The Rural Voice, 1983-12, Page 17the protein and energy requirements. A
schedule is then set up for each individual
farmer and either a tandem or trailer load
of blended corn gluten is delivered, usual-
ly about once a week. The corn gluten has
a life of about two weeks because it is a
wet product, after which time some
spoilage can be expected.
Leonard Calhoun operates a beef
feedlot in Bruce County near Chesley and
has been feeding blended corn gluten
since Enerpro first started handling it
three years ago. He looked to alternative
feed sources when the price of grain was
skyrocketing a few years ago and found
that corn gluten was then and still is the
cheapest energy and protein source. "I
don't have to tie any money up in it," he
said adding that the price has remained
relatively stable. Calhoun has a trailer
load of 25 tonne of gluten trucked in each
week at a cost of $58 per tonne. Farmers
ordering a tandem load of 15 tonne pay
$61 per tonne.
Calhoun was feeding 800 head of
western cattle but has cut back to 400
head due to economic conditions. He
buys in cattle at between 400 and 600
pounds and aims for a daily gain of 2
pounds for heifers and 2.5 pounds for
steers; 400 pound calves are started off
immediately on a ration of four to five
pounds of corn gluten mixed with equal
portions of corn and hay silage. The
gluten intake is gradually increased at in-
tervals of 50 pounds gain until the cattle
receive a finishing ration of 18 pounds
gluten for 65 pounds of total daily feed in-
take for the last three weeks to one month
before they are shipped out. Calhoun aims
for a corn gluten intake of about 2 per cent
of the body weight when he is finishing
steers or heifers.
Silage on the Calhoun farm was tested
for protein and energy levels by
Masterfeeds to determine the amount of
protein and energy required. Calhoun
relies entirely on corn gluten for these re-
quirements and does not have to feed any
prepared protein supplements. He feeds
for energy rather than protein levels
because the latter is very high in the
gluten.
Enerpro has a schedule of Calhoun's re-
quirements. "They know how much I'm
feeding," he said. "I notify them Monday
mornings if I've changed my feeding pro-
gram."
Calhoun uses a front end loader to load
silage and gluten into the mixer wagon
which blends the mixture and unloads it
along the fence line feeder.
Another Bruce County beef feedlot
operator, Bill Davis of Dobbinton, feeds an
average of 30 tonne of corn gluten per
week throughout the year, also using the
front end loader and mixer wagon. Bill and
his brother Mark run an average of 1,500
head at one time and feed 20 per cent of
corn gluten - about 8 to 10 pounds per
beast per day. The remainder consists of
hay and corn silage and they have just
recently added apple pumus to their ra-
tion.
Bill Davis finds that the corn gluten has
a really sweet, pleasant odor and the cat-
tle like the mixture with corn gluten in it
better than straight silage.
Because the gluten is a wet mixture, it
tends to freeze in the winter, he found,
and mixing It with wet silage creates a
cold problem. "You put all wet feed in the
cattle's stomach and they have to warm it
up," he added.
Nevertheless, Davis feels that the
blended corn gluten is the "best feed buy
there is going today." One of his main
concerns is that supply will not meet de-
mand as more and more farmers become
increasingly aware of blended corn
gluten's potential as a valuable feed
source and the price will increase.
Nacan's Ed Norris reports that dry
starch processing plants are taking a
serious look at the wet milling process for
the manufacture of starch. Companies
that use the dry starch process are faced
with high repair costs should their drying
equipment break down.
If the wet milling process does catch
on, more farmers will probably take advan-
tage of corn gluten and the days of high
moisture and dry corn feed could very well
be over. f
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THE RURAL VOICE, DECEMBER 1983 PG. 15