Mashed Grains Nutritious?

[rodwha]

I have read several threads in which spent grains are used for foods or for animals. Does this even have much nutrition left after mashing?

I tried giving the rabbits who ventured into my yard in the AM and PM some spent grains, which they enjoyed, but haven't seen them since my neighbors moved in with their dog.

 

[max384]

They're fairly high in protein and dietary fiber, but most of the calories (in the form of carbs) have been extracted, so they're pretty calorie deficient. But, that's not to say they don't have nutritional value.

Here's a pretty in depth research article on spent grains:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...513f6d3e168ee000000+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

[catsnbeer]

I feed the spent grains to my parents chickens, they love it. Animals digestive systems work differently then humans - there is certainly nutritional value left in spend grains. I am pretty sure its a very common practice for commercial breweries to sell their spent grains to livestock farmers.

 

[fimpster]

There's a decent chance that the chicken, beef or pork that you eat was fed spent grain.

 

[rodwha]

max: Very informative, and surprising. Thanks!

Many people feed corn to the deer, and they eat it up. But it's not very nutritious for them. And it hasn't been tampered with. I'm surprised that spent grains is this good for anyone, and would have thought it not much good for anything else but compost.

 

[broadbill]

Many farm animals are ruminants (sheep, goats, cows) which can take fibrous feedstuffs (i.e. spent grains) and break them down to carbohydrates. Deer are also ruminants. Related to brewing, their stomachs are essentially large fermenters, with the microbial population responsible for the fiber to carbohydrate breakdown. The stomach itself churns the fermenter (like a stir-bar on a starter) and the animal regurgitates portions of the fermenting feed to chew it/mechanically break it down further. If they aren't actively eating, they are chewing what has already been eaten.

Other farm animals are not ruminants but have digestive systems/organs to break down fibrous feedstuffs (horses). This typically happens in the large intestine, but it not as efficient as a ruminant.

Pigs are monogastric (like humans) so they can't do much more with fibrous feedstuff than we can...it goes in...it comes back out.

Interesting fact about rabbits, since they were mentioned. They also have hind-gut fermentation organs to break down fiber like horses do, but they will also eat their own poop as a way of "sending it through again" for more digestion. They are Caprophagic.

 

[ruralbrew]

The vast majority of protein supplements fed to animals are from spent grain. Either from processing for oil(soybean and other grains like canola, sunflowers, cottonseed and flax), distilling(ethanol production for fuel or your favorite liquor) or brewing. With the vast percentage of the carbohydrates extracted from the grain the protein levels in what remains increases significantly.
It is easy to supply more than enough digestible carbohydrates to most animals through home grown feed through either high quality forages or corn. Supplying an adequate amount of protein to balance the diet for efficient production is more difficult, which is where spent grains form other industrial processes come into play.

If it weren't for all the husks present I would probably eat them myself! I think they are pretty tasty.