NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
August 10, 2000
Research at North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center shows co-products from potato processing can be a high-quality feed source for. livestock. The research has the dual goal of finding an alternative feed for livestock producers and helping the processing industry dispose of its co-products.
Disposal of co-products left over from potato processing operations can be a problem for plants. Options for disposal include landfills, application to land, and livestock.
According to Vern Anderson, animal scientist at the Carrington REC, potato co-products contain substantial energy in the form of starch but are low in fiber. Ruminant livestock like cattle are able to consume large amounts of potato co-product in a variety of forms and moisture contents.
Anderson and research specialist Eric Bock fed finishing steers potato co-products in combination with either corn and wheat midds, barley or straight corn. The potato co-product was made up of equal amounts of french fries, peels and filter cake.
The trial indicated that potato co-product is a high-quality feed source for finishing steers. All three treatments had satisfactory weight gains and feed conversion. The product is economical to feed and very palatable to livestock.
Performance was similar for the three treatments, although feeding barley with the potato waste was the most cost-effective in this trial. Steers fed corn did have a slight advantage in rate of gain and feed efficiency over the barley and corn/midd treatments, but also had the highest cost of gain. Anderson points out that cost of gain figures will change with commodity prices.
Availability of barley in the same area where potatoes are processed also makes it an attractive choice to feed with potato co-products, he says.
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Source: Vern Anderson, (701) 652-2951
Editor: Gary Moran, (701) 231-7865