Released February 27, 2009
BROOKINGS, S.D. — A new publication in Spanish from South Dakota State University gives information about sulfur in distillers grains as a consideration in feeding dairy cattle.
Sulfur is an essential mineral that must be included in the diets of cattle, but feeding a great excess can be harmful to the animals.
SDSU Extension Extra 4039S, “El azufre en los granos de destilería para el ganado lechero,” is available online at this link: http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/ExEx4039S.pdf.
The publication recommends that producers obtain sulfur content information when using distillers grains with solubles, or DGS, in diets of livestock. SDSU dairy scientist David Schingoethe said distillers grains and associated co-products such as condensed distillers solubles contain relatively high concentrations of sulfur, often more than is typically listed in reference tables, although still within the range of concentrations present in many other common feeds.
Schingoethe said producers usually can formulate diets within the recommended range of 0.2 to 0.4 percent sulfur, even when dealing with high sulfur-containing distillers products that are readily available now as co-products of ethanol production.
For example, SDSU dairy science researchers have fed diets in which distillers grains with solubles made up as much as 40 percent of the dry matter with no problems. Similarly, SDSU dairy scientists experienced no problems when feeding diets in which condensed distillers solubles, or CDS, made up 20 percent of the dry matter.
Schingoethe added that DGS contains relatively high levels of sulfur in part because of acids such as sulfuric acid that are used in processing or in cleanup operations. In addition, water used in ethanol plants sometimes contains relatively high amounts of sulfur. Finally, inconsistency in the amounts of solubles added back to distillers grains to make DGS contributes to variations in sulfur as well as other nutrients such as fat, protein, and phosphorus.
The English language version of the publication, SDSU Extension Extra 4039, “Sulfur in distillers grains for dairy cattle,” is available online at this link: http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/ExEx4039.pdf. Or ask at your county Extension office.
SDSU dairy scientists David Schingoethe, Alvaro Garcia , Ken Kalscheur and Arnold Hippen wrote the publication in cooperation with Agricultural Research Service scientist Kurt Rosentrater of the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings. Garcia translated it into Spanish.
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http://agbionews.sdstate.edu/story.cfm?id=4639
Contacts: Alvaro Garcia, (605) 688-5488
David Schingoethe, (605) 688-5843
