Leopold Center - Field days highlight distiller's grains

8-4-06

FIELD DAYS HIGHLIGHT DISTILLER'S GRAINS

Henry Langstraat of Chariton and Ron Dunphy of Creston are sharing their experiences with a supplemental feeding system being tested on their farms that uses ethanol co-products in pellet form.

Both producers are participating in a feeding demonstration funded by a research grant from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Ecology Initiative. Iowa State University Extension beef specialists Joe Sellers and Dan Loy are studying low-cost technologies to help smaller producers more effectively use dried distiller's grains (DDGs) in their operations. Feeding trials will begin next year at the ISU McNay Research and Demonstration Farm near Chariton in southern Iowa.

The field day on the Langstraat farm will be 5:30 p.m. August 7, and is sponsored by the Leopold Center, ISU Extension, Iowa Beef Center and Iowa Forage and Grasslands Council. For more information, contact Sellers at (641) 203-1270.

The field day on the Dunphy farm will begin at 10:30 a.m. August 31. The Dunphy field day is part of a Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) field day that also will highlight flame weeding techniques, organic soybeans and information about the Conservation Security Program. For more information, contact Rick Exner or Ronda Driskell at PFI, (515) 294-5486.

Both field days are free and open to the public.