Dave Seibert, animal systems educator for the University of Illinois Extension of East Peoria, is modest about his expertise, but having served the livestock industry in 60 counties in central Illinois since 1974, Seibert knows his audience. He recognized that cow-calf producers in his area needed information on distillers grains produced at ethanol plants, so he held a series of seminars this winter to help "bring them up to speed."

"There's a tremendous thirst for information in this area," Seibert said. "Of course, what's driving it is the high price of grain and corn." In his 36 years with the extension, Seibert said this project attracted more interest than anything else he's ever done. Turnout was excellent, and requests for information came from "all over," including Maryland, Texas, Kansas, Kentucky and Iowa, he said.
"Right here where I am, there is a tremendous concentration of product," Seibert told EPM. "Historically, [coproducts] in the Peoria area were sold to feed manufacturers, put on barges and shipped down the river for export. It's only been recently that this feed product has become available to the average cow-calf dairy producer in the area."

Several issues were discussed at the eight seminars that Seibert held across the state from Jan. 16 to Feb. 20. In particular, he compared the benefits and challenges of distillers wet grains versus distillers dried grains. "Here, historically, we've dried the product so that it could be exported or moved to various feedlots and dairy operations, but now the wet product has become available so that really allows [the smaller livestock producer] to utilize it," he said. The drying process is an added expense, but if the plant doesn't have to dry the products, "they can save money and sell it at the lower price, which means local livestock and dairy producers can utilize it," Seibert said. He warned potential buyers to be aware that wet product costs more to ship because of the increased moisture content and subsequent added weight.

Corn, historically cheap feed for all species of livestock, has recently become more expensive, Seibert said, forcing some livestock producers to look for other sources of fat, protein and phosphorus. Distillers grains is a proven source of those nutrients, he told seminar attendees.

Seibert believes the value of distillers grains can be exponential when mixing it with other feedstuffs, such as cornstalks, straw and grass hay. These feedstuffs are readily available but don't have much nutrient value when fed to animals alone.

The No. 1 thing that livestock producers need to know is where the coproduct is located, Seibert said. His seminar materials included information on suppliers, producers, merchandisers, costs, types of products (wet, dried or pelletized), how to transport product economically and how to store it with minimum loss of nutrient value.

Web sites were also given to attendees as additional sources of information, where livestock producers could compare costs of feed ingredients, roughages and coproducts. Attendees were also pointed in the direction of ration balancing programs that show how to price the different ingredients, replace the corn in feed rations with distillers grains, and incorporate them into diets.