MORDEN, Man. – Brigitte Leitgeb likes wheat that is higher in protein. Vic Poutreaux does not.
Their preferences help illustrate why winter wheat growers need to think more about where they intend to sell their crop before putting seed in the ground next spring. New markets are emerging and buyers are becoming fastidious about the qualities they want.
For companies that mill flour, such as the one Leitgeb manages, protein is important because it affects gluten strength and the quality of bread that will be made from the flour. Although the protein levels in winter wheat varieties tend to be lower than in red springs, that shortcoming can be partly overcome by blending the two, provided the quality is not too poor.
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One factor enticing millers to look more closely at winter wheat is the continuing variety improvement. Also appealing is the tendency for winter wheat to sell at a lower price.
“It tends to trade at a discount to red springs.”
Leitgeb, general manager of Prairie Flour Mills Ltd., is interested in a red winter wheat like Falcon to blend with red springs for flour. One of the challenges, she said, is finding a steady supply, partly because farmers generally like to move their winter wheat to market as quickly as possible after harvest.
“Last year, Falcon was as good as the red spring,” she said, referring to its milling qualities.
“I could have used it just like a bread wheat.”
That was not quite the case this year, but the quality of the crop was still good.
Poutreaux, manager of swine nutrition for Landmark Feeds, looks at wheat from a different angle. Protein content is not ignored, but it’s not as important as some other benchmarks in what makes good hog feed.
“When we’re buying grain, what we’re really buying is the starch and energy,” he said during a winter cereals school held recently in Morden. “We’re not really buying protein.”
While he does not like protein levels to fall below 11.5 percent, he said high protein can also be a drawback in wheat used as swine feed. A certain level of protein is needed because it provides amino acids essential to the diet, but excess protein pushes up the energy and water used by hogs to remove unwanted amino acids.
For example, said Poutreaux, one percent excess protein can cause pigs to drink nine to 10 percent more water per day.
The result is more slurry and added expense for the hog producer to dispose of it.
“I don’t want a lot of high protein wheat like the bread guys,” Poutreaux said.
Also important to hog feed companies is food safety. They don’t want grain that might have been accidentally tainted by pesticides because those chemicals could appear in the meat of slaughtered hogs, raising an alarm for buyers if detected.
“Feed companies really are turning into food companies,” said Poutreaux, noting the grain must also