Cost of Nutrients in Feedstuffs

Dr. Normand St-Pierre, Dairy Specialist, Ohio State University

The summer season always brings opportunities for reducing feed costs if one is attentive enough to the changes occurring in the markets. The supply of some high-fiber byproducts increases noticeably in the summer months (e.g., wheat middlings), while the demand for feeds drops due to pasture utilization and reduced animal intake from the warmer weather. Thus, there can be real buying opportunities for those who realize that corn and soybean meal are not perfect price drivers (i.e., everything is not priced based on the cost of these two feed ingredients). Understanding that feedstuffs are vehicles of nutrients and that markets are indirectly pricing nutrients when they are pricing feedstuffs is an important concept in valuing feedstuffs.

As of early July, unit costs of some major nutrients have dropped compared to those calculated in mid-spring (Table 1). The costs per pound of rumen degradable protein (RDP), digestible rumen undegradable protein (d-RUP), and effective NDF (e-NDF) have dropped by 1.47, 1.57, and 0.80 cents per pound, respectively. The cost per unit of net energy lactation remains high, at about 7.5 cents per megacalorie. Non-effective NDF is actually traded at a discount of negative 2.5 cents per pound.

Table 1. Estimates of nutrient unit costs.

- A blank means that the nutrient unit cost is likely equal to zero.
- ~ means that the nutrient cost may be close to zero.
- * means that the nutrient cost is unlikely to be equal to zero.
- **means that the nutrient cost is most likely not equal to zero.

Because of these changes, it may be time to reconsider the ingredients in your dairy diets. Based on prevailing prices in Central Ohio during early July, the following ingredients can be purchased at a significantly lower price than what they are worth nutritionally (Table 2): ground corn, distillers dried grains, corn gluten feed, corn hominy, and wheat middlings. These are the ingredients that when used in a balanced ration can significantly reduce your feed costs. Likewise, the following ingredients are currently over-priced: beet pulp, canola meal, citrus pulp, meat meal, molasses, and soybean hulls. Their use in dairy rations should currently be minimized. Menhaden fish meal and blood meal should be avoided completely unless your cows' level of productivity warrants balancing for amino acids (70 to 75 lb/day of milk for a Holstein herd). Even if amino acids are factored in the evaluation, fish meal is still grossly overpriced and should be avoided entirely.

You feed your cows to provide them with the nutrients required to sustain a desired level of production. There are many sources of such nutrients (feeds). Thus, there are many combinations of feeds that can make a good, balanced ration for your cows. Some of these combinations of feedstuffs can be considerably cheaper than others.

Table 2. Calibration set.

Table 3. Appraisal set.

These estimates were derived using the software SESAME Version 2.05 written at The Ohio State University. For additional information, please refer to Buckeye Dairy News Vol. 5, Issue 2, March 2003.