Cover story: Independent Idaho: A Series on the Beef Chain, Part 1

from Line Rider September

by Idaho Cattle Association

Message from the Natural Resources Policy Director

BY ALLISON ELIASON for the Idaho Cattle Association

Independent Idaho

A Series on the Beef Chain, Part 1

photos provided by Performix Nutrition

As citizens in the state of Idaho, it’s pretty easy to agree that we’ve got just about

everything we need right here. In fact, when it comes to the beef industry, we really do have it all! Idaho cattle ranchers are fortunate to have every link in the beef chain located right here in our state. While it’s sometimes hard to remember the reason you’d join a state association, at the end of the day, it really comes down to the support that ICA can lend to each of these links in the chain. Join us as we enter into a 3 part series that talks about essential components of the Idaho beef chain, beginning with prolific byproducts for cattle consumption that are native to our state.

It’s been a rough go over the last year to try and find quality feed for a reasonable price. Around the country we have seen skyrocketing prices in hay, corn and other grains. Looking for alternative feeds to keep expenses low without compromising nutrition isn’t a new game feeders and ranchers have played at, but it has become a more crucial one lately. Fortunately for Idaho beef producers, they don’t have to look very far to find those alternative feeds, sometimes, just simply across the fence line.

Idaho’s rich volcanic soil coupled with a climate of hot summer days and cool nights has proven to be the ideal location for farming. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture records that nearly 150 different crops are grown across the state. The variety of produce isn’t

AS RUMINANTS, CATTLE ARE ABLE TO EFFICIENTLY DIGEST A VARIETY OF BYPRODUCTS FROM CROPS PRODUCED HERE IN IDAHO.

just great for feeding Idaho families, but also for those Idaho feeders and ranchers looking for those atypical feeds to add to their rations.

Of the hundreds of crops grown in Idaho, only a small portion of them, largely varieties of hay and grain, are grown with the intention of cattle consumption. While the bulk of Idaho’s crops are grown to line grocery shelves, they still play an important role in cattle feed.

Idaho is the number one potato producer in US markets, producing nearly one third of all US potatoes. Annually, Idaho farmers grow more than 100 million hundredweight of potatoes on more than 300,000 acres. Some of those potatoes are intended to be used back as seed, some hit the produce sections as whole potatoes, and then even more are further processed into fries, chips, tater tots and more. Along the production path, there is waste and excess such as peelings, cull potatoes and rejected French fries that could be simply disposed of, but beef producers around the state have found a valuable use for those potato extras as feed. Potatoes are a great high energy source of feed for cattle, much like barley, although they do lack in providing significant amounts of protein.

Another leading crop for Idaho’s farmers are sugar beets with more than six million tons harvested each year. Those beets are further refined in Idaho’s own processing plants into products like granulated sugar, powdered sugar, liquid sucrose, brown sugar, and betaine. Fun fact- Paul, Idaho is home to the largest sugar beet factory in the US. Once again, from field to grocery front, there is excess and waste that can provide great alternative feeds for cattle.

The resourceful animals that they are, cattle can utilize the excess and waste from beets in all of its various stages and products. For example, they will eat whole beets in those instances when producers grow more than what they have contracted to sell as well as when beet crops have spoiled. Cattle can also utilize beet pulp, or the byproduct of producing sugar from beets. Whole beet’s nutritional content is very high in energy and relatively low in protein, although higher than potatoes. Although a significant amount of sugars have been refined from the beets, beet pulp also provides a great source of energy. Beet pulp has a similar nutrition profile to corn silage and has been used quite successfully as a roughage source for finishing calves.

Across Idaho, more than four thousand family farms produce an average of 30 million bushels of barley on approximately 500,000 acres. 75% of barley grown is intended for breweries across the country, but primarily to be used in the fifty-four breweries at home in Idaho. The spent grains, or brewers grain byproducts, account for 85% of the waste from beer production. Those byproducts still hold great nutritional

ONLY A SMALL PORTION OF CROPS GROWN IN IDAHO ARE EXPRESSLY PRODUCED FOR CONSUMPTION BY CATTLE.

content and can be further utilized as cattle feed. Whether fed as wet or dried, spent grains are a good source of high digestible fiber and serve as a great source of protein for cattle.

