MILK DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

Transcription

1 MILK DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Agronomic Practicality, Economic Viability & Nutritional Value of Home-Grown Soya, Lupins & Naked Oats Project No. 99/T2/31

2 FINAL REPORT AGRONOMIC PRACTICALITY, ECONOMIC VIABILITY AND NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF HOME-GROWN SOYA, LUPINS AND NAKED OATS MILK DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (Contract 99/T2/31) ADAS Bridgets, January 2001

3 RECOMMENDATIONS TO FARMERS Lupins, UK soya and naked oats are only options for dairy farms with IACS aided land and in those areas of the country where they are agronomically suited. Farmers on non-aided land should consider grass and clover forages if their aim is more dietary protein. Whilst lupins and UK grown soya are sources of ruminant protein, naked or husked oats should be considered as concentrate replacers or energy sources. Soya is a specialist arable crop, climatically suited to the South-East and East Anglia. Current varieties are still marginal under UK conditions. If the crop expands as planned to 50K ha, traceable soyabean meal from UK soya may become available to the dairy industry, but other higher value markets and are likely to be supplied first. Soya is primarily an oilseed and the meal is a by-product. For economic reasons, if a dairy or arable farmer can grow a good soya crop, it is likely to go off-farm into higher value oil extraction markets, rather than be fed direct to cows. Soya could be fed whole on the farm where it was grown, but this has technical and financial implications. Sweet white lupins are a protein feed and they are more suited to on-farm production and feeding. Lupins struggle to compete in the open market as a ruminant feed ingredient compared to imported soyabean meal and rapeseed, but they are more competitive when grown and fed on-farm, avoiding merchant margins and transport charges. White lupins can be milled and fed within a ration to dairy cows. They can also be heat treated to improve protein quality, but this considerably increases their cost and reduces their competitive advantage. Little is known about ruminant diets based on lupins. The feeding of large amounts of sweet white lupins to dairy cows has been associated with milk protein depression. The word Lupin is a general term. There are different lupin species and they produce protein seeds of different qualities. The nutritive and feed value of the blue and yellow seeded spring lupins is unknown and their agronomic management is still poorly understood. The protein feed market is highly competitive and the products with the biggest market shares in the dairy sector are invariably by-products. Only proteins that can be grown and fed on farm with no or minimal treatment can compete. Lupins are climatically suited to several dairy regions such as the South-West and the Herefordshire/Shropshire borders. In the absence of farm storage or where high moisture content grain is harvested, crimping could be an option, although information on its impact on nutritive value and animal performance is limited. 1

4 Empirical data suggests maximum inclusion rates for white lupin, whole soya and naked oats of around 150, 200 and 300 g/kg in the compound, but these figures are highly influenced by other dietary components. 2

5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The dairy industry is reliant on bought in protein, imported or UK grown. This seems unlikely to change, particularly as government policy is moving the agricultural industry towards more open world markets. To meet this challenge dairy farmers must be prepared to respond rapidly to swings in world market prices for proteins and have sufficient flexibility and underpinning knowledge to substitute proteins in dairy rations. Dairy farmers have already responded to the withdrawal of meat and bone meal and recently, fishmeal, as dairy feed proteins. If soyabean meal prices increased to over 250 t or a genetically modified (GM) soya ban was introduced, the industry would need to respond by changing practices, particularly if this was not reflected by changes in milk price. However, regardless of actual prices and strategic issues, individual producers will still need to use their own labour and capital resources to farm efficiently. For most this means buying in protein feeds on price, not origin or type. This re-evaluation of the agronomy, feeding and economics of current home-grown protein production revealed the drivers to viable production on dairy farms. Dairy farmers on non arable aided land cannot consider home-grown grain proteins, they must make more of existing non-grain sources such as grass and clover forages. For dairy farmers with some aided land, or managing mixed farming operations, there are several alternative home-grown grain protein options to consider, but they must also avoid cross-subsidising between dairy and arable enterprises. The potential market for UK grown soya is enormous, but it is climatically marginal in the UK and is geographically suited to areas of the country with a low density of dairy farmers. At this stage in the crops development it is being marketed to specialist arable farmers as a cash crop for seed production and in the future, oilseed crushing. Estimates for spring 2001 suggest 3-4K ha will be sown, with potential for the sown area to rise to 50K ha over the next 5 years. If the crop succeeds and significant areas are sown, dairy farmers may benefit by access to UK traceable soya meal. A 50K ha UK crop would provide 60-70K tonnes of soyabean meal. Whilst UK soya appears to have lower oil and protein contents than imported soya and has not been fed in dairy rations, it is likely to be a highly acceptable feed. Farmers with the expertise to achieve consistently high gross margins in soya, be they dairy or arable farmers, are at present likely to find it more economically attractive to sell whole soya and buy in cheaper protein feeds - even soyabean meal. Target yields of soya are 2.5 to 3.0 t/ha, but in the poor autumn of 2000, yields of 1.5 to 2.0 t/ha were typical. At a target yield of 2.5 t/ha and a value of 145 t, soya would give a crop Gross margin of 386/ha. As whole soya contains 18-20% high value oil, there is a strong incentive to sell rather than feed on farm. Technologies for soya production are evolving so cost per tonne and competitiveness could improve and if on farm toasting and milling could be shown to be feasible and justified, growing and feeding on farm could be an option. Overall, soya is a risky crop for the non specialist and at this stage in its development best left to those farmers with arable skills. The protein quality of lupins cannot match that of soya, but they have an economic advantage in that they are more suited to home feeding. By home feeding there is no merchant margin and transport costs are saved. Lupins can be milled on farm and fed in the ration. High inclusion rates of untreated lupin in dairy rations have been linked 3

