Cattle Feeding: Adding Salt & Feeding Through A Creep Feeder
10/29/2009 01:57PM
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Q: Can I limit feed dried distillers grains by adding salt and feeding through a creep feeder? My goal would be to use the dried distillers as a protein supplement.
A: I don't know why it couldn't be used in this situation. It would be important that the salt be spread out uniformly in the ddgs and remain uniform. The diet would have plenty of phosphorus and you would need to add some calcium. Warm ddgs will bridge, so would not recommend putting warm ddgs in a creep-feeder. We have stored ddgs in an over-head bin for months without bridging, but it the ddgs was cool when we put it in the over-head bin.
With all that said, we have not fed ddgs free choice or limited intake using salt. You might think with the high fat content of ddgs, that fat alone would limit intake to a certain extent, but with the high palatability of ddgs, fat will likely not limit intake. The concerns are the variability in Sulfur and the consumption of to much sulfur, the other concern is that to much fat in the diet will have a negative impact on forage digestion. This would probably occur when the fat in the diet is in the 5.0% to 5.5% range. So if the major part of the diet is forage, you don't want that negative interaction. So I would not recommend offering ddgs free-choice without a limiter. If you goal is to use ddgs as a protein source, then uyou are likely thinking 1.5 to 2.5 lb/hd/da and I would not expect the fat or sulfur problem.
Salt has been used in the cattle industry from many years to limit intake.
Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska - Lincoln