A survey of 9400 livestock producers in 12 midwest states in February, 2007, provided insight on how dairy managers have used corn and other by-product feeds in their feeding programs.

• 38% of dairy producers are using ethanol co-products while 40% indicate they are not considering it.
• Of those dairy managers using co-products, 45% used distillers dried grain, 22% corn gluten feed, 10% brewers grain, 6% wet distillers grain, and 3% corn distillers solubles.
• The reported price for distillers dried grain was $130 a ton (breakeven price is over $200 a ton) while corn gluten was listed at $104 a ton (breakeven is over $130 a ton).  Breakeven prices reflect the value of the nutrients in the by-product feed (a price below breakeven reflects a “good buy” for dairy managers).
• 63% did not prefer indicate a choice for  light colored ethanol by-product (dark color may reflect heat damage or lower quality).
• Dairy managers rated price and quality of product as key characteristics when buying a by-product feed.
• 26% of dairy managers reported the primary reason not to use by-product feeds was availability with handling as the second reason.

In summary, by-product feeds should be considered by more dairy managers as a way to reduce feed costs and improve profitability on their farms.  Additional information and training are needed to increase their use of corn by-products and other sources.

Based on the June 29th USDA planting summaries, consumers and producers can see the future direction of the U.S. corn, soybean, and hay acreage will have on their operations or food costs.  The following values were reported:

• Corn acreage up 15 million to 92.8 million acres (IL has 13 million acres of corn, up 2 million acres)
• Soybean acreage down 11 million acres to 64.1 million (IL down 2 million acres)
• Hay acreage is up 1 million acres to 61.8 million acres (IL down 20,000 acres)

With a yield of 152 bushels per acre, the total corn crop could reach 13 billion bushels with a carry over of 3.5 billion bushels on June 1, 2007.

Corn price futures have dropped about 40 cents a bushel to $3.30 in July, 2007; 3.62 in March, 2008, and $3.82 in July, 2008.

For livestock producers, this reflects lower corn prices while forage costs will remain high due to the spring freeze damage at Easter.  For consumers, the potential corn crop may allow the U.S. corn growers to meet corn needs for food, ethanol, and feed for livestock.  Weather conditions in the next 6 to 8 weeks will be important.