Improving the quality and digestibility of ethanol by-products for livestock feed is a major goal of Renessen, a joint venture between Cargill and Monsanto.

At the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Doug Rushing of Monsanto described how Renessen’s recently launched ethanol processing system, combined with a new corn hybrid, creates dried distillers’ grains (DDGs) with added value as hog feed.

The improved hog feed comes from lysine, an essential amino acid necessary for the growth and development of animals, which is an added biotech quality trait. The hybrid, called Mavera, also has twice the oil content of traditional corn.

The process cuts down the amount of DDGs produced by about one-third to one-half compared to traditional ethanol corn processing, but Rushing emphasizes that the DDGs are much more valuable to livestock producers who normally add synthetic lysine to rations.

The system is being used at a recently opened pilot ethanol plant in Iowa.

Listen to a recent interview with Doug Rushing done by Chuck Zimmerman, which describes the new corn hybrid and ethanol process. Renessen (4 min MP3)