UK Dairy Farmers Don't Need US Soy Anymore
NLP Wessex 17apr01
The National Farmers Union of England and Wales has argued for sometime that it is allowing livestock producers to include GM ingredients in animal feeds under its British Farm Standard because it is too expensive to obtain non-gm alternatives.
The latest research from ADAS, however, proves that this is not the case when it comes to dairy cattle.
This development should set alarm bells ringing amongst US soya growers whose current GM planting intentions for 2001 suggest they think they have a captive overseas market. The ADAS report suggests that UK dairy farmers don't need US soya of any kind any more.
"We compared cow performance on maize distillers' grains with soya, a high quality protein source well recognised by producers......There was no difference in feed intake, milk yield and milk quality between diets....Maize distillers' are GM-free and fully traceable, offering a quality alternative to soya": Trident's Dr Matt Witt
NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
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Maize distillers are best GM-free option
Marianne Curtis / Farmers Weekly 12apr01
WHERE keeping rations GM free is important, maize distillers grains could offer a good alternative protein source to soya without compromising dairy cow performance, according to recent CEDAR Reading research reported at the British Society of Animal Science meeting.
A report published by ADAS last year, indicating that protein quality of distillery by-products such as maize distillers* grains is higher than previously thought, lies behind the study, according to trial sponsor Trident's Matt Witt. "We compared cow performance on maize distillers' grains with soya, a high quality protein source well recognised by producers."
Mixed rations containing different proportions of soya and maize distillers' grains were fed to cows yielding in excess of 30kg for the first third of lactation. Diets were formulated to 19% crude protein.
"The control diet contained 2.5kg/head of soya and in others, soya was replaced with up to 4kg/head of maize distillers' grains. There was no difference in feed intake, milk yield and milk quality between diets."
This indicates that soya may be completely replaced with maize distillers' grains without compromising feed intake, milk yield and quality.
Although cost of diets was similar, maize distillers grains may offer an advantage for producers concerned about GM content of feed. A large proportion of soya is still sourced from genetically modified plants, says Dr Witt. "Maize distillers' are GM-free and fully traceable, offering a quality alternative to soya."
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