Nebraska Corn Farmer Kyle Cantrell

Kyle Cantrell is a corn farmer from Merna, Nebraska. He has a cow calf operation and a small feedlot. Kyle explains risk management and establishing relationships. He utilizes distillers grains in his feeding operation to manage feeding costs.
Feeding distillers grains, the co-product of making corn ethanol, with low quality roughage can help lower the feeding costs of cattle. Roughage is a hay mix that can consist of grasses, cornstalks, or alfalfa etc..

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Nebraska
• corn
• Premiere_Elements_8
• farmer

[TheCobSquad]

@Jedimullet77 Addressing your other comment, grain is more easily digested than grass & hay. Grain has a higher TDN (total digestible nutrient) than forage. Due to higher TDN, in most comparisons, grain digestion results in an average of 4 times less methane (CH4) production. In addition, due to the higher digestibility of grains, it requires less energy to breakdown, thus results in a higher net comparable energy gain than forage digestion. Or simply: cattle can digest corn easier than forage.

[TheCobSquad]

@Jedimullet77 First, we represent corn producers & the uses of corn. Using other grains/products to produce a renewable energy source is a positive thing. Second, cattle are grass eaters, and grow up and remain on grass for about 80% of their life until the feeder cattle are sent to a cattle feeding operation where they can be fed a specific ration of grains and forages. (cont…)

[Jedimullet77]

Instead of corn you can grow sweet sourgum and/or sugar beets and get 700-1000 gal/acre Ethanol. all the byproduct are superior animal feed and you can put the distillers grain back on the ground as fertilizer. Cattle are grass eaters, 90% of the corn goes through undigested because they don't have the enzymes to break down starch.