Lakeland-Scottish Feeds & Services
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Lakeland Scottish Feeds & Services | Newsletter |
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| Cutting Feed Costs | ||
| Issue No. 72 | April 2010 | |
 Life certainly never gets boring. Gordon has finally decided to have an election on May 6th. I wonder if the politicians are going to even talk about the issues in our industry. Personally I reckon that the rural economy could do with a bit of encouragement. After all, Agriculture actually produces something to sell, which perhaps earns more real revenue than managing red tape does. This issue sees me rambling on about brinkmanship in the “Training” item, and then it gets more interesting. The item on Maize Max and the impending meeting is worth a look, yes it really is! The bit on fats is worth a look as well, especially to farmers who have a tendency to cut it a bit fine on butterfat early to mid season. Then we have a short note about a product first marketed last year by ED&F Man (Intermol) called Fresh Start. This is probably the best and easiest way of stopping TMR mixes from heating in the trough. |
Training |
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A few weeks ago one of my clients sons said, “Dad thinks that we should go back to feeding just cake and silage like he used to in the 70’s. He said we always made a profit and it was a lot easier”. I guess it is a reasonable thing to say but the 70’s generation were actually evolving today’s farming practices in order to increase output and profit. As for the cake word, in the 1970’s most farmers didn’t have the TMR systems we have now. TMR developed because the cake ingredients were a lot cheaper than the resulting cake. This was because compounders had large costs. Hence moving to a TMR meant that farm profits were better and generally they still are. In the meantime I have been revising a simple introductory course for agricultural students. I have been searching for the best way of answering this question and this is what I have come up with……….. In 1947, the Agriculture Act set out the policy that British farmers should maximise output at all costs. This was a direct response to the reliance on convoys of food imports that had proved such costly targets for “U”boats during world war two. Great Britain had to become more self sufficient. (I wonder if our politicians could learn from this?) So, farming adopted progressive breeding and intensive feeding as the approach for the livestock sector. In effect our grazing livestock started off with a fleet of Model T Fords and bicycles and progressed to the Aston Martins and Harley Davidson’s that we are trying to drive today. The difference is obvious. It takes a lot more care and attention to keep the much more complex high performance machines running smoothly. They will not perform well on 2 star fuel. We have to supply fuel, anti-freeze, brake fluid, engine oil, washer fluid, electrical power, update the on board computer and service these machines regularly. . The conclusion you come to is this, if we are to get the best profits from our animals, we certainly need the basics, good quality forage, minerals and vitamins, and a balance level of concentrates. This has to ensure animal durability, health and welfare as well as production. Is grass on its own good enough? No! but as a base feed, if the quality is good, it’s a great start. Why do I say no? Early lactation cows and high output animals cannot eat enough to satisfy their potential, so grass has to be balanced to ensure better health and production and so, for the record, do all forages. The point that I get to is that since we have got these well bred animals, we have the potential to make good profits by using brinkmanship. Pile in the inputs only to the point where the returns justify the costs. This sounds easy until you think about how you are going to measure the effects of adding that extra input. How do you judge the value of managing animal condition, reducing cell counts, mastitis, feet, fertility, post calving / lambing problems, etc, in pounds sterling? Milk yield and quality are relatively easy to judge but these other factors are very difficult to evaluate day to day. In any event you know that you cannot ignore the need to maintain good health and welfare. Perhaps the vets and the nutritionists need to talk together about this. Suffice to say that we can still rise to today’s challenge and succeed but only if we keep overcoming the weaknesses in this continually evolving industry. I haven’t mentioned much about prices and costs. This is because I’m not a politician, but I still think that following the law of diminishing returns, (brinkmanship) is the only way forward. Try things out, if they don’t work dump them and if they do, adopt them. By the way, Reggie just reminded me that my old school motto was “Adopt, Adapt, & Improve”. Well done Reggie! |
Cutting Feed Costs |
