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Twinning due to DDGS?

Posted: April 26, 2010 at 12:03 PM CST

Here’s a new sales pitch for distillers grains—it might increase the number of twins born to your herd.

The story ran in the Grand Forks Herald http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/158651 about a Sharon, N.D., cow-calf operator who is seeing about a 16 percent of his cows giving birth to twins this year, or 50 set of twins so far this calving season. When talking about the possible reasons distillers grains were mentioned:

To quote from the story:
“So, why all the twins for the [Chris] Johnsons?

“The upturn might be a one-year fluke with no underlying cause," Johnson said.
If there is a reason, ‘it might be genetics. Or it might be the (excellent) weather last fall,’ he said. Another possibility is that the cows are eating dried distiller’s grain from the ethanol plant in Casselton, N.D., Johnson said. ‘Maybe it’s one of those things or a combination. We just don’t know,’ he said.

“Sire lines can influence the percentage of twin births, and Simmentals are a breed in which the trait is found, said Bethany Funnell, veterinarian with the University of Minnesota Extension’s North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids, Minn. Cows with good body condition also can be more likely to conceive twins, she said. Dried distiller’s grain is high in protein and can help improve a cow’s body condition, 'she said.”

Has anybody else heard such stories? If so, let me know and I’ll pass them along to a researcher or two, to see if we can peak their curiosity to do a study.

I’ve talked to another dairy farmer, who while not making claims about fertility, said his cows really like distillers (wet cake, in this case). In fact, he invested in some trucks, live bottoms and drivers and has developed a nice route delivering WDGS to regional dairies.

It seems as though distillers grains have segued from being an oversupplied byproduct to a premium, desired coproduct. One of our rules here at EPM is to always refer to DDGS as a coproduct in recognition of that fact. I edited a story this last week by my colleague Luke Geiver about a new possibility for distillers grains—extracting protein and fiber for use in functional foods. A locations consultant sees some very real potentional and South Dakota State University researchers have developed a flour. Read about it in the June issue.

-Susanne Retka Schill