6 to milk protein depression, possibly due to the 10% oil it contains. The agronomy of autumn sown sweet white lupins has been investigated and there have been lupin feeding trials with dairy cows. This knowledge reduces the risk for growers and dairy farmers, although field yields have been very variable, from 2 to 4 t/ha. With yields of 3.75 t/ha and a value of 110 t, autumn sown white lupins would give a crop Gross margin of 447 ha, but this drops to 309 ha if yields fall to 2.5 t/ha. The term Lupins is used in a general way, but there are several lupin species/types being commercialised. The contrasting lupin types produce seeds of very different feed qualities, this difference is far greater than between the cereals we feed. Little is known about the blue and yellow seeded spring lupin species, they contain less oil which may be a positive feature when home feeding, but this is unproven. Spring sown white lupins should behave similarly in the ration to autumn sown white lupins. Yields will be less for spring sown crops. With a yield of 3 t/ha, the Gross margin for spring lupins would be 381 ha. The limited data on spring lupin yields suggest they are also variable, 1 to 4 t/ha. Lupins must be grown on soils with a ph of <7.0. They are climatically suited to the southwest and Herefordshire/Shropshire borders. In wetter areas where dry grain harvests cannot be guaranteed or drying or storage is a problem, crimping may be a low cost option, but information on how this effects nutritional value is scarce. There are no official figures on the sown area of lupins, but it is likely to be around 3K ha in 2001, with about half being spring sown. Oats, naked or husked should be considered as concentrate replacers or energy sources rather than high protein crops, but they are an option for low/medium output dairy farmers relying on grass silage systems. On such farms with aided land, they are an alternative to barley. About 100K ha of oats are sown each year, of which 6-8K ha are naked oats grown under buy-back contracts. Breeding improvements mean conventional oat yields now often match barley at 5-8 t/ha. Naked oats are lower yielding than husked oats, but with yields of 5 t/ha and a market value of 80 t, naked oats give a Gross margin of 498 ha, better than soya or lupins. However, their financial performance should really be compared with other white straw crops in the rotation. Whilst naked oats are of higher feed quality and 20-25% lower yielding than conventional oats, good grain samples are likely to find more lucrative markets in the human food sectors. Oats are a more robust, lower risk and lower input crop than soya or lupins and better suited to wetter more marginal conditions. In any evaluation of home grown proteins it must be acknowledged that grazed grass and grass silage are still the cheapest sources of dietary protein, accounting for over 70% of protein consumed by ruminants in the UK. Most of this protein in grass is rumen degradable and a source of undegraded protein (such as soyabean meal) needs to be included in the ration in order to meet the cow s metabolisable protein requirement. This is more important for higher yielding dairy cows. The inclusion of maize silage in the ration reduces the average protein content of the forage component, therefore a wider range of protein supplements can be used. In addition, the energy content of the base forage is higher, so protein sources with a higher energy content such as lupins and whole soya have less value in these types of ration. There are several areas where dairy farmers can benefit from developments in protein crop research. New initiatives are also likely and where these can be linked to on farm processing, home grown proteins have the potential to make an impact on some 4

7 dairy farms. Specific areas which justify further research investment or promotion are justified, has been highlighted in this report. These include the feed value of the different lupin species, the impact of crimping technologies and options for on farm treatment of whole soya. 5