By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — An unusual summit the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) calls a “coalition-building exercise” brought the state’s corn, ethanol and livestock industries husk-to-horn at the offices of the ICGA and Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) Sept. 3.

During the daylong session in Bloomington, representatives from the three industries discussed benefits and challenges associated with using distillers dried grains and solubles (DDGS) as animal feed, among other topics.

“We brought ethanol plant managers and livestock producers together, with no intermediaries getting between the conversation,” said Rod Weinzierl, ICGA executive director. “This was about the livestock industry and the ethanol industry meeting face-to-face and building relationships.”

Illinois corn growers have invested many resources in research to improve the integration of DDGS into swine and livestock rations in the last few years, Weinzierl explained, making the ICGA office a perfect setting for the groups to discuss the ethanol co-product’s suitability as a feed source.

“The purpose of the meeting was to provide a recap of where that (research) stood, and allow representatives from the livestock industry to give feedback. We also wanted the representatives from the many ethanol plants in Illinois to hear the livestock folks’ questions,” he said.

A spokesman for the Illinois beef industry said during the summit that the availability of DDGS has given the state’s livestock producers an option that makes them more competitive with Western feedlots. Many Illinois producers are using a variety of ethanol plants when purchasing DDGS, to develop a ration that suits their needs, Cimeron Frost of the Illinois Beef Assoc. told those gathered. A Freeport, Ill. dairy farmer, however, noted that nourishing a dairy cow for optimum milk production requires consistency in not only quality but availability. DDGS providers in his area are not consistent, reported Doug Schneider, so he does not feed DDGS to his animals.

The question of consistency was “one of the questions we wanted the ethanol industry to hear,” said Weinzierl. “The 2009 corn crop’s quality was a lot different from 2008’s.

“(Lower quality) affects the protein content and other components of DDGS. Hopefully, the 2010 corn crop will result in an improved difference in the quality of DDGS.”

In addition, Weinzierl said “a lot of (ethanol) plants are now pulling the corn oil out at the back end of the plant; two years ago they weren’t doing that. That obviously has an effect on the oil content of the DDGS and affects the energy content or the fat content.”

The availability of ethanol co-products to isolated producers remains a problem the ethanol and agriculture industries continue to address. Weinzierl hopes the rather impromptu pre-Labor Day summit helps improve and expand relationships and communication between the livestock and ethanol “folks” when it comes to issues like reliability.

“We’re building relationships, and ensuring that when problems pop up that communication can start right away,” he said.

“We were really happy to get the ball rolling and help these two industries to really work together,” stated Jim Rapp, past chair of the ICMB.

“Illinois has a lot of advantages for agricultural production and we believe it benefits us all to work together, to get the most out of each and every advantage.”

The ethanol industry and the ICMB are contributing data to a website operated by Western Illinois University, where nutritional content of DDGS from ethanol plants in Illinois and some border states are analyzed for quality and catalogued.

The website at www.value-added.org is regularly updated.