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Report examines the nutritional value of biodiesel byproductsBy Doug Rich "Biodiesel benefits for cattle producers: Feeding byproducts of biodiesel production," is a new report providing ranchers with nutritional information about oilseed meal byproducts derived from the biodiesel production of crops in the Northern Great Plains. The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) released the report at a press conference March 25 in Billings, Mont. The study was written by Dr. Greg Lardy, associate professor of animal science at North Dakota State University, "In most cases biodiesel production, at least in this region, is based predominantly on the conversion of some type of vegetable oil to biodiesel," Lardy said. "The resulting byproducts that occur in that process are what we would classify as oilseed meal." According to the report, potential oilseed crops in the region for biodiesel production include soybeans, sunflowers, safflowers, mustard, camelina and canola. "Because of the fact that these oilseed meals are relatively high in protein, they actually make excellent supplements for beef cows," Lardy said. Oilseed meal from these crops range from 20 to 40 percent protein. Lardy said this would make them a good replacement for barley cakes or other protein supplements commonly used by ranchers in the region. The report summarizes the nutritive value of these products and describes how ranchers might be able to take advantage of feeding those byproducts. It also includes a few case studies on biodiesel production. Jeanne Charter and her husband, Steve, ranch near Billings, Mont., and have been using safflower oil meal as a supplement for years. "We found oilseed meal makes an excellent winter range supplement," Charter said. Charter, who serves on both WORC and the Northern Plains Resource Council, would prefer to see the development of farm scale and community scale biodiesel production and byproduct consumption. "One big drawback for us is the ever escalating freight cost," Charter said. "WORC's paper spotlights the disperse system of biodiesel production and feed byproduct consumption which makes good economic sense for our region," Charter said. "Range cattle can efficiently utilize a lot of oilseed meal, if a decentralized community scale system of processing is developed," Charter said. "Transportation cost savings realized from nearby seed byproduct consumption makes smaller local processing units competitive with the more commonly proposed centralized production complexes." Charter said that Lardy's paper is a good example of the kind of energy efficient agricultural analysis we need, to make a good case for disperse biodiesel production. Gene Wirtz, a wheat grower from North Dakota, would like to produce his own biodiesel and partner with a rancher to use the byproducts. "This kind of technology brings farmers and ranchers together," Wirtz said. "Farmers can grow it and ranchers can feed it. They can jointly manufacture, process and use the fuel." Wirtz said there are already turnkey biodiesel production systems for around $20,000, which includes an oilseed press and biodiesel processor. Producers would still need hopper bins and storage tanks to complete the biodiesel production system. "The best part of the fuel business is that it would be a sustainable approach that would strengthen local economies and producers, as well as be compatible with the environment," Wirtz said. Although the study did not examine the economic feasibility of biodiesel production, this is the next step. Lardy said a feasibility study is planned that would examine how this system might work on a small scale. The Biodiesel Benefits report is available on WORC's website, www.worc.org. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 3/31/08 Date: 3/27/08
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