Optimizing the Use of Distiller Grain for Dairy-beef Production

Optimizing the use of distiller grain (DG) is becoming increasingly important as ethanol production increases. Dairy-beef production is a system that has the potential to use large amounts of DG. Threehundred and twenty Holstein steers (420.7 + 71.5 lbs initial wt.) were fed finishing diets at the University of Illinois Beef Research Unit. Forty pens were each randomly assigned to ten treatments with eight calves per pen. Ten dietary treatments of various DG levels were randomly assigned to 4 different pens. The calves were fed ad libitum and the cattle were weighed in 28-day intervals. After 112 days, both treatments 7 and 8 along with 9 and 10 were switched to represent the change from 20% to 37.5% and from 37.5% to 20% for both wet distiller grain (WDG) and dry distiller grain (DDG) (DM basis). Implants were administered twice during the course of the trial. Fecal samples were collected on a per pen basis, sub sampled, and then analyzed for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S). Cattle were then weighed at 270 d and sent to Packerland (Green Bay, WI) to be harvested. Effects of dietary treatment were analyzed using the GLM procedure of SAS. Orthogonal contrasts were used for the control versus DG diets, DDG versus WDG, and diet change from 20 to 37.5% DG versus 37.5 to 20% DG (represented in treatments 7 through 10). Linear and quadratic contrasts were also used for the level of DDG and WDG.