Key survey shows increasing confidence in distillers' grains

According to the report, approximately half of the cattle and pig production operations in a 12-state region were either feeding ethanol co-products or considering the introduction of the products into thier livestock diets.

More than 9,400 farmers took part in the survey, commisioned by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) with the support and funding of the Nebraska Corn Board. NCGA assisted in the structuring and content development of the survey. NASS contacted producers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

"There’s very little good market information on how and where distillers’ grains are being used as it draws from a large sample of the Midwest and Great Plains livestock industry," said Geoff Cooper, NCGA director of Ethanol and Business Development.

He said the results have provided a good insight into the industry’s attitudes toward distillers’ grains, as well as feeding and procurement practices. However, a key finding was that many livestock operators are still undecided about using distillers’ grains. About one-third of cattle and hog producers and more than one-fifth of dairy cattle operations have considered feeding co-products, but are not yet using them.

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