Ethanol Blog

Swine Nutritionists Resolve Fiber, Energy DDG Snags

Cheryl Anderson
By  Cheryl Anderson , DTN Staff Reporter

The fact that ethanol co-products such as dried distillers grains with solubles have slightly higher fiber and lower energy content does not mean it is not a good value in swine diets, according to an article by the National Pork Board (http://bit.ly/…).

Since feed costs still constitute about 65% of production costs for producers, it is imperative that they strive for the lowest cost rations and best feed efficiency. Sometimes that means incorporating alternative feed ingredients such as DDGS.

Dr. Christ Hostetler, director of animal science and technology for the Pork Checkoff, said that DDGS has become so widely used that many nutritionists do not consider it as an alternative ingredients.

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While DDGS is a good value and can lower feed costs, its higher fiber and lower energy can add slightly to costs, since pigs don't utilize energy derived from fiber as well.

Swine nutritionists have been researching how to utilize the greatest amount of DDGS with the least impact on performance.

The Industry Productivity Analysis, research compiled from data from 35% of the U.S. sow herd, contains benchmarks for key productivity indicators for all types of swine operations.

The report found that the average feed efficiency is 1.48 pounds of feed per pound of gain for nursery pigs, 2.50 pounds for wean-to-finish production, and 2.66 pounds for conventional finishing.

Research funded by the Pork Checkoff has found answers in how to best utilize alternative feed ingredients such as DDGS. Summaries can be found at porkstore.pork.org in Pork Industry Nutritional Efficiency Consortium Research 2007-2011.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@dtn.com.

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