RICH PORTERPORTER FARMS

WET DISTILLERS

STARTING CALVES

WET DISTILLERS, GREAT FOR WEANING

CALVES

Great nutrition profile

Cattle prefer wet to dry

Can add supplement to mix

Reasonable price

PROBLEMS WITH WET

Need access to it, semi load lots

Need feed wagon

Need much longer mixing time

Bunk life when mixed – half day

Bunk life in pile – 1 to 4 weeks

MY RATIONS – AS FED

½ Wet distillers

¼ Ground hay

¼ Ground corn

Supplement of course

1 gm CTC/cwt for 5 days of week

LIMIT FEED FIRST 30 DAYS

Sounds stupid, works great

2.2% of BW on a DMB is guide

Clean up feed in 2-3 hours

WHY LIMIT FEED???

Prevent overeating days 14 to 21

Very easy to spot sick cattle

Calf can’t wait a few hours to eat

Return to grass when bunk empty

“RANGE CUBE” FEEDING

GREAT SUPPLEMENT ON GRASS

Similar to “Super Gold”

But much cheaper

DISTILLERS HAVE:

High protein (28%)

Digestible fiber

Fat (11%)

Phosphorus

NEEDS ONLY Ca

Can add:

Regular supplement

CTC/OTC

FEED WITH REGULAR FEED WAGON

Use “floater” tires

Add supplement

Feed on the ground, little waste

3 Times a week

GOAL OF ROTATIONAL GRAZING IS BETTER GAINS

Can get easily with distillers

Combine 5 pastures into one

4 Less gates to open

4 Pastures rested Aug & Sept

Consume grass otherwise burned

“TYPICAL RATE” IS ½% BW ON DMB

¼% to 1% can work

600# = 3# DMB or 9# As Fed

“May” save grass 20%

Late season, 1 lb more gain/day

LIMITATIONS

Pastures must be close

Must control pasture

Need access to wet distillers

Impact on grass long term????

PROFITABILITY

20% Distillers + 80% Silage or

20% Distillers + 80% “Waste” grass

Does anyone have a calculator?

Graze any time no snow cover

HARD DATA

I have none but an eye ball

KSU people can give data

Extend grazing season, and use grass that would be burned

Opportunity for producers to share loads and a feed wagon

Effects of supplementing dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) to heavy, yearling stocker cattle for 90 days during the late grazing period.

Grazing Supplementation Treatment

Control DDGS (1% BW DDMI)

Standard Error

ADG, 0-45 Days 2.02 lbsa 3.39 lbsb 0.153

ADG, 45-90 Days

-0.57 lbsa 1.44 lbsb 0.134

ADG, 0-90 Days 0.76 lbsa 2.44 lbsb 0.116

Total Weight Gain

68.5 lbsa 220.7 lbsb 10.47

a-bMeans within a row with different superscripts differ (P<0.05).

•808 lb average starting weight for the steers in the study•Grazing occurred from August 10 to November 10 of 2009•No effect on quality or yield grade of the finished cattle.•Funded by The Beef Checkoff

A. Stickel, T. Houser, K.C. Olson, J. Drouillard, B. Gerlach, A. Pacheco, M. Macek, G. Parsons, K. Miller, L. Thompson, M. Dikeman, J. Unruh, and D. Blasi

QUESTIONS??