About 30 million tonnes of grain are exported annually from Saskatchewan. At 3.5 per cent dockage, this leaves about 700,000 tonnes of screenings available in this province. Add in Manitoba and Alberta and the market potential is at least 1.2 million tonnes annually. The target market for grain screenings is the beef industry. Screenings are valued for their protein and energy content.
Dockage is the unwanted material that is removed during grain cleaning.
This is often referred to as coarse screenings and includes chaff, other grain, weed or inseparable seeds and pieces of stem. Coarse screenings are cleaned a second time producing No. 1 and No. 2 feed screenings and refuse screenings. No. 1 feed screenings are minimum of 35 per cent broken, shrunken or oversized parent grain by weight. This product has a high feeding value and is used primarily by the poultry and swine industries. Developing countries and their rising affluence are behind a major increase and the tripling of feed use since 1950.