Wallace's Farmer, IA
12-25-07
Livestock Farmers Wrestling With High Feed Costs
Compiled By Staff
A new Iowa State University Web site is designed to help livestock and poultry
producers find a place for their operations in the bioeconomy.
"The emerging ethanol industry creates new opportunities and challenges for
livestock and poultry producers," says John Lawrence, economics professor
who directs the Iowa Beef Center. "On one hand, the ethanol industry's use of
corn presents competition for feed, but ethanol processing produces a new
feedstuff, distillers grains with solubles, or DGS."
Livestock and Poultry in the Bioeconomy is the title of the site at
www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/livebio. The site offers advice to beef, swine, dairy
and poultry producers through reports, software and links to other Web sites.
Most of the information deals with feeding DGS and the economics of the new
feed source.
"Cash receipts from animal agriculture make up more than half of Iowa's cash
farm receipts, and nationally livestock and poultry production is the largest use
for corn," says Lawrence. "This site is a resource for the latest research from ISU
and other universities on feeding and managing ethanol coproducts."