Before You Feed Spent Grains to Livestock, Here Is What You Need To Know

• To prevent mould growth- drain the grains as quickly as possible, pack tightly, and cover well. Use a piece of black plastic and press it down on the top of the grains and then cover that as well. The more you compact the brewery spent grains and limit oxygen, the less likely it will mould.

Scoop the top layer off before every feeding and smell the grains below it. 

• It should smell like cooked cereal grains.
• A farmer should be extra careful when feeding brewery-spent grains from sorghum to cattle. The sorghum contains anti‐nutritional factors like tannin, cyanogenic glucoside, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitor, and oxalate. Feeding too much sorghum brewery spent grains to livestock can lead to the death of animals.

Remember, brewery spent grains is high in protein, but low in energy (fats). 

• So if you have animals that need more energy feeding, you will have to accommodate this need.
• Clean water is extremely important for animal health. If the water is dirty, intake will be less than needed. Clean water troughs will also help limit the spread of diseases. Your water mineral balance can negatively affect the absorption of minerals by the animals. Provide mineral supplements.