Blackwater boy
Moderator
Following on from @ithastopay suggestion I will get the ball rolling and make a few points as to ingredients and their feed values.
All feeds can be rated on either a UFL which is the feed value used for milk or UFV which is the feed value used for beef production. Most guys use the UFL value for both which is fine as they tell a similar story. I'll just name a few values on an as fed basis to give you the general gist.
Barley at 14% moisture has a ULF of 1
Wheat UFL of 1
Oats UFL of .9
Soya hulls UFL of .89
Citrus pulp UFL of 1
Beet pulp UFL of 1
Soyabean UFL of 1
Distillers UFL of 1
Maize UFL of 1
Rapeseed UFL of .94
Gluten UFL of .93
Beans UFL of 1
All the above are what I call class A ingredients and have no problem with them in feeds. What I have a major problem is with the following which appear a lot in feeds from certain mills.
Sunflower UFL of .67
Palm kernel UFL of .8
Pollard (wheat feed) .75
Cottonseed UFL of .74
Malt culms UFL of .66
The above are the energy values only but the protein and the quality of that protein is also important but I won't go into it but soya, distillers, rapeseed and beans are all high energy and high quality protein.
Sunflower, cottonseed, pollard and palm kernel can be used as protein sources also bit are both very poor in energy and poor quality protein.
The high energy and high quality protein feeds are expensive and the low energy low quality proteins are cheap. It's easy to make cheap feed using the cheap ingredients but the quality of it and the impact it can have on either milk or meat Production far outweighs the cost saved.
Minerals and cal mag have to go into most feeds and these have zero UFL value so they can drag down the overall UFL of the feed. In general finishing feeds should be .95-.97 UFL and dairy feeds .93-.95.
All feeds can be rated on either a UFL which is the feed value used for milk or UFV which is the feed value used for beef production. Most guys use the UFL value for both which is fine as they tell a similar story. I'll just name a few values on an as fed basis to give you the general gist.
Barley at 14% moisture has a ULF of 1
Wheat UFL of 1
Oats UFL of .9
Soya hulls UFL of .89
Citrus pulp UFL of 1
Beet pulp UFL of 1
Soyabean UFL of 1
Distillers UFL of 1
Maize UFL of 1
Rapeseed UFL of .94
Gluten UFL of .93
Beans UFL of 1
All the above are what I call class A ingredients and have no problem with them in feeds. What I have a major problem is with the following which appear a lot in feeds from certain mills.
Sunflower UFL of .67
Palm kernel UFL of .8
Pollard (wheat feed) .75
Cottonseed UFL of .74
Malt culms UFL of .66
The above are the energy values only but the protein and the quality of that protein is also important but I won't go into it but soya, distillers, rapeseed and beans are all high energy and high quality protein.
Sunflower, cottonseed, pollard and palm kernel can be used as protein sources also bit are both very poor in energy and poor quality protein.
The high energy and high quality protein feeds are expensive and the low energy low quality proteins are cheap. It's easy to make cheap feed using the cheap ingredients but the quality of it and the impact it can have on either milk or meat Production far outweighs the cost saved.
Minerals and cal mag have to go into most feeds and these have zero UFL value so they can drag down the overall UFL of the feed. In general finishing feeds should be .95-.97 UFL and dairy feeds .93-.95.
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