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DDG

strawking

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
125
Location
Hemingford, NE
Got a load of DDG in a few weeks ago to wean calves on. They eat it like candy!! Got them up to 5lb./hd/day now and 10 to 12 lbs. of ground wheat hay. They seem to be growing, kinda hard to tell when I look at them every day. Gave them 2nd round of shots and EID tags today and sorted off the 2 loads that go out the 15th. I was hauling hay to Snake Creek the other day and saw they made DDG silage with straw. Anyone done this or fed any DDG this is the first time for me and I gotta say I love the stuff!!
 
Is it straight DDG? If so, it should be around 30% protein. I've fed DDG mixed with cracked corn for about 10 years now. Don't have any this year yet. I've cut back because of the price which is around $200/ton picked up at the local elevator.

When mixed 50/50 or so with cracked corn the finished mixture is around 14-16% protein. As you have found, once calves get on to it they love the stuff. DDG by itself likes to blow around in the wind. Cracked corn by itself is dusty. I like the way the mixture of both ingredients compliment each other. The cracked corn adds body while DDG adds oil content that cuts the dust of the cracked corn.

You can feed DDG/cracked corn on good clean sod to cows and they clean it up as good or better than cake. Deer and the wild bird population like it too. I've also made my own homemade "lick tubs" with mineral and/or salt. I'd suggest about 10% salt and adjust up or down from there to get your desired consumption along with plenty of available water.

One caution about feeding DDG is it sometimes has high sulphur content. That is because they add sulfuric acid to kill the fermentation process. If your water supply has high sulphur content that could be a problem. My artesian water seems to have high sulphur in it and I have never noticed any problems with my feeding rate. DDG is also is high in phosphorus so you want to feed a low-phos mineral. Faster horses could advise you on mineral needs while feeding DDG. :wink:
 
No sulphur in the water here and the test that came with the load was low in sulphur so I'm not worried about that. I thought about feeding some corn with it but I think it has plenty of energy to let them gain about 2 lbs./day and not get to fleshy. I sell them on hiway 20 and they gotta be green to sell good!

I have a feed book that has a formula to compare different feeds to corn and soybean meal. Just enter the cost of them and it figures what your feed is worth compared to them. I figured corn at $4.50 a bushel is $160 a ton. I bought the DDG for $145/ ton and its way better feed. Not sure where your at in SD John but I have a few numbers of brokers that may be able to get you it a little cheaper. I know if you have a place to store it that it is really cheap in the summer time.
 

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