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ANSCI

Department of Animal Sciences

CFAES
corn

Distillers Grains

Use of Distillers Grains with Solubles (DGS) by Livestock

For ethanol production to be sustainable, the distiller’s grain co-products (DGS) must generate revenue. A research team has shown that pregnant beef cows and sheep can be fed DGS at up to 80% of the diet utilizing the Prescription Intake nutrition strategy they developed. This more than doubles the potential use of this co-product by the beef industry in Ohio. They also have discovered that DGS can be used at up to 70% of the diet for growing heifers and feedlot steers if the OSU Prescription Intake program is utilized in the Growing Phase of feedlot production. In a surprising discovery, they found that supplementation of grazing lambs with DGS nearly eliminated the need for anthelmintic treatment for internal parasites. They also discovered that the acid content of DGS may be the greatest barrier to higher dietary inclusion.