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Well everyone has thought about cutting costs at some point over the last few months. I guess its fair enough and in some cases realistic. I came across one farmer paying roughly twice as much for his yeast than he should have been paying. The point of this item is just to recount a conversation I had with one of our most successful farmers. He decided to get rid of all the expensive supplements in his TMR and try and save money. As expected, the milk yield dropped. First he put back in the protein supplement thinking, rightly, that the diet was probably a bit short of protein, egged on by soya prices and all. Anyway he got a big response. Next went in the F1 Yeast, and again he got a great response. Finally he put in the fat, and after three days took it out again because of no response. I reckon that is brinkmanship in action and it deserves congratulation because very few winter diets don’t need to be reassessed as the forages change during the winter. But…………If your calving index is over 420 days, it’s a fair bet that most of the cows are in late lactation, so yield responses from fat would not have been that good, then again butterfat and cow condition may have benefited. It’s quite tough to work out the best approaches but the moral of the tale is to test the cows more frequently to see if any extra input gives a payback. Those late lactation cows will be fresh calvers at some point so maybe they will give the response then. |
Designer Fats |
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I suppose that most dairy farmers have heard about the difference in fats by now. Just in case. C18’s for yield C16’s for butterfat Most commercially available fats contain some of both types. Currently pure C16 is getting very expensive indeed so what can we do to limit the damage. Low butterfats in milk can be brought about in different ways so the first thing to think about is what’s the likely cause of the problem on your farm and then, what to do about it? The list below summarises the nutritional issues to consider.
 So, if we can get the basic feeding right we shouldn’t need to add any fats. This is true, but there are extra benefits. The C16’s will give an extra response but may cost more than the response is worth. The C18,s won’t help butterfat. New F1 Pallafat has been put on a better carrier and unlike Dynalac, contains 20% of its fat as refined C16. Of course, this makes it more expensive, but it means that as the yields go up, the butterfats don’t drop. Butacup, on the other hand will provide a reasonable priced C16 fat to directly boost butterfat without affecting yield significantly. |
Maize Max from Alltech |
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Following the item on this new product in the February newsletter, I am pleased to include the flyer on the product. I am also including an invitation to a maize growers meeting for farmers in Dumfries and Galloway for those who we know have an interest in growing the crop. If you haven’t received an invitation and would like to come, please call us on one of the numbers below. Lunch Meeting. Lakeland Scottish Feeds & Services and Alltech UK Invite all interested parties to a meeting with some refreshments at The Loch View Motel Crocketford (on the A75 10 miles west of Dumfries) On April 28th 11:30 am to 2:30 pm To discuss Maize growing in Denmark and the use of Maize Max Our speaker is Benny Jensen of BJ Agro Denmark. Benny will be able to give a good account of how to grow heavy crops of maize in latitudes as far north as Aberdeen! (Okay, I know it’s a different climate in Denmark) Please RSVP to Jerry on 07711 034141, or Rick on 01768 899513 so that we can get the catering right. Thanks.  |
Fresh Guard |
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Yes I know it sounds like a deodorant but actually it would be pretty useless. No, this is actually a molasses-based liquid feed that has a propionate salt and surfactant added to eliminate heating in TMRs. Fed at 1.5 Kg per cow per day in a typical mix, Fresh Guard will postpone heating by about 10 hours although there are no guarantees, because success depends as much on handling and even mixing as it does on the product. That said, for an extra 2p per cow per day over the molasses, it represents a very convenient way of solving the problem at a pretty low cost. Whilst we’re on the molasses subject, don’t forget we can make any molasses blend into a Hi-Mag option for just £15 per tonne. If this is your choice, you should be aware that adding Magnesium makes the molasses runnier! |
Mineral Markets & Price Changes |
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The mineral markets seem to have stabilised somewhat. This is quite a relief after the see-saw effect of the last two years. Vitamin E continues to be firm as do most of the B vitamins. Demand for Phosphate in the fertiliser market is starting to nudge the Phosphorous price, but we have had mixed reports on this because our mineral supplier has taken cover at the lowest price since 2008! |
Feed Market Review |
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The current raw materials market could still be realistically described as a bit of a shambles!
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