SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – When he was a cocksure 19-year-old, Peter de Jong jumped on a great feed deal for his dairy ration.
“I was able to get it for about nothing,” he said about the large quantities of waste garlic, onion and leek crops in his region of California.
“I picked it up and put it in the ration. Then we started getting complaints from school kids about the flavour.”
The same applied to using too much cauliflower, broccoli or citrus fruits. California has an array of crops for milk producers to choose from when forming their ration, but they have to be careful with the balance of more than fat, protein and carbohydrate.
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De Jong, who farms in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno in central California, is able to use feed sources such as carrots, pomegranates and cottonseed meal, as well as the smellier crops already mentioned. He explained his industry to producers at the Canola Council of Canada annual convention in San Francisco, Calif., March 18.
He’s also a major user of canola meal, usually using about 70 tonnes per day for his 16,000 milking cows in normal years.
This year, his canola content has been slashed in half because of the salmonella bans on many Canadian crushing plants.
Manitoba-born California dairy nutritionist Peter Robinson said that makes the California dairy feed industry a much more complex creature than the one on the northern Prairies.
“Years ago, when I worked in the dairy industry in Saskatchewan, if a guy was feeding more than four ingredients, this was a very complicated ration,” Robinson said.
In California, a typical ration contains 15 to 20 ingredients. That offers producers an ability to pick and choose between protein, fat and carbohydrate and creates an aggressive feed-versus-feed cost situation.
For instance, de Jong said this winter canola meal prices have increased, so he has cut that ingredient and mixed in cottonseed meal and alfalfa.
Two years ago, when alfalfa got expensive, he brought in a mix of canola meal and straw as a substitute for his heifers and dry cows.
“You’re always manipulating the ration trying to make the least-cost ration that still gives you the same performance,” de Jong said.
Canola meal’s price has shot up with its scarcity because of the border ban, shoving producers into other ingredients.
Last year, California imported 800,000 tonnes of canola meal or about one third of Canada’s production. This year, it will probably end up at only half of that amount.
Canola council meal specialist Dave Hickling said canola meal is popular with California dairy producers because it is consistent. Unlike all the other local ingredient sources, which can vary widely in consistency and quality, canola meal is predictable.
“That’s not necessarily there (with local feed sources in California,)” said Hickling.
De Jong said the need to import protein sources makes feed rations less competitive. He doesn’t expect to see the dairy industry expand.
“Milking more cows in California I don’t think is in the cards … just because of feed availability.”
