Spent Grain

[Curtis McMillan]

I have just got done with my Mash, and I have LOTS of spent grain (how much time do I have to get it out, before smell?) (from the TTB, State, and EPA or FDA side) do I have to do any paper work to give it away? Do you drum it or how do you give it to your farmers?

is their any grain I should not give away as feed, and what do you do with it?

[JohninWV]

We bough some used stainless IBCs and pump the wet stillage into those. The farmer picks up the full tank and brings back empties for our stripping days. Having it secondary ferment is dependent on many factors, including heat. In the summer time, our stuff gets a little white mold on it in a day or so. In the winter time, we don't have any issue with that.

Some guys here use plastic, others tell me that it warps when exposed to hot stillage, so I just went with metal containers. But they are not cheap. Since I'm now doubling my capacity, I have to have 4 more, or about $3600. Ouch.

[absaroka]

We've had good luck with the plastic totes that have the aluminum cage around them, even with the hot spent mash. I don't expect them to stand up over time, but they are a much cheaper alternative (our local farmer has dozens of them).

Another alternative that I've been searching for is the military water trailers (water buffalo's). Cheap, ready to roll, and built tough....

[JohninWV]

I'd love to find a military water tank. I like them very much, but can't find em.

[Beauport Bob]

I also would like to have one or two.

Anyone know how they would dispose of them? Although, not to be a downer, they are heavily in demand right now. Bless those who need them for the purpose intended.

[Curtis McMillan]

Bob I found a great farm near Worcester To take ours. I had a guy in nh that said he could use some I will call you this week.

[PeteB]

I lauter so my spent grain is fairy solid.

Shovel it into an open trailer and transport all of 30 yards to waiting cattle or sheep

Attached photo taken today from my distillery door.

My sheep crowded around their trough of distillery treats--yum

[Blackheart]

When feeding spent grains to cattle, you have to tell whoever you give them to they need to watch out for bloat. Make sure you're giving that spent grain to someone who knows about proper diets and protein intake for their livestock (bovines predominately, I think swine are better in dealing with higher protein diets). Dealing with bloat in livestock is an ass-ache, you don't want to be be an accidental cause.

[PeteB]

When feeding spent grains to cattle, you have to tell whoever you give them to they need to watch out for bloat.

Are you sure SPENT grains can cause bloat?

I guess it won't hurt mentioning it to farmer just to cover yourself, but I think distillers spent grain is far less likely than fresh grain to cause bloat because it is already partly "digested", and is also wet.

I feed my spent grain to my sheep and cattle so if you can point me to some literature on the subject I would appreciare it.

[PeteB]

When feeding spent grains to cattle, you have to tell whoever you give them to they need to watch out for bloat.

Are you sure SPENT grains can cause bloat?

I guess it won't hurt mentioning it to farmer just to cover yourself, but I think distillers spent grain is far less likely than fresh grain to cause bloat because it is already partly "digested", and is also wet.

I feed my spent grain to my sheep and cattle so if you can point me to some literature on the subject I would appreciare it.

[bradocaster]

Our farmers sent a sample "off" to be analyzed. found it to be very profitable. they grind it in with a batch of round bales, silage, DDG, and grain. they love it.we send 2 plastic totes a week. we pump it into metal totes, let it cool over night, and pump into plastic totes to ship. we were worried about the plastic valves failing under the heat.

Brad

[Roger]

I believe I read somewhere that you can feed the stillage to either beef or dairy cattle, but if you feed it to dairy it should be no more than 15% of the animals caloric intake, but for beef it can be as high as 40%.

[Blackheart]

Thanks Pete. Point of clarification was to just mention that for some, spent grains might be an unknown, but valuable feed for their animals. Coming perhaps free, herd managers should be encouraged to check out the protein levels to avoid overdoing it and upsetting that protein-intake balance.

[Dehner Distillery]

I press all the grains and put it in buckets for farmer.

