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Comments by: James I. Sprague, Ph.D. Livestock Nutritionist
Reputation of Feedlots
According to Reed Ethington of Kansas Feeds at Dodge City, Kansas, many nutritionists are specifying beef tallow at this time. Fancy bleachable tallow comes straight out of the packing plants and is delivered to the feedyards. He said, "This source of fat is of high quality, with a guarantee of only four percent free fatty acids (FFA) and no more than one percent of the impurities of moisture, insolubles and unsaponifiables (MIU)." He stressed that the spread of price between tallow and yellow grease is very low at this time. Yellow Grease Ethington also reported some feedyards are still using yellow grease or a blend of yellow grease and tallow as their fat source. The quality specifications of the blended product is 10 percent FFA and two percent MIU. Yellow grease is a product supplied from the fat rendering industry. It can contain re-rendered restaurant grease. Straight yellow grease has a specification of 15 percent FFA and two percent MIU. Field Experience Our clients have used either yellow grease or tallow. Our experience is to select a supplier that can provide a consistent product. One of the cautions is that tallow needs to be introduced gradually. This is particularly true if the ration change is made in the middle of the feeding program. Feed refusal may result from changing a ration to tallow abruptly. We have seen only a slight reduction of feed intake when yellow grease is first introduced. We have used successfully up to four percent added tallow or yellow grease, but recognize that five percent added is often used by some feedyards. Choice White Fat This fat source is from the pork packing plants. It is a high quality product and it has an advantage in that it handles easier than tallow. Ethington notes that some feedyards near pork packing plants use this source of feed fat. Vegetable Oils The vegetable oils that are used in the feedlot or feed manufacturing industries are usually re-rendered oils from the food processing companies, such as potato chip manufacturers. (I personally have no experience with this fat source for feedlot cattle.) Corn oil is often used for manufacturing of high quality horse feeds. This gives the feed a pleasant smell. Economics: Include Feed Processing and Markup At this writing (February 2003), fancy tallow was being delivered to feedlots in Western Kansas at 15.5 cents per pound, while corn was priced at $2.75 per bushel ($4.91 per cwt) delivered to feedlots. The value of any ingredient needs to be calculated on a total nutrient basis including feed processing and markup of the ration. This is particularly true when considering the value of added fat as a source of energy in a beef ration. The only practical approach is for the nutritionist to use their computer program to calculate the replacement value of added fat to a cattle ration. The Extra Value of Fat in the Beef Ration One of the seminal reports of the effect of increased marbling of beef from feeding tallow was reported many years ago by the University of Nebraska. The California and Arizona feeders pioneered feeding fat. They knew from experience the cattle graded better if they were fed fat. Fat as a feed ingredient is an excellent ration conditioning agent. Added fat helps keep the fines from separating in the feedbunk. ©
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