Grant secured for feed mill study
MARVIN BAKER, Staff Writer mbaker@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
MADDOCK A regional economic agency has secured a $99,000 federal grant to study the impact of a feed mill using grains and byproducts grown in North Dakota.
The Rural Economic Area Partnership Investment Fund Inc. will use the U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to look at, among other things, a suitable location, labor pool, impact on the livestock and the production of co-products.
The feasibility study and business plan work have not yet been awarded to a contractor, according to Laura Every of the Champion REAP Alliance in Maddock, the parent agency that helped secure the grant.
She said a precurser to the study, however, will be an inventory of existing and planned plants and those under construction that would have feed byproducts in conjunction with their capacity and nutritional attributes.
"The project described requires a nutritional study, feasibility study and site specific business plan to be conducted and created respectfully in regard to a livestock feed mill study that will encompass the entire state of North Dakota," Every said. "The end product will potentially utilize co-products produced in the (Rural Economic Area Partnership) REAP Zones, locate a mill within the REAP Zone and/or be fed livestock within the zones."
The 14-counties involved in the two REAP Zones in North Dakota include: McHenry, Bottineau, Pierce, Rolette, Towner, Benson, Dunn, Stark, Hettinger, Adams, Bowman, Slope, Golden Valley and Billings, along with the Turtle Mountain, Spirit Lake and Fort Berthold Indian Reservations. Maddock is located in Benson County.
The nutritional study has been assigned to Vern Anderson, an animal scientist at the Carrington Research Extension Center.
Anderson has an extensive background in beef feedlot nutrition management, new feeds and co-product utilization, farming stystems that integrate crop and ruminant livestock production, environmental effects of livestock enterprises on bison and nutrition and management.
Anderson recently concluded nine years of research on feeding peas to feedlot cattle. With a normal protein content of 24 percent, peas mixed into rations are an excellent way for the livestock to get their daily protein.
Anderson said North Dakota currently produces 2.8 million tons of co-product feeds annually amounting to 27 times the feed that is consumed. That includes byproducts of corn, barley, peas and oats, as well as silage and hay.
"There are physical and nutritional issues with each individual co-product feed, which we can improve upon combining two or more feeds in planned formulations to target certain livestock production scenarios," Anderson said. "We do not want to add cost to those who use large volumes and use them in mixed rations but for some, the idea of mixing feeds at a plant will lower shipping and handling costs."
Anderson said data already suggests that pelleting of coproducts will increase the bulk density, which would lower shipping costs and proper formulations would create a more desirable nutrient profile, improve palatability, increase the shelf life of the feed, improve handling traits and make feeding the targeted species less expensive.
Co-product feeds, which Anderson refers to as North Dakota Superfeed, have promise. But he admits there is plenty of work to do before a conclusion can be reached.
His role is to develop formulations and conduct and coordinate beef, dairy and hog research. Beef research trials will be done in Carrington and hog and airy research will be done at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
"In the region we have wheat midds, distiller's grains pea chips and splits and other ingredients," Anderson said. "Peas are the unique feed that add many positive traits to the superfeed idea."
Perhaps the best news, according to Anderson, is that regional buyers are interested in the superfeed products and their is potential for significant export. According to Every, the abundance of feed co-products that Anderson mentioned that are currently available, make this study a critical component to the future of North Dakota's agriculture sector.
"It is anticipated the study will include coordination and assimilation of data and needed scientific peronnel, development of potential usage and assessment of market potential," Every said. "Quantification of the competitive edge, fleshing out the best choices identified, considering localized political factors affecting the growth of the livestock industry, potential sites and transportation costs are considered and must be identified as the next steps."
Anderson said all those items will come into play, but community interest is expected to play a large role in where the feed mill will be located.