I placed an ad on Craig's list and had tons of calls.

[Sorghumrunner]

I have heard of studies that dried distillers grains can lead to higher levels of e. Coli. Has this played out?

http://aem.asm.org/content/74/1/38.short

http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/livestock/link-between-wet-distillers-e-coli-strain-detected/article_5ec62396-b294-11e2-be18-001a4bcf887a.html

Are you sure SPENT grains can cause bloat?

I guess it won't hurt mentioning it to farmer just to cover yourself, but I think distillers spent grain is far less likely than fresh grain to cause bloat because it is already partly "digested", and is also wet.

I feed my spent grain to my sheep and cattle so if you can point me to some literature on the subject I would appreciare it.

[PeteB]

Thanks for the links Sorghumrunner.

Unfortunately the articles are either badly written or incomplete. The articles were about the increase in E.coli in feces of cattle fed with distillers grain. Most strains of E.coli are harmless to humans. There was no mention that the extra E.coli would cause any problem.

[Ursa Major]

One of my goats got bloat this winter when he got loose and ate about a quarter of a 5 gallon bucket worth of spent grain. Poor guy almost died, but he still loves the stuff! I still feed them spent grain, but I go easy on it and make sure they have lots of hay and water to go with it.

I've got a pig farmer that takes all the rest of my spent grain. That's pretty much all he feeds them and they can't get enough of it. He had it tested and apparently the protein level is up over 20%. It's a great arrangement. I put full buckets of spent stuff out for him, he replaces them with emptys. I rarely ever see him do it, it's like it magically just dissapears!

[Sorghumrunner]

I haven't delved too much into the subject, as we aren't making grain mash. But i've heard of this problem before. The first link was an abstract to a scientific article, so probably the full article goes into more detail. The second was from an Iowa farmer paper, so probably wouldn't delve too deep into it.

I think the main issue may be to make sure that ddg are not the only feed source being fed. And this is probably more of a concern on the larger scale.

Thanks for the links Sorghumrunner.

Unfortunately the articles are either badly written or incomplete. The articles were about the increase in E.coli in feces of cattle fed with distillers grain. Most strains of E.coli are harmless to humans. There was no mention that the extra E.coli would cause any problem.

[Dehner Distillery]

You have to mix the spent grain with something like hay. Chickens you can feed straight. My spent grain is dry or a little damp when it leaves.

And paper work required.

[MorganHillSpiritis]

I'm in Morgan Hill CA. We have cows that love spent grain. If your in my neck of the woods I'll take it off your hands.

[Blackheart]

Just a funny follow up and (stupid) anecdote: had one of our farmers pick up spent grain today. He hadn't picked up in a few weeks and was anxious to get his allotment. I was wondering why he was so anxious to get it. His reply: the hogs and goats preferred it so much, they slowed down their sweetfeed intake and lost 15% of body mass since. I am absolutely sure someone smarter than me can explain what happened, but I just thought it might be germane to the thread here.

[PeteB]

--- in a few weeks---- and lost 15% of body mass since.

I have been farming livestock for nearly 50 years. IF... his stock lost 15% body weight in a few weeks there is a serious problem, not just the loss of the spent grain making them picky with their normal feed.

[fldme]

I have seen it, I think the pH of the mash changes the pH in their stomachs, and they get to where they cannot eat anything else.

[Blackheart]

Thanks for this guys. Im going to talk to the farmer about it today. Makes perfect sense.

[Blackheart]

And Pete: Im with ya. When I heard they lost 15%, i was worried. Goats and hogs are not that picky; meaning, they wont turn their snouts up at sweetfeed.

They pick up today's spent grains tomorrow (we let them cool overnight before loading), and we'll mess with the Ph to bring it up and see what happens.

I have to check my husbandry text books and confirm the target ph for these lees. Low 6's or high 5's might be right on the Ph scale if I can recall. But please let me know if i am off.