Fernando Diaz
The large expansion of the ethanol industry that occurred since 2005 has expanded the supply of co-products for animal feed. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a major co-product of the fuel-ethanol industry and a frequent ingredient of dairy cattle rations.
One potential health risk of ethanol production from corn concerns mycotoxins. Several mycotoxins can be found in corn and corn co-products, including aflatoxins, deoxinivalenol, fumonisins, T-2 toxins, and zearalenone.
In a survey of local dairy producers conducted by the dairy science department at South Dakota State University in 2011, farmers ranked the degree of importance of several distillers grains issues (1 = none, 2 = low, 3 = average, and 4 = high). “Mycotoxin content” was rated with a degree of importance of 3.8.
Continue reading this article published in Hoard Dairyman.
