Bio-ethanol co-products could bring feed savings

“Most of the livestock feed produced by the Vivergo Fuels plant in Hull, for example, will be a dry, mid-protein feed in the form of a robust, high quality 6mm pellet - not dissimilar to current Scottish distillers’ wheat pellets.

“That’s in stark contrast to the commonly-held view that bio-ethanol co-products are going to predominantly be moist feeds. Most will be dry meals or pellets, meaning nationwide availability, depending on transport costs, and easy integration into a very wide range of feeding systems.”

Another popular misconception is that when bio-ethanol wheat distillers’ dried grains (WDDGs) hit the market, the price of all feeds is going to drop.

However, Dr Marsden says that with a total UK animal feed market of around 20 million tonnes DM, the extra 3-5 per cent expected from the UK bio-ethanol industry over the next three to five years will have minimal impact.

Given the contraction of the UK brewing and distilling industries, any additional supply of mid-protein distillers’ pellets will simply help fill the current shortage, rather than swamp the market.

Cost-effective

“There’s no doubt these dried meals and pellets will be cost-effective, but farmers should fully understand how these feeds can be used to help replace imported soyabean meal or maize gluten, for example,” says Dr Marsden.

“There’s real value in being able to source high quality, home-produced, consistent feeds with full traceability.

“Past research work demonstrated how Scottish wheat distillers’ pellets can be used to cut dairy ration costs by directly replacing a combination of wheat, rapemeal and soyabean meal.

“Compared to distillery WDDGs, those produced by the bio-ethanol industry typically contain higher levels of protein and digestible fibre, plus similar energy levels. Ration formulationsusing imported bio-ethanol WDDGs have shown savings of up to 10p per cow per day.”

The main reason for this higher specification is the use of new extraction technology, using a combination of mechanical processing, heat and enzymes to extract the maximum quantity of fermentable carbohydrate from the base material. It means the co-product has a greater concentration of protein and digestible fibre.

“Consistency and continuity of supply are two of the biggest benefits these new feeds will bring to UK dairy producers,” says Dr Marsden. “The key difference is that these feeds are not commodities and each production facility will produce slightly different and unique products.

“Small variations in processing, drying and evaporation techniques, plus different rates of application of liquid to the ‘fibres’, will affect the nutrient profile of co-product feeds, with even bigger differences from any variation in the source of the grain.

“Unlike most bio-ethanol plants in mainland Europe, which use a mixed grain source, the Vivergo plant will use only British feed wheat.”

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