Ethanol Co-Product Use in U.S. Cattle Feeding: Lessons Learned and Considerations

USDA ERS
By Kenneth H. Mathews, Jr., and Michael J. McConnell
Outlook Report No. (FDS-09D-01) 14 pp, April 2009

The byproducts of making ethanol, sweeteners, syrups, and oils used to be considered less valuable than the primary products. But the increased livestock-feed market for such byproducts in the past few years has switched that perception to one of the ethanol industry making grain-based “co-products” that have market value separate from the primary products. Co-products such as dried distiller’s grains, corn gluten feed, corn gluten meal, corn oil, solubles, and brewer’s grains have become economically viable components, along with traditional ingredients (such as corn, soybean meal, and urea), in feed rations.

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