WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) in collaboration with industry partners recently met in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., to present the results of three beef feedlot feeding trials and discuss the market implications.

The trials were conducted in North Dakota and Alberta, Canada, and were sponsored by USGC, the North Dakota Corn Utilization Council, the North Dakota Ethanol Utilization Council, Northern Crops Institute, North Dakota State University and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

All of the feeding trials demonstrated the favorable economics of including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in feedlot rations to provide supplemental protein where corn silage is used in place of barley or wheat silage.

Upon conclusion of the meeting in North Dakota, the groups agreed to work together to develop feeding recommendations on the value and inclusion of U.S. DDGS in western Canadian cattle backgrounding and finishing diets. They also began to develop plans to disseminate the results to the western Canadian cattle feeding industry.

“The results of these trials will assist in demonstrating that DDGS can be used at higher prices relative to competing Canadian feed ingredients than previously thought, which should help continue to grow exports of U.S. DDGS to Canada,” said USGC Consultant in Canada, Neil Campbell.

Canada is a top-five market for U.S. DDGS, with January through August exports up 43% to 304,767 tonnes, valued at $58.9 million.