How to turn brewers grain into silage?

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BK9954

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How do you turn brewers grain into silage to prolonge storage life? Is it feasable to turn steers on this in a few months for a profit if the grain is free?
 
An ensiled product would have a relatively high carbohydrate content that would be fermented, producing organic acids that 'preserve' the product by lowering pH into a range that is not conducive to the growth of spoilage bacteria/fungi.
By virtue of the fact that most of the carbohydrate in brewer's grains has already been removed in the alcohol fermentation process, they no longer qualify as a substrate to be 'turned into silage'.

Drying will certainly preserve feed quality, but studies have also shown that distiller's grains can be stored - even at relatively high moisture levels, for fairly long periods, with minimal degradation of feed value - they'll look like lleh and stink to high heavens, but the cows will still eat them, and the nutrients are largely still there, and mycotoxins have not been shown to be a problem.
Lots of info out there; here's one for starters: http://www.beefmagazine.com/markets/fee ... ers-grains
 
Lucky_P":1t4ml7pp said:
An ensiled product would have a relatively high carbohydrate content that would be fermented, producing organic acids that 'preserve' the product by lowering pH into a range that is not conducive to the growth of spoilage bacteria/fungi.
By virtue of the fact that most of the carbohydrate in brewer's grains has already been removed in the alcohol fermentation process, they no longer qualify as a substrate to be 'turned into silage'.

Drying will certainly preserve feed quality, but studies have also shown that distiller's grains can be stored - even at relatively high moisture levels, for fairly long periods, with minimal degradation of feed value - they'll look like lleh and stink to high heavens, but the cows will still eat them, and the nutrients are largely still there, and mycotoxins have not been shown to be a problem.
Lots of info out there; here's one for starters: http://www.beefmagazine.com/markets/fee ... ers-grains
By drying it out in the sun, would this prevent mold? My concern is once opened it will grow mold fairly quickly. I dont want to abort calves by having moldy grain but want the benefit of reduced feed cost. I am soliciting all of the microbrewerys in my area. It will be more feed then I can handle or I need to buy more cattle. 100 acres only holds so many. Running 29 head max but if feed is cheap or free could start a calf/feed out type situation. Might be profitable.
 
I've spent nearly 40 years in veterinary medicine - and most of that time in diagnostic pathology - and while 'mycotic abortions' do occur, I've never seen one. Ever. It's not common enough that I'd worry about it.

We've been feeding dry distiller's grain product for about 4-5 years...little to no spoilage, even when stored form months at at time. Prior to that, we fed some 'modified' distiller's grains for several years - a 50% moisture product, and yes, it molded fairly quickly - and in some cases, would take on a pretty good stink - but the cows never refused it, and I never saw any evidence that it caused any problems.
Read the article I linked.
 

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