Posted by GoatWorld on October 05, 2002 at 19:05:18:
Just wondering if any of you have ever tried feeding corn gluten to your goats? The feed mill where I work sells quite a bit of the stuff and I have been feeding small quantities to the goats and sheep and larger quantities to the poultry. It seems to be fairly safe and I've noticed that not all of the goats will eat it and the same holds true for the sheep, chickens, ducks, geese and guineas. But some of them devour it wholeheartedly.
I don't think this should be fed as the sole source of feed and needs to be mixed carefully with a few other minerals like more calcium and adding selenim and zinc. Also, it's a bit higher in protein than I normally care to feed but again, I think if a person carefully mixes this, it can be used to good benefit.
For those not familiar with corn gluten, here are the specs:
"Corn gluten feed is a by-product from the manufacture of cornstarch and corn syrup. It is a medium protein feed, which contains almost the same Total Digestible Nutrients level as barley. The protein in corn gluten feed is degraded relatively rapidly in the rumen.
Corn gluten feed has medium palatability and may be included in the grain mixture up to a level of 50 percent or fed to cows at a rate of up to 12 pounds (5.4 kg) per cow per day."
Dry matter 90 %
Crude Protein 18.0 %
Fat 03.5 %
Crude fiber 08.0 %
Neutral Detergent Fiber 45.0 %
Acid Detergent Fiber 13.0 %
Calcium 00.3 %
Phosphorus 1.00 %
Total Digestible Nutrients 83.0 %
Net energy—Lactation .87 Mcal
TDN: Beef 88.0%
TDN: Dairy 87.0%
Fat 3.5%
Ash 7.2%
Magnesium 0.5%
Potassium 1.5%
Sulfur 0.3%
Crude Fat 3.5%
Lysine 0.6%
Tryptophan 0.2%
Methionine 0.5%
Cystine 0.4%
Applications
Corn Gluten Feed is commonly used as a medium level protein and energy source. It may be used in ruminant feeds, pet foods, poultry (replacement chicks, layer and breeder), turkey and swine.
Perhaps some of you have some experience with this.
Best regards,
Gary