Texas AgriLife Study Finds Crude Glycerin From Biodiesel Production Could Be Useful in Cattle Diets

Grainnet.com
Date Posted: March 12, 2012

Amarillo—Crude glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production, could be an economical ingredient in cattle diets, according to studies by Texas AgriLife Research and West Texas A&M University personnel.

Dr. Jim MacDonald, AgriLife Research beef cattle nutritionist in Amarillo, said during biodiesel production from sources such as cottonseed oil, glycerol is separated from fatty acids.

The fatty acids become the biodiesel and the glycerol, combined with the impurities that remain, is a potential ingredient in livestock feed.

“Crude glycerin is usually priced at a discount relative to corn, so we wanted to look at replacing corn to evaluate at the energy value of the glycerin,” MacDonald said.

“Then the question became, what if you replace forage, which would be the case with stocker cattle?”

MacDonald said glycerin has good flowability in low temperatures, as opposed to molasses or other similar products, and is non-corrosive to feeding equipment — both traits making it attractive to the cattle feeding industry.

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