I frequently see free spent brewers grain on Craigslist. People are offering up literal tons of it for daily pickup.

I have read up on brewers grain some, but would like to hear from some people have used it.

I am interested in feeding it to goats, cattle, chickens and guineas.

How wet is it?

What is the weight like compared to dry grain?

How bad is the odor?

Does it spoil if you don't use it quickly?

Will the water leak out during transport?

How readily will animals start to eat it?

Does it cause bloat or other issues in cattle and goats?

How do you store it?

Do you have to add anything to it to balance the diets?

Thank you for your input.

Keith

My Brother uses Brewers grain when available to feed cattle at his feedlots. Some answers i know

. It is wet

It is quite heavy. Way heavier than dry grain. will overload equipment like loaders if you load it up as much as capacity allows not weight.

The odor is not "bad" but is evident. Bad is a loose term. It does not bother me but then again this is a full size feedlot.

I do not believe it spoils very quickly. Usually because of weight you don't get wht looks like a lot per load and gets used up pretty quick.

Water does not leak off really as it is a compound now at this point.

Animals eat it no issues. You need to look at your feeding gradient though. It has a different protein profile than a normal feed diet. You may need to add a ruffage or fodder to your feed to keep your gradient right.

bloat in cattle is related to the gradient or protein ratio. In Goats I don't know but i would assume similar to getting high grade hay/alfalfa.

My brother stores it literally on a concrete slab.

Depending upon the brewery it will be about 25%-35% dry matter which means it is very wet and the water is "free water" which means it is not moisture in the grain like silage etc. so it will run and can run a lot. It is very palatable for cattle. Dairy farmers feed a lot of that when short of other feeds. They like it to moisten up drier rations.
It has a slight malty odor when fresh.
In hot weather you won't want it stored more than about 10 days as it will spoil and rot. Which is one reason why the breweries like clients that take it all and they handle it.
Dry matter wise it feeds has good protein levels, over 20 % and energy of like oats but not corn grain.
You might want a concrete slab to store it otherwise it will be muddy all around the area.
Check and see if the supplier wants to deal in amounts you can handle or want.
As to chickens they will eat it, what won't they eat!
If you have a place to haul the spoiled stuff you can use it for fertilizer, but once it starts spoiling odors are sour and strong.

Bryce

wet distillers grain will get moldy. every feedlot and dairy I ever hauled it too used as part of a ration. mixing it in chopped hay. depending on who is running the place other stuff is added also. most feedlots and dairys prefer dry. it will store for a lot longer before getting that orange mold

bblwi pretty much covered it. Great protein low on energy. We feed about 600 ton a week of distillers grain. Practically the same thing. Great addition to about any ration. It adds so much Palatability to the ration if we run out the cattle will back off feed 50%. i can get you a lab analysis and email it to you if needed.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Keith

I wish we had free distiller grains in my area. Ive looked and reached out and can never find them. All I have for info is my research. IMO i'd use them but the animals will also need some roughage. as far as spoiling id think theyd stay good for a long time in winter, but they prolly freeze up quick because of moisture content. Summer Id guess they go bad fairly quick

I am suspicious most people that feed brewers grain would use a TMR mixer to blend the forages in.

All the farmers I know mix the brewers in a TMR. One would probably not want to let cattle free choice wet brewers. You don't need them getting sick and not wanting to eat it anymore. You can mix about 20-25 lbs per day easily with chopped up dry hay, silage etc. Also brewers grains are not the same thing as distillers grains and there are differences in how one should feed those two items.

Bryce

Thanks for all your knowledge on brewers grain,Bryce.