Home grown Protein – Time for Lupins has arrived

We have relied very heavily on soya and rapeseed meal for the last few decades but change has to come with pressure on the bad carbon footprint of soya and the agronomic problems with rapeseed forcing many growers to abandon it. Protein prices are currently very high and unlikely to return to 2019 prices in the short to medium term. At present the soya price for summer 2021 is around £90-£100 up compared to last year and Rape up by around £70. We need a more sustainable way of feeding our high producing livestock and now is the time to look at ways to produce more homegrown protein.

Different forage options can increase homegrown protein supply:

• Use of tetraploid ryegrass rather than straight Italians.

• Higher inclusion of white clover in longer term leys or red clover in short term leys

• Less maize or whole crop and more grass silage in diets

Whilst these can help there will still be a demand for extra protein in all systems not relying heavily on grazing. Beans are a good option to replace some of the cereals grown and they are a good break crop and do fix nitrogen to help the next crop. Peas are a possibility, but they do grow very close to the ground and can be difficult to combine.

Lupins

Going back 10-15 years a lot of farms did grow lupins, but the agronomy was difficult, and a couple of wet Septembers meant harvesting was a nightmare. The winter lupins some farms grew didn’t like wet winters and failed so very few farms have grown them in recent years, but time has moved on and the circle has closed so we need to look again and focus on spring crops.

White flowered lupins will be the variety of choice in the South of the UK and these would be planted in late March or early April and be combined in September. Yields are typically 1.5 to 2 tonnes per acre. The protein content is around 40% so much higher than beans or peas and the quality of the protein is good making a good soya replacer. They also fix 60-80 kg N for the following crop.

The late harvest means getting the lupins dry enough to store can be a problem but treatment with Propcorn is the most cost effective and best when crimped. The thick seed coat means caustic treatment is not cost effective and urea treatment of whole grains not reliable. However, crimping at harvest and then urea treating would work well. Avoid drying them, they get very hard and difficult to process.

In the diet, unless crimped at harvest, they would need processing in some way for dairy cows and cattle over 12 months old but for goats, sheep and cattle under 12 months old the whole grains can be fed.

Next steps

Try a small area of lupins this year, if you don’t have any bare land then consider ploughing out your most worn-out grass land so you can reseed in September (check if you need an environmental impact assessment if ploughing up old permanent pasture) or reduce maize acreage slightly. We have no reservations at all about feeding Lupins, you just need to work with your Agronomist to grow some! Start discussing it now so you can get seed bought this month.

Please call us if you want to discuss this in more detail and also take a look www.soya-uk.com/lupin/

Stewardship Success!

The final agreements are in for our 2020 Countryside Stewardship applications, and we are delighted to have secured £700,000 for our clients! This equates to an average of £45,000 per farm, and with BPS disappearing in the coming years this really is money that cant be ignored.

The applications ranged from full 5 year Stewardship agreements across the entire farm, one of which is worth £64,000 to one farm, to smaller Water Capital Grants for items such as roofing over a muck store, or fencing individual fields.

I am a great believer that a Stewardship Scheme needs to fit alongside your farming operations, rather than stand in the way of it. Very often you can be paid for farming practices you are already carrying out, and in those cases it really is money for nothing - an opportunity we cannot miss!

Our application list for 2021 is already twice the size of last year's, so if you are interested in discussing options for your farm, please get in touch with me as soon as possible as the deadlines will be upon us before we know it!

Dont forget your BPS will be reduced this year. You can get an idea of the reduction you will see by using our calculator which you can find here This calculator will soon be extended to cover the reductions you will see in future years.

Stay safe.

Sam Kelly

sam@kellyfarmconsulting.com

07777 696080

Lameness: the importance of Biotin in dairy cow rations

Lameness is regarded as the 3rd most common reason for cows to be culled on UK dairy farms after mastitis and fertility issues. On average, the cost of lameness is in the region of £330/case, and there are many factors that contribute to this figure;

The initial treatment and hoof pairing

• Reduced feed intake (due to pain and unwilling to walk to feed trough)

• Poor fertility (lack of energy)

• Discarded milk if treated with antibiotics

• Vet costs and medicine

• Culling cost

It goes without saying that regular foot trimming and picking up the feet of lame cows quickly is very important to reduce the incidence of lameness. But if you are still seeing issues with lameness in your herd, feeding Biotin could help to reduce the issue.

Reducing lameness will also reduce antibiotic usage, which is becoming an increasingly important issue.

What is Biotin?

Biotin is a water-soluble B – group vitamin or sometimes referred to as vitamin H. It is an essential nutrient for all animals as it plays an important role in the health of skin, hair and horn production.

How does Biotin effect the cow?

Biotin plays a key role in several metabolic processes synthesising glucose (precursor for milk production), fats and amino acids, most importantly for dairy cows to produce Keratin, the protein structure involved in horn (hoof) development.

How to know if my cows are deficient in Biotin?

The first signs that your cows may be deficient and need biotin added to the diet are increased dermatitis and increased soft tissue problems in cows feet but in particular a high incidence of white line lesions. Most of you have sorted out tight corners and rough floors which will increase white line lesions but if they are still a problem then Biotin may well help.

Why is Keratin so important?

A cow’s hoof is similar to our finger nail, both contain Keratin and this is needed as an internal support to give a hoof/finger nail strength. The cells of the hoof horn are bonded together, cementing the keratin structure to each other. Biotin increases the keratin production in the corium thus increasing the strength of the horn. When you visualise the cell structure of a weak formed hoof it would resemble a dry-stone wall, no cohesion, loose and no bonding between the cells. Then on the other hand, a healthy strong hoof would resemble a brick wall, strong, compact and well bonded.

Does biotin work?

There have been many trials across the world comparing groups of cows being fed no biotin and being fed 20mg/cow/day. The results show that cows being fed Biotin have a reduction in lameness, improved locomotion and a reduction in repeat lameness cases. This would suggest that cows are getting less problems and when they do get an issue they are healing and recovering more effectively.

Biotin can be added to all of our group minerals, but please give us a call to discuss the appropriate action.