Distillers’ Grains for Cows: Boon or Bust?

The United States’, and especially Iowa’s, ethanol industry has increased dramatically resulting in millions of tons of the distillers grains co-products produced annually. For every one bushel of corn processed there is a yield of about 2.8 gallons of ethanol and about 17 to 18 pounds of distillers’ grains (DGs) on a dry basis. Although one cannot be certain of future markets, it appears that large quantities of DGs will be available to the livestock industry for many years. Will the DGs remain the same? No, as we speak many ethanol plants are changing their manufacturing techniques, extracting corn oil and other by-products, which change the nutrient content and density of the DGs