In addition to barley, Idaho grown hops make a great contribution not only to the beer industry but also as alternative feeds. Idaho is the second leading producer of hops, providing ample opportunities of beef producers to use its excess and waste as feed. Adding hops to rations not only helps provide good nutritional content but also aids in digestion to help cattle make better gains with the feeds they are given.

Like those wastes left from breweries, alcohol distilleries also have grain byproducts that can be used as alternative feeds. Different grains like corn, rye and wheat are used for a variety of alcohol products like bourbon, whiskey, and scotch. After the grains have been soaked and fermented, the waste distiller grains contain a concentrated protein, fiber, and oil mixture that can then be used as feed alternatives.

Behind potatoes, Idaho’s second largest producing crop is wheat. As a large producer of wheat, Idaho also has a significant amount of byproducts from the various steps of taking wheat in the field to flour in the grocery store. Grain screenings collected can include split grains or chaff that still contain excellent nutrition. Wheat midds, remnants from flour production, contain fiber, protein and minerals that can boost cattle nutrition. Wheat midds require no additional processing to be added into feed rations, but can be further processed into pellets or used in other supplements.

Onion, apple, canola, soybean and even mint crops grown and processed in Idaho have provided great sources of alternative feeds in times of crop excess and production byproducts for feeders and ranchers looking outside the box to keep their cattle nutrition and budgets in check.

Crop excess and food byproducts

SPENT GRAINS ACCOUNT FOR 85% OF WASTE IN BEER PRODUCTION, BUT THESE, ALONG WITH OTHER CROP BYPRODUCTS STILL HOLD VALUABLE NUTRITION FOR LIVESTOCK.

FARMING FAMILIES ACROSS IDAHO HARVEST A VARIETY OF PRODUCTS, AND GRAZING CATTLE ARE ABLE TO UTILIZE NUTRITION LEFT IN THE FIELD POST HARVEST.

are not the only alternative feeds Idaho farmers can provide their neighboring feeders and ranchers. A lot of nutritional value remains in the field even after harvest that cattle can utilize

to make great gains. Chaff, shelled grains, regrowth and stubble can all provide an additional resource for cattle feed while also utilizing a greater portion of grown crops and reducing waste. Most aftermath is low in protein and high in fiber, but some crop residues such as soybean and lentil have higher protein content.

Fall grazing on winter wheat after the roots are well established is another great feed source that is not only a win for the beef producers but also for the farmers. Planting grains in the fall provides a better start for the upcoming year’s crops, but winter can be hard on plants that have had too much growth. Grazing cattle can keep those more mature plants at a manageable size for the winter all the while keeping their bellies full and nutrition high.

Different insurance programs and policies that farmers enroll in require that their crops be totally destroyed at the end of the season if the crop has been declared as lost. Those fields become more profitable and less wasteful when they are not harvested for their intended purposes but grazed by cattle.

Now more than ever, Idaho has been so productive and resourceful all the while reducing waste. Creative producers have found how one man’s worthless excess or waste can be another man’s valuable feed. Working in cooperation has increased farmers profitability and efficiency at the same time as reducing expenses for feeders and ranchers. With increasing production and transportation costs, shopping locally for feeds and alternatives is a sure way to lower spending and simultaneously support Idaho’s industries and economy.

Beef producers are seeing just how much they can rely on the other sectors of agriculture to help meet their needs. Idaho’s growing industries in both food production and processing have created a sustainable structure to raise a variety of products using local materials. This vertical integration has helped reduce expenses in some sectors while adding value to products in others.

With ever increasing costs, raising beef has become a risky business, a gamble of even higher stakes. But Idaho’s feeders and ranchers can find comfort that they are a part of a great industry that finds sustainable solutions to support one another, even in tough times.

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