Dairy Nutrition
Protein- The Facts
Protein in the U.K tends to be the most expensive component of the dairy cow's diet as it is mostly imported and it is controlled by unforeseen circumstances in the countries of origin. At best, 25-30% of the protein that is fed to the animal is put into milk. The rest, up to three-quarters or more of the feed protein, ends up on the field in faeces and urine. What is needed, therefore, is a means of either increasing the efficiency with which feed protein is transferred into milk (and not onto the land).
This would allow dairy farmers to reduce the amount of protein that they feed to their cows, and still achieve the same levels of milk production, or to feed the same amount of protein and increase the quality of the milk that they produce.
As a way of reducing the cost of milk production, growing high protein crops on farm to replace concentrates is an attractive alternative. Production costs for forage are typically less than the costs of purchased concentrate.
Forage Efficiency
The protein in home-grown wholecrop mixed forages tends to be highly digestible in the cow''s rumen therefore absorption is more efficient. The conservation of whole-crop cereal silage, which contains a lot of energy, but not much protein, with a high protein forage crop, such as wholecrop lupins would seem to be an ideal combination. Now a whole new generation of forage crops brings a new dimension to forage utilisation to maximise protein potential more effectively within rations. Triticale and lupin is an excellent example of such mixed forage with the added advantage of a unique combination of high quality starch, fibre and digestible protein. The high digestibility and level of (DUP) in mixed protein forages in early lactation diets can be beneficial in maximising dry matter intake and minimising body weight losses allowing the dairy cow to attain a positive energy balance as soon as possible after calving.
Lupins and triticale also have the major benefit that they are suitable for growing in the temperate British climate, which is too cold and moist for soyabean production (which hence has to be imported).