StrojanHerefords
Well-known member
It will go bad about the same time as you get the feed results back.
Spent grain
- Thread starter Named'em Tamed'em
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Using spent grain just requires you make a reasonable decision to feed it or compost it. In the summer when it goes bad, there is visible mold you can see on the top and around the edges. There are probably spores in it from the day you pick it up, it will also have a different smell. It becomes a balancing act if you choose to feed any non comventional feed like this, there is always a chance something could go wrong. When available wealso feed cull potatoes and a lot of bread. Both are susceptible to mold. After about 4 or 5 years of feeding spent grain, we have had zero problems. The product is cheap and cattle do well on it. Things could be different where you live but we live in a hot humid environment. We don't worry about it too much from October until early May, during the summer the grass is good so we feed way less of it and when we do we generally use it within a day or 2, the rest of the year it may sit for a week before we feed. Testing would take a long time I would imagine unless you have a lab around the corner and who knows what they consider a teast and how long that would take.
WFfarm
Well-known member
My cousin has a micro brewery and they put all sorts of stuff in their batches. Raspberries, peanut butter, pine bows, guava fruit, coffee etc. I always wondered if anything would be bad for the cows. He gives it to a local dairy that blends it into their mix ration. I'm partial to the Raspberry Wheat final product myself.
mwj
Well-known member
Dilution is usually the solution. I am surprised that a dairy of any size would use an inconsistent feed source.
RDFF
Well-known member
Just wondering if it would be possible to "ensile" it... a "silage pile"...pack and cover, it would be great if you could "vacuum pack it"... and so would any silage pile/silo... but for the most part, just eliminating the oxygen (normally done by packing tightly and then covering with plastic... like an ag bagger/bunker/or capping a silo). If it's coming in "totes", can you seal off the top (right against the brewers grains) somehow? Treat the tote like it's a "silo" (although a normal vertical silo is typically much taller, and counts on that height to pack the silage pretty well)... just press the stuff down well into the tote as good as you can so it's firm, then put a plastic sheet directly over the top of the grain and up the sidewall of the tote a bit, and then put some sand or something like that (heavy/dense) on top of the plastic to weight it down and force out any air remaining underneath between the plastic and the grain mash, and to seal the plastic to the tote wall. The "sealing out air" is the most important part, including perhaps MOST importantly, along the wall of the tote. How wrong could you go?
Then just open one tote at a time as you feed... with any silage, keeping the "open face" as minimal as possible, and feeding off the right amount each day, helps to prevent the spoilage. As soon as it's exposed to oxygen, it'll begin to "spoil"... but it takes a couple days for it to become noticeable... so you just feed off of the top/open face regularly to control this degradation. Putting the plastic cap back over the exposed face after removing what you need each day would help some too, even if you didn't weight it down when you're feeding out of each tote. Just press it down against the grain... any amount of "limiting of oxygen" will help.
Then just open one tote at a time as you feed... with any silage, keeping the "open face" as minimal as possible, and feeding off the right amount each day, helps to prevent the spoilage. As soon as it's exposed to oxygen, it'll begin to "spoil"... but it takes a couple days for it to become noticeable... so you just feed off of the top/open face regularly to control this degradation. Putting the plastic cap back over the exposed face after removing what you need each day would help some too, even if you didn't weight it down when you're feeding out of each tote. Just press it down against the grain... any amount of "limiting of oxygen" will help.
Ridgefarmer63
Well-known member
I think your theory is correct and in a way exactly what I am doing. Mine comes in totes and I do feed from the top. We should probably be sitting on my porch having this discussion, because there are soooo many variables that would make it problematic. Where there's a will, there's a way. I get roughly 3- 200 gal totes a week to be fed to 30 head. When I first started, I would meter it out very scientifically. I have a beef herd. But, as time has gone by, I just fork the whole tote out with the herd. The brood herd hums through a tote in one day. that's about 12 head. very big girls. they are on pasture also. the yearlings will work the tote for a bit and then graze. So, in essence the yearlings are doing the same thing by eating it off the top. I think if you were picking up from anhauser-Busch with a dump truck , maybe a silo bunk set up might work.
Redgully
Well-known member
I used spent grain for quite a few years, started slow and then after a couple of weeks left it out ad lib. The mixes constantly changed but cows never cared. Sometimes it went a bit mouldy but cows ate it all the same and never had a reaction. They put on good weight but need to eat a lot of it to fill themselves up. Somel oads would come warm straight from the vat, that was always a favourite for cow and me as the cows would eat it first and it would smell nice. Some loads that were a few days ripe could get a bit much. Flies love to breed in it but cows never fussed about the maggots and chomped right through them. Ive heard it can be high in sulphur, if thats the case maybe my cows had been lacking sulphur as when on the grain would look shiny and glow. Unfortunately i lost the contract when the manager redirected it to one of his mates.
