Missouri Beef Industry Council

Beef Food Safety Efforts Include Ethanol Co-Product Research

Columbia, MO (AgNewsWire) Increasing numbers of Missouri beef cattle producers are feeding their animals with a by-product of ethanol production known as distillers' grains and research is showing that this practice provides a nutritious, low cost feed supplement for cattle and a healthy final product for consumers.

Missouri currently has six ethanol plants in production and Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) board member and cattle producer Jim Freeman of Salem says the use of distillers' grains for feed is widespread across the state. "Quite a bit of effort is going into promoting the product of dried distillers' grains especially to cow-calf producers and stocker producers," said Freeman.

With the current economic situation for beef producers, Freeman says distillers' grains, in either the wet or dried form can be a good feed supplement. "You have a high quality protein for beef cattle and generally speaking, it's going to help to reduce the cost of feedstuffs, especially people who can handle truckloads," he said.

The national beef checkoff is funding research into distillers' grains to make sure they are healthy for both the cattle and for consumers of beef products. Andy Cloud of Cloud's Meats in Carthage represents the MBIC on a national level committee regarding beef safety. "Beef safety research is one of the most important aspects of the use of checkoff dollars," said Cloud. "Anytime you are feeding something to a beef animal you have an effect on organisms such as E. coli 0157:H7."

Cloud says a total of six research projects focused on the impact of feeding distillers' grains on beef quality and safety have been funded so far with beef checkoff dollars. "All the results have been really positive and we're happy that we are going to be able to successfully use this by-product from ethanol production," he said.