A swine nutritionist with the University of Minnesota says the inclusion of corn distillers dried grains in swine rations can result in dramatically reduced overall feed costs.
The expansion of corn based ethanol production in the United States has resulted in a large availability of corn DDGS or distillers dried grains with solubles, a co-product of ethanol production.
Dr. Sam Baidoo, a professor of swine nutrition with the University of Minnesota, explains, when the starch is removed from the corn kernel, the remaining nutrients, including fibre, protein, phosphorus and amino acids become more concentrated.
If we compare corn and distillers, corn for example has only about eight percent protein while distillers on average would have about 30.7 percent protein which means that we can not use distillers at the same level as corn because of its high protein content.
We’ve done various types of experiments to determine the optimum inclusion rates for swine.
For starter pigs, at the moment, we recommend anywhere between 10 and 15 percent, for growing finishing pigs, anywhere up to about 45 percent.
However with the growing finishing pigs, because of the impact on carcass quality, we tend to recommend around 20 to 30 percent.
For sows, gestation, we say about 30 percent and lactation also around 20 to 30 percent.
Dr. Baidoo estimates the inclusion of corn DDGS in the lactation diet, for example, can reduce the cost of feed by as much as 18 dollars per tonne.
He says, if corn DDGS is available, it can be included in the diet but he cautions it’s important to have samples analyzed because the nutrient levels of distillers dried grains can be so variable.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
