US universities bring out DDGS dietary calculating tools

//21 Feb 2012
Several US universities are developing Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) calculators to help farmers weigh the costs, the National Hog Farmer reports.
Distiller’s Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) are figuring highly in US pork producers' dietary supplements for their herds, by some estimations at 5 million tonnes.

Replacing corn with the byproduct of the ethanol process cost effectivly requires time and calculation.

To help with that step, several midwestern universities offer free, online calculators to aid the decision-making process when figuring out the potential cost savings from using DDGS at varying levels.

The calculators
Kansas State University provides an online spreadsheet calculator that takes variables such as DDGS prices, the cost of corn, soybean meal, monocalcium phosophate, L-lysine HCL and limestone into account. Click here for more info.

Iowa State University Iowa State provides a similar online DDGS Calculator that gives producers the opportunity to investigate DDGS inclusion rates for nursery, grow-finish, gestation, lactation and even boar feeding regimens.Click here for more info.

South Dakota State University as an online calculator where producers can enter their own ingredient costs in the colored cells on the site, and the calculator shows the most economical outcome. Click here for more info.