OTTUMWA — Neither rain, wind, sleet nor snow could keep nearly 400 people away from the 36th annual Cornbelt Cow-Calf Conference Saturday at the Bridge View Center.

Organizers said at least 250 tickets were sold at the door and that’s in addition to advance sales.

The conference was a day for researchers and cattle producers to share information and confer with more than70 industry representatives. Eight speakers offered topics such as improving the quality and quantity of pastures, weed and brush management, animal identification and hay harvesting systems.

Dan Loy of Iowa State University presented “Ethanol Co-Products: The Feedlot Perspective.”

Loy said there is a national ethanol production capacity of 5.4 billion gallons per year.

“This dramatic and rapid increase in demand for corn is creating unprecedented change, uncertainty and opportunity in agriculture,” he said. “The cattle industry is just beginning to adjust to changing grain and land costs.”

Loy emphasized focusing on opportunities rather than the “painful reality” of higher costs. The production process for each gallon of ethanol comes with 18 pounds of distillers’ dried grains (DDG) equivalent and that’s where cattle producers may find an opportunity.

The primary cattle feed of the wet corn milling industry is corn gluten feed (CGF), which is typically 16-22 percent protein and is 85 (dry CGF) to 97 (wet CGF) percent of the energy of corn grain.

The primary co-products of the dry corn milling industry are distillers grains with solubles that are either wet, dry or modified (about 50 percent dry matter); or, condensed distillers’ solubles.

“These feeds are typically higher in protein and energy than corn gluten feed because the oil and gluten aren’t removed in the process,” Loy said.

He summarized by saying the ethanol industry is most likely here to stay. He said this change in agriculture brings both opportunities and challenges. He encouraged cattle feeders to “capitalize on the opportunities and manage for the challenges.”

Becky Strunk and her daughter, Kierstin Martin, studied a display outside one of the break-out rooms in the center. Titled “50 years of Beef Production in Iowa,” the display included photos and text about the top stories of each decade.

Strunk and her husband, Matt, have a 200-head cow-calf operation in Davis County.

“This is our first time [at the conference]. We decided to come and see what’s here,” Matt Strunk said. “We raise our own special cattle.”

He said he crosses Tarentaise cows with Angus bulls. The cross “makes very nice calves” and is “going to be something to hear about.”