Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are potentially economical feed ingredients in the swine industry, especially in the Midwest.  It is well known that DDGS quality varies between processing facilities, but within a plant the average protein and fat contribution are consistent and would be a good ingredient consideration in a non-ruminant diet, especially in the sow.  Therefore, the overarching goal of this work was to determine if DDGS at 0, 15 or 30% inclusion during gestation and/or lactation altered sow performance and/or final products, namely bratwurst and breakfast links.  The original three treatments (0, 15 or 30%) during gestation where further arranged during the lactation phase to include all possible combinations, i.e., 0, 15 or 30% for a total of 9 total treatments (3 diets during gestation x 3 diets during lactation).
 
In general, there appeared to be little effect on sow performance and/or piglet numbers regardless of diet fed.  That is, no differences were observed in piglet litter size, litter weight gain or litter weight gain per day.  There were no differences noted in sow feed intake during gestation and/or lactation between any of the different treatment combinations offered.  It should be noted, that some feed intakes decreased in sows going from no DDGS to DDGS diets during the lactation phase, which is not surprising since the animals transition to a completely different diet type vs. what they were consuming during gestation.  In terms of carcass quality, there were no differences in the relative amount of fat accumulated or deposited during the entire study.  It was anticipated that the relative amount of unsaturated fatty acids would be higher in the sows fed DDGS. However, differences in iodine levels was small (~ 72’s for DDGS sows vs. 69 in controls). Perhaps that aided in not seeing many differences in bratwurst and/or breakfast links.  Across both bratwurst and breakfast links there was relatively little difference in preference of the actual product, i.e., eating experience wise.  There were no differences noted in the breakfast links by the untrained panelist.  However, the initial purchase or likelihood of purchase favored the control bratwurst, i.e., 58% agreement vs. the DDGS groups which was around 40% in the 15% added DDGS sows and in the 30% range for the 30% DDGS fed sows.  This would indicate that initial “purchase” of bratwurst could be affected in bratwurst coming from DDGS fed sows in the way consumers see the product.