Byproduct Feeds

High-oleic soybeans: Do they make cents?

zsawall@vitaplus.com — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Growing and feeding high-oleic soybeans is a rapidly evolving opportunity for today’s dairy farms. As high-oleic soybeans gain more attention and adoption in the industry, consider how they may find a place on your farm.

Distillers dried grains: A functional food postbiotic

alvaro@dellait.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Dried distillers grains are not just industrial residues. Their unique composition, low in starch but rich in fiber, protein and yeast-derived bioactive, positions them as promising candidates for functional postbiotic foods.

Considerations in feeding roasted high-oleic soybeans in automated milking systems

lzagorski@vitaplus.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

As roasted high-oleic soybeans gain more attention and adoption in the industry, consider how they may find a place on your farm. With an automated milking system, the producer has a unique opportunity to embrace the technology in their system.

Five things to keep in mind when evaluating premixes

sblez@verizon.net — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0400

For many dairies, use of premixes is nothing new and they have been used in some fashion since dairying began. In many cases, however, because the practice is so common, we may tend to forget these are tools in our feeding programs that need to be reevaluated from time to time.

Reducing feed ingredient variability: Know your source of distillers

kevin.herrick@elancoah.com — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Several of the ingredients we consider as “byproducts” or “coproducts” do have quite a bit of variability. Wet brewers grains, corn gluten feed and soyhulls have elevated standard deviations for all nutrients.

Have you for-cotton something in your ration?

audrey@agproud.com — Tue, 30 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Last fall, when cottonseed prices kept shooting higher, dairy producers were pulling the ingredient out of their rations or reducing their inclusion rates. However, prices have since come back down to the same price as seen last spring in 2022.

Five steps to success with cottonseed

trentdado@gpsdairy.com — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

One feed ingredient that's easy to spot is cottonseed. From a visual perspective, whole cottonseed is an intriguing ingredient. The nutritional attributes are similarly interesting.

Do you know: True Value of Byproduct Feeds

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 20:41:57 -0400

The use of byproduct feeds has been a longtime practice on dairy farms. In fact, about one-third of a cow’s diet – representing anywhere from 32 to 41 million metric tons nationally each year – consists of byproducts from crop or food company production. T

Whole cottonseed shows to be a favorable option in current feed market

trentdado@gpsdairy.com — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 14:00:01 -0500

Every dairy is unique, as are the producer’s goals. Feed is the largest expense for a dairy, but it also is the key factor to meeting performance goals. But with feed prices along with other inputs creeping up, it has been putting pressure on producers’ wallets.

The vital role of byproduct use in California dairy feed rations

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 21:26:59 -0400

Feed rations account for more than half of the cost of milk production; this number varies depending on the price of milk and feed. How dairies meet feed challenges determines, to a large extent, the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the dairy industry.

Almond hulls: Substituting sugar for starch

michael_oliveira@cargill.com — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 21:17:10 -0400

Almond hulls are an energy and fiber source I have utilized since starting 18 years ago as a nutrition consultant in California. More than 90% of the dairy farmers I work with feed almond hulls as a concentrate, silage extender or both.

5 considerations to determine if byproduct feeds are a right fit

hutjensm@illinois.edu — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 21:04:41 -0400

Byproduct feeds are feed ingredients that have had nutrients extracted for human or commercial applications. Examples include soybean meal (oil removed for industrial and human food uses), fuzzy whole cottonseed (fiber used for clothing) and corn distillers grain (production of ethanol as a fuel).

Co-products and food waste in dairy cattle diets

lec7@cornell.edu — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 22:01:48 -0400

Dairy cattle and other ruminants are biologically designed to convert a wide variety of forages and feeds that can’t be digested by humans into milk, a high-quality food and protein used by humans.

Upcycling byproducts to upsize profitability

katie_raver@rockriverlab.com — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 19:41:33 -0400

Although upcycling may be a trendy word that do-it-yourselfers (DIY) have popularized in the last few years, cows have had this art mastered for centuries.

Evaluating wet feedstuffs for dairy cows

alvaro@dellait.com — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 22:27:22 -0400

Wet feedstuffs derived from the food and ethanol industries are valuable additions to cattle diets, when available within reasonable distance from the farm. They not only provide required nutrients, but their moisture content helps condition total mixed rations (TMRs), increases their palatability and reduces feed sorting by livestock. Depending on their water content and price, however, their purchase can turn into a questionable economic decision.

Corn co-products in 2021 and beyond

trentdado@gpsdairy.com — Mon, 24 May 2021 21:38:27 -0400

By this time, many of us have come to terms with the high and volatile prices of soybean, corn, fat and other feeds over the last six to eight months. Some dairies had much of their needs locked in for 2021, while others were at risk to the market.

Using cottonseed to its full potential

cory.colburn@outlook.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 22:26:09 -0500

A cow’s ration is the recipe for success for producers, providing vital nutrients their cows need to stay healthy and optimize performance. Producers have a variety of feed ingredients they can choose from to help support their cows’ needs and meet their production goals, but balancing different nutrient profiles and ingredient availability can be challenging.

Feeding homegrown roasted soybeans in lactating dairy cattle rations

jon.pretz@hubbardfeeds.com — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 14:00:01 -0500

Incorporating soybeans and their byproducts into dairy cattle rations is a fairly common practice. Soybeans are an excellent source of essential amino acids and complement most forages, but they do have some limitations.

Feed beets: An economical substitute for grains

essievans@sympatico.ca — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 14:00:01 -0500

While beet pulp is well-known for being an energy concentrate that cows love, feed beets have yet to be discovered in a big way.

Can canola meal benefit early lactation cows?

woodb@canolacouncil.org — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 13:36:13 -0500

Most dairy feeding studies are conducted in midlactation, providing vital information regarding the nutritional needs of cows. Since 2000, 28 such feeding experiments have been conducted evaluating canola meal as an ingredient for dairy cows (Canola Meal Dairy Feeding Guide, 2019).

Are your cows consuming more than you realize?

kebr@novonesis.com — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:00:01 -0400

In a recent article, we described forage microbial hygiene specific to nutrient preservation during the ensiling process and the subsequent potential impacts to digestion and health from the naturally occurring micro-organisms on the crop at harvest.

Cull onions: A byproduct feedstuff for cattle

bpuschner@ucdavis.edu — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 07:00:00 -0400

The edible onion, Allium cepa, is a cultivated species in the Allium genus. All members of Allium have important dietary and medicinal properties. While water and carbohydrates make up a large majority of the fresh onion, fiber, flavonoids and alk(en)yl cystein sulfoxides (ACSOs) confer many of the purported health benefits and aroma properties.

Controlling feed costs over the long haul

jbernard@uga.edu — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:16:06 -0400

Since other feedstuffs are typically priced to reflect the corn and soybean market, the cost of almost all feed ingredients has increased. Since feed is the largest single cost in producing milk, most producers review their feeding program to see if there are ways to reduce these costs. Any changes made to rations should only occur after a thorough review of the feeding program and must take into account the impact a change could have on other aspects of the overall operation.