way too much per head. That they would bloat on that amount. He cautioned me several times in his short visit. I didn't tell him done had died in the last months I had been feeding them!

 

[pricefarm]

I've been feeding DDG which comes from the local ethanol plant. I feed 9 cows two 5 gal buckets each day. Been doing it through the winter. They have all the hay they want, but seem to eat much less when they have the DDG. Cost is $10.20 a hundred.

I had a neighbor stop by the other day and in a discussion told me I was feeding way too much per head. That they would bloat on that amount. He cautioned me several times in his short visit. I didn't tell him done had died in the last months I had been feeding them!

Most DDG I believe is around 28% or so protein. Two 5 gal buckets would be around 50lbs. That seems like a lot of unnecessary protein unless your cows are eatting sticks. But there your cows and your money.

 

[greatgerts]

I've been feeding DDG which comes from the local ethanol plant. I feed 9 cows two 5 gal buckets each day. Been doing it through the winter. They have all the hay they want, but seem to eat much less when they have the DDG. Cost is $10.20 a hundred.

I had a neighbor stop by the other day and in a discussion told me I was feeding way too much per head. That they would bloat on that amount. He cautioned me several times in his short visit. I didn't tell him done had died in the last months I had been feeding them!

Most DDG I believe is around 28% or so protein. Two 5 gal buckets would be around 50lbs. That seems like a lot of unnecessary protein unless your cows are eatting sticks. But there your cows and your money.

If he is feeding 50lbs to 9 head each day, that is just under 5lbs/hd/day. Doesn't seem overkill to me.

 

[Petercoates87]

well I'm giving my cows about 50 lbs of the brewers grain per head per day. now I'm getting it for free. myself and the brewery split the cost of the bins to ship the stuff in so that's all its cost me. but it saves on hay and they are packing on weight. of my 10 head herd 4 are dairy breeds and they just eat it up and the calves seem to be gaining weight from it. and the one cow that was milking was just pouring out the milk. I'm very happy with it. where I'm to hay is quite expensive and I dont have enough of my own ground yet so this is saving our farm about $100 a week. oh and here cheap round hay is $80 Canadian.

 

[TexasBred]

I've been feeding DDG which comes from the local ethanol plant. I feed 9 cows two 5 gal buckets each day. Been doing it through the winter. They have all the hay they want, but seem to eat much less when they have the DDG. Cost is $10.20 a hundred.

I had a neighbor stop by the other day and in a discussion told me I was feeding way too much per head. That they would bloat on that amount. He cautioned me several times in his short visit. I didn't tell him done had died in the last months I had been feeding them!

Hopefully it's wet distillers and NOT dry distillers. If wet then you are not over feeding at all. If dry I'm surprised you're not having all sort of problems from belly ache to dead cattle.