ok to feed spent grain from brewing beer

[terimay]

I work at a brewery and bring home spent grain for my girls, THEY GO CRAZY OVER IT. I have to ration it because they will eat too much and get runny poop. To keep it from souring, I just separate it into smaller containers and freeze it, when one container is almost gone I put one from the freezer into the fridge to thaw. My girls come running when they hear the container open, It is their favorite treat...It is also good for the compost if it does sour, your not wasting it if you throw it into the compost pile. I have also heard it is great to toss it right onto the garden, but I have not had any left over to try that, the girls gobble it right down.

The brewery I work for donates their spent grain to a local farmer for his pigs, one of the brewers takes some for his Chickens and I take some for mine. If you have a local brewery, you should ask them about it, if their not donating it, it will end up in the land fill when it could be making your chickens very happy. I am sure they will be very happy to give it to you if they are not giving it to someone already.

 

[Ariel301]

I get it by the truckload from a nearby brewery and feed it to my chickens and goats. It's very high protein.

 

[dakotasnake]

the fact is that grains that have there starch coverted to fermitable sugar have a higher protein to weight ratio than non fermited grain. it is fine to feed for any livestock.

 

[Meghalu]

That's really interesting. I never thought of it, I might have to go calling at a couple of the local microbreweries.

 

[kcwazzu]

Good to know. Looks like I need to start brewing again.

 

[mdguffey]

my question is if it is nutritional as normal feed, like scratch, or laying mix??

 

[Beekissed]

More so. And the probios in fermented feeds will also increase the nutritional absorption of all their feed due to increased bowel health and performance.

 

[mdguffey]

would the spent grain be as good/better than the laying blend?? just wondering cause i get the spent grain free, just have to dry it

 

[dirtbath]

If you need to get rid of some old beer, I know my fridge is always open to that, loL!

 

[Marty1876]

I think it would be o.k. Treat it like a scratch grain.