By Paige Harden, The Republic Features Editor
Corn-burning ethanol plants are driving up the feed costs for livestock farmers, forcing them to find alternatives.
Prices for corn are close to $4 per bushel, more than $1 higher than last fall's $2.50 average, said Timothy Johnson, Purdue dairy extension specialist.
"We are all trying to learn the best way to deal with this," Johnson said. "We have to do the best we can with the products we have."
Mike Ferree, Purdue University-Bartholomew County extension educator, said the increased price is due to the demand for corn from the ethanol industry.
One alternative to feeding 100 percent corn, Ferree said, is incorporating distillers' grain.
Distillers' grain is made during the ethanol production process.
Only the starch portion of the corn kernel is used to make ethanol. The remaining nutrients, which include protein, fat, minerals and vitamins, are concentrated into distillers' grain.
Johnson said farmers must feed livestock more than distillers' grain, however.
"You have to find a way to make up for the starch," he said.
"That starch turns to glucose which makes milk sugar which is what draws the volume of milk a cow produces. It is very important."
Farmers are using bakery waste, bread shavings and cereal waste to replace the starch, Johnson said.
Silage also is becoming more popular.
To create silage, farmers cut down the entire corn plant just as it is starting to mature. They then place the plant into a silo for fermentation.
"Farmers are looking at a combination of corn products," Johnson said. "I think people are already coming up with creative ways of trying to maximize the use of what corn they do feed."
To spread out corn life, farmers are grinding it very finely and coupling it with distillers' grain, Johnson said.
He said no matter the method, farmers should incorporate alternative feeds slowly into the herd's diet.
"Co-products have different percentages of nutrients," he said.
"This should be done in small steps rather than jumping right in."
Because pigs and poultry are not ruminant animals, they cannot digest distillers' grains as easily as ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats.
"Poultry and hog farmers are going to have a much harder time cutting costs," Johnson said.