Feeding brewers’s grains with beet could cut costs

Brewers grains mixed with sugar beet could increase feed value and provide cost savings, research carried out by SAC has shown.

Creating grainbeet instead of storing the two feed separately has shown that 9kg of fresh grainbeet can successfully replace 3kg of an 18% protein compound with no loss in performance, but costing the equivalent of £140/t DM compared to current compound prices in the region of £165/t DM.

The high levels of fermentable energy and digestible fibre in sugar beet are an ideal complement for the degradable protein content in brewers grains, according to Trident technical manager, Michael Marsden.

“Sugar beet can absorb up to five times its own weight in water, helping prevent the liquid run-off normally associated with claming grains and so potentially lost nutrients in the clamp. This also allows clamping height to be doubled to about 6-10ft,” says Dr Marsden.

Mixed as a 5:1 ratio of brewer’s grains to sugar beet using a loader bucket during ensiling, grainbeet is palatable 12MJ ME/KG DM, 19% protein feed with a dry matter of about 30% that can be clamped where there is a clean solid base.