What do you feed with Distiller's Grains?

[Backgrounder78]

I'm looking for a good protein and mineral supplement to use with distiller's grains. Calves are 500# feeding up to 900#. Looking for something that is high in rumen degradeable protein and has additional calcium. I'm feeding grass hay--not alfalfa or legume.

 

[ROB]

you might look into feeding urea for the degradable protein source.
From the research i've done, barley mixed with DDG and urea does a good job.

ROB

 

[TexasBred]

Are you talking about dry or wet distillers? If dry I wouldn't do anything except be careful not to overfeed them and give them freechoice hay and a good 12-12 mineral.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Adding limestone or finding a commercial mineral mix made just for byproducts will take care of the calcium issue.And some companies even add urea to the min mix just to balance Distillers.

 

[MikeC]

http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/ExEx2036.pdf

I wouldn't think you'd need any more protein supplements..

 

[footballjdtractor]

ADM makes a product called by-product balancer. it is 37% protein and is 14-16% calcium. It also has rumensin.

 

[hayray]

I don't think you need a protein source with DDGs. Isn't already over 20%. I just saw new research posted on the correct amount of the diet consisting of the Distillers grain and the study showed that 20% was the optimum amount to be in the diet.

 

[TexasBred]

Absolutely, otherwise you're just wasting a lot of good protein. Give'em their alloted amount of DDG and then let them fill up on hay. With DDG being around 25% protein the hay doesn't even have to be super good.

 

[Howdyjabo]

You have to be careful with DG
It has a high percentage of bypass protein
So unless your other ingredients have enough protein to balance it- you can starve the rumen bugs-- even with 20% protein DG.

 

[footballjdtractor]

our feed salesman also has a product like a mineral. it has no protein it's 35%calcium 5%salt and has other minerals and vitamins A,D,E. the kind we get has 1000mg/lb of rumensin but I think you can get it without.

 

[TexasBred]

What are some of the other guarantees? With that much calcium in it seems they're trying to cut the price of the Rumensin by kicking the calcium thru the room. Don't know what calcium cost up that way but down here feed grade calcium is $22.00 a ton delivered. Rumensin 80 should run about $6.25 per lb.

 

[footballjdtractor]

rumensin1000gm/ton
calcium35%
salt5%
magnesium.05%
potassium.05%
copper 500ppm
selenium13.2ppm
zinc 4000ppm
vit A 115,000 iu/pound
I don't know how much vitamin D and E it has, it is listed in the ingredients but not on the guarentee
I paid $521/ton about six weeks ago

 

[TexasBred]

hmmm.....There is no added magnesium or potassium. With levels that low they're all naturally occurring in other ingredients. Copper is pretty low and I'd want more zinc. Selenium could be low based on what the consumption rate is suppose to be. Vitamin A is also low. My formulation program comes up with an ingredient costs of less than $180.00. You're feeding mostly calcium (over 85% of the mix). I'm really surprised they even eat is as there is little room in the formulation to include anything to make it really palatable.

 

[somn]

Had a feed sales man trying his darndest to sell me some stuff made by Hormel. I believe he called it CP balancer. I'm guessing it stands for crude protien but I could be wrong. The only thing I really remember about it is that it is made especially for DDGS and WDG. It also contained 550g monensin and I think 250g tylosin per ton. If you would like I can give this fella your name and address should keep him out of my hair and dads hair for awile.

 

[TexasBred]

Heck Somn you shoulda let that ol' boy take you to lunch...might have got a free cap out of the deal too. Course if it had an Oscar Meyer weeny on the front you'd have to wear it backward.

 

[bgunzy]

Many companiese offer a "balancer" mineral for use with gluten feed and DDGS. Some will be just minerals, whereas some will be mixed/pelleted with a protein source as a carrier.

IMHO, the mineral only product is the way to go. You've already got the protein, why spend more for stuff you don't need? Also, you use less product per ton of mixed feed; mineral only will be fed at 0.33 lbs/hd/day or so, whereas the balancer+protein will be at 0.5 - 1 lb/hd/day.

The balancer should have primarily calcium in it, with salt, potassium, magnesium, and trace minerals. Pretty basic stuff. If it has ANY phosphorus in it, you're double-buying it and don't need it.

Watch these feed companies - they want to move their high priced protein one way or another, and slipping it into a balancer is one way they're trying to do so.

 

[novaman]

You've got to remember that although distillers has a high percentage of protein, it shouldn't be your only protein source. A majority of the protein is not broken down in the rumen. Now for me as a dairy guy that undegradable protein is great for milk production. However, it isn't what your looking for to put weight on steers, etc. You have to have a source of protein that is degradable in the rumen. I use soybean meal in my dairy ration for that purpose. Also keep in mind that proteins are simply a combination of the various amino acids. If one wanted to properly balance a ration it should be done by amino acid content of the ingredients. In that case distillers is very low on lysine and a separate source of lysine needs to be added. Soybean meal is low in methionine. By using a combination of the two I can arrive at a respectable level of each amino acid. Many people get caught up in the fact that distillers is close to 30% protein and believe that is all they need for protein. Maybe some guys can get by on it but situations like a dairy are very sensitive to little deficiencies and they will show up on the bottom line.

 

[TJ]

1st of all it depends where your located, but why would you feed feedlot cattle SBM at it's current price, most DDG is 30% protein 10% fat, it's all the protein you need, if you feeding cp in your mineral your paying for something you don't need, we feed 850 head and our mineral is .4 per head cost $420 delivered

 

[TexasBred]

Extremely cheap mineral. Ingredients alone usually cost more than that. Would like to see the guarantees on it. Most will have some protein even tho it's not guaranteed as companies use cottonseed meal, dried molasses, distillers grain or other by-products not only as fillers but to make the mineral palatable.