US Grains Council : There's Still Work to Be Done: Building Colombia's Confidence in DDGS

There's Still Work to Be Done: Building Colombia's Confidence in DDGS Details Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00 By: Kurt Shultz, U.S. Grains Council Regional Director of the Americas

The U.S. Grains Council, in May 2012, successfully fostered the implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which removed duties for corn, grain sorghum, barley and corn co-products, including a 10 percent duty on distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) imports.

DDGS use in Colombia has been expanding since the implementation of the FTA, but there is still room for growth. The primary market constraint is lack of familiarity on the part of Colombian dairy producers with the benefits of using DDGS.

Traditionally, Colombian dairy producers employ a grazing system with feed concentrates supplemented during milking. DDGS trials previously held in Costa Rica and Chile showed that DDGS complement this grazing system and provide significant savings to producers. It is estimated that the Colombian dairy sector alone could utilize more than 250,000 metric tons of DDGS annually.

The Council is repeating these trials in Colombia to encourage local livestock industries and their nutritionists to become familiar with DDGS. The trials have been underway for two months and involve 5 dairies in the Bogota region. In addition, the Council is aware of another 1,000 cows in Colombia following the same formulation, outside of the trial herds.

Even after this short time span these producers are seeing increases in milk production and a lowering of feed costs. These trials show Colombian feed manufacturers and nutritionists how to use DDGS to reduce feed costs without sacrificing productivity.

The Council will continue programs to introduce and expand the usage of previously underutilized U.S. commodities in Colombia that benefit from the U.S.-Colombia FTA.