Corn grain is a common ingredient in dairy diets; however, the utiHzation of corn for production of ethanol has impacted the dairy industry in such a way that corn grain is being partially replaced by corn milling byproducts in dairy diets. Corn milling byproducts are typically priced below the price of corn and their nutritional profile makes them suitable as animal feedstuffs, as they are good sources of energy and protein for ruminants. Dry-grinding of corn for ethanol produces distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), either wet or dry, and unique industrial processes may also produce a high protein byproduct. Current trends in the production of livestock feed from ethanol production are focusing on removing fat from the byproducts stream. These processes produce a product referred to as reduced-fat DDGS. Research to date has demonstrated that byproducts may be strategically included into dairy rations by substituting out more expensive ingredients, such as corn or soybean meal, while maintainingmilk production and composition. To be successful in using byproducts, it is important to balance rations that contain adequate effective fiber and metabolizable protein, and to avoid milk fat depression not contain excessive amounts of fermentable carbohydrates or polyunsaturated fatty acids.
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