PSI-31 Impact of feeding increasing levels of dried distillers grains with solubles on Boer goat carcass characteristics

Little is known about effective feed formulation in meat goat diets. With the demand of goat meat rising, producers are looking for cost-efficient yet effective diet formulations to produce quality goat meat. The objective of this project was to evaluate carcass characteristics of Boer-influenced goats after being fed corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as a replacement for soybean meal (SBM). It was hypothesized that high quantities of DDGS would decrease carcass quality, especially carcass yield. To test this hypothesis, 48 Boer-influenced goats (avg. weight 62.2lbs) were split evenly into 16 pens (3 goats/pen) and were fed an acclimation diet for 14 days. Pens were allocated to one of four treatments: 1) 0% SBM replaced by DDGS; 2) 33% SBM replaced by DDGS; 3) 66% SBM replaced by DDGS; and 4) 100% SBM replaced by DDGS. Diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Pens of goats were provided a self-feeder containing their respective treatments for 47 d. After the challenge was completed, the lightest and heaviest goat from each pen was then harvested in a USDA-inspected abattoir and carcass data collected. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS v9.4. Differences were considered significant if P < 0.05. Dietary treatment did not impact (P > 0.05) any measured carcass trait, including hot carcass weight (P = 0.67), percent carcass yield (P = 0.79), loin eye area (P = 0.51), loin eye depth (P = 0.98), backfat depth (P = 0.50), and body wall thickness (P = 0.65). These results yield a disproven hypothesis, but show that DDGS may be an economical feed ingredient for meat goat diets without negatively impacting carcass characteristics.