DES MOINES (AP) - Cattle producers say Iowa is poised to make a comeback as a major beef-producing state - thanks to Iowa's booming ethanol industry.

Once the starch is removed from the corn kernel and used for ethanol production, a high-protein feed that can be cheaply fed to livestock is left behind.

Demand is increasing for the high-protein co-product of ethanol. Increasingly, Iowa cattle producers have learned just how good the feed is for their cattle.

"It's a cheap source of dietary protein," said John Hall, a cattle feeder from Ankeny. "We know the cattle like it."

According to John Lawrence, director of the Iowa Beef Industry Center at Iowa State University, Iowa ranked first in the number of cattle marketed from 1968-1972. But Iowa's fed-cattle market totals fell from about 4 million head per year 35 years ago to about 1.5 million last year, he said.

Several factors, including packing plants moving to the Southwest, environmental concerns, and development of large feedlots, led to the drop.

Lawrence and others believe the availability of distillers dried grains and other ethanol extras will give Iowa, the nation's top ethanol-producing state, a competitive advantage over cattle-feeding states that don't make as much ethanol.

"As the ethanol industry grows here, it's real simple to see that we are going to have a big advantage over the big Western feedlots," Hall said. "It's a great thing for Iowa to bring some cattle back to this state. We've got young people wanting to enter the cattle business for the long pull. This might be one of the best ways to do it."