They should work fine. I don't know what the protein content is, but I do know a composting company that used to use all the grains they could get from local breweries.

The Hawkeye Renewables ethanol plant in my IOWA hometown sells 2 types of distillers grains...DDGs and MDGs. DDGs are selling at $132 per ton and MDGs sell for $60 per ton. The DDGs are a dry product and the MDGs are a wet product.

It's marketed as a livestock supplemental feed.

I do not believe either product is sold in bags...just truck loads. (50-80 tons) Perhaps this is an untapped resource for organic lawn care fertilizer.

Click on the link below to see the product info...

Here is a link that might be useful: DDG information

With more ethanol plants going in, you may be very right about this untapped resource. $132 per ton is $3.30 per 50 pounds, so if you consider shipping, marketing, and bagging, it might not be a viable business quite yet.

What caught my eye was that the protein was equal to soymeal. The information I was reading was in reference to cattle and hog feeding supplements during draught since normal forage isn't available (a pretty big problem in the south these days). I think there is a beginning market for it as a food for livestock. I haven't checked the local feedstores for availability or price, but my hope is that it will turn up at a cheap price. Now a man with a hydroseeder could do some real feeding with the cheap "mash" if you happened to be near a plant that you could buy bulk.

reset mode: RANT

soccer_dad: you hit a nerve with me. Drought is not the problem. Mismanagement of the grass and livestock is the problem. I've been on non-irrigated cattle ranches in Texas that have increased their herd size on the same acreage over the past 15 years with basically no supplemental feed or nutritional input other than calcium to replace the calcium taken away in cattle bones. I've seen too many people doing it for it to be a fluke. Here are before and after pictures of a guy growing grass and feeding cattle on strip mine tailings in the middle of the Sonoran desert. I have driven by and have better pictures myself if you would like to see. But if it can be done in a place where drought is normal, then it's just a matter of changing the way the rest of the farmers are doing it.

Sorry to digress.

reset mode: CHAT

I do not have a big hat or cattle. Merely regurgitating the point of the article. Rant with someone else, I'm just looking for cheap grains that will work for my lawn. Thanks.

*** REVIVING AN OLD THREAD THAT DESERVES ATTENTION ***
First, I ALWAYS recommend conducting a VALID SOIL TEST. Having said that...
A combination of 4-5 applications of dried distillers grains with soybean meal, and 2 annual applications of compost (spring / fall) will give you the healthiest - greenest lawn you have ever seen. It works. Period. The importance of adding compost to your lawn goes without saying. The turf effect on your property will be almost magical. Once you have started the routine, you WILL NOT GO BACK to synthetics - except for herbicidal spot treatment with something such as Gordon's TriMec Classic or something similar. You will have the greenest and HEALTHIEST, most lush lawn on the block. Also, your lawn will stay greener, longer than those who treat with synthetic herbicides. When you treat in the 'more organic' manner, you treat the soil AND the microbes. The billions of microbes have a 'more organic' FOOD source and will FEAST on the grains and meal. In turn, they will MULTIPLY and give off NITROGEN as a waste byproduct when they feast, defecate and expire - which will FEED your turf by way of N (as in N-P-K). And yes, you can get both (grains and meal) from LOCAL GRAIN ELEVATORS, and they WILL bag it for a small fee. The only minute downside is that it takes MUCH MORE grains and meal by weight (say 200lbs. vs. 50lbs. synthetic) to get GREAT results. The HUGE upside is that you WILL NEVER burn your lawn up by applying too much (i.e. hot summers). There you have it - the secret is out. Forget the synthetics and let nature do what it does best.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tidal Turf