What do you know about Stillage?

southernblues

southernblues

New member
By product of corn after the ethanol plants get their fuel.


I hear it's a great cattle food source...anybody have any feedback?
 
capt coot has been feeding it to his cattle for years once they taste it they love it. cant store it for very long or it will spoil.
 
I don't use it.

Now back when I was growing up and we raised hogs, Dad had several 55 gallon barrels with the tops cut out that we would soak barley in for slop to feed the hogs. My two older brothers loved to hide a barrel downwind in some trees for a few days in the hot summer days to let it get some 'kick' to it. Needless to say, the hogs loved it. It always brought delightful squeals, grunting and quite a bit of wobbly walking before the hogs would fall over in a drunken state.
 
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Thanks for replies -- we have a nearby ethanol plant, before I called them I wanted to get the wisdom on this forum.

I've heard you can only buy it by the train car load or semi. I've read online that it comes in two forms, one that is wet and one that is dry, similar to hay.
 
I understand that 'stillage', sometimes called 'sweet water' can be used to replace the drinking water for cattle, but some cattle won't drink it. I was actually talking to a guy that was going to use it on low quality CRP grass hay. The process was to stand the round bale on end and add a certain number of gallons of sweet water to each bale.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
I don't use it.

Now back when I was growing up and we raised hogs, Dad had several 55 gallon barrels with the tops cut out that we would soak barley in for slop to feed the hogs. My two older brothers loved to hide a barrel downwind in some trees for a few days in the hot summer days to let it get some 'kick' to it. Needless to say, the hogs loved it. It always brought delightful squeals, grunting and quite a bit of wobbly walking before the hogs would fall over in a drunken state.
Click to expand...

what liquid were you soaking the barley in?
 
southernblues said:
what liquid were you soaking the barley in?
Click to expand...

Pure water, which through the fermentation process turns water into barley liquor, a hog's favorite. ;)

If only there would have been camcorders to record the action of those days gone by for you guys to see---I still see it vividly in my mind.
 
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The dried stuff is better but expensive.
Cattle feeders near the ethanol plants take advantage of the often FREE for hauling. Plants need to get rid of the liquid. Ethanol production takes so much energy anyway, and drying down the liquid isn't subsidized so why do it.:confused:
If you don't have a truck/tanker you could hire one. Some guys use the liquid manure spreaders or some sort of home made tank.
I would not want to pay much for the liquid, but if your close and can get it hauled it must be worthwhile, it's being used.
Most of the bigger feedyards mix and grind adding the liquid to the rations. Important to get the proper portions.
Using it in the place of water? MAN I don't think so.:eek:
 
From the link I posted--

Feeding Distiller's Co-Products
Thin Stillage. Thin stillage contains only 5-10% dry
matter and can be used to replace water in cattle feeding
operations. Research suggests that replacing water with
thin stillage reduces dry matter intake without negatively
affecting performance.
Cattle need to adapt over time to drinking the thin stillage.
Not all cattle will consume the thin stillage, so these animals must be moved to pens with traditional water sources.
Fountains and water lines should be cleaned frequently to
prevent microbial growth. Diets must be adjusted to
account for the additional nutrients when thin stillage is
replacing water. Since the nutrient content can be highly
variable, each new shipment of thin stillage should be sampled and analyzed
 
M. R. Byrd said:
I don't use it.

Now back when I was growing up and we raised hogs, Dad had several 55 gallon barrels with the tops cut out that we would soak barley in for slop to feed the hogs. My two older brothers loved to hide a barrel downwind in some trees for a few days in the hot summer days to let it get some 'kick' to it. Needless to say, the hogs loved it. It always brought delightful squeals, grunting and quite a bit of wobbly walking before the hogs would fall over in a drunken state.
Click to expand...


Maynard,

What a way to Marinade a Hog!:D:D:D
 
M. R. Byrd said:
From the link I posted--

Feeding Distiller's Co-Products
Thin Stillage. Thin stillage contains only 5-10% dry
matter and can be used to replace water in cattle feeding
operations. Research suggests that replacing water with
thin stillage reduces dry matter intake without negatively
affecting performance.
Cattle need to adapt over time to drinking the thin stillage.
Not all cattle will consume the thin stillage, so these animals must be moved to pens with traditional water sources.
Fountains and water lines should be cleaned frequently to
prevent microbial growth. Diets must be adjusted to
account for the additional nutrients when thin stillage is
replacing water. Since the nutrient content can be highly
variable, each new shipment of thin stillage should be sampled and analyzed
Click to expand...

Research suggests:rolleyes: That's funny.:)

FACT!
Cattle will not do well while they adjust!!! And those that do not adjust, get them on another feed source before it's to late, even if their separated before it's to late there is no chance of profit.
Common:eek: this stuff is directly from those supporting the ethanol industry in a big way.:(
 
stuff i was talking about is distillers grain. they have to pick it up with a truck. plant wont allow tractors and wagons anymore. brothers mix it with ground cornsalks. cows do well on it. cheap feed also. use to be free now i think they pay $40 a ton
 
It's used regularly by feedlots. A fellow I met was the biggest farmer in the county, had a big commercial feedlot that he sold some of his grain to, then built an ethanol plant across the road from his feedlot. Corn went from his field to his ethanol plant to his feedlot with cash coming from feedlot fees, his own fattened cattle sales, his corn sales to the ethanol plant, his sales of ethanol, and his stillage sales to the feedlot. Very synergistic and flexible operation.
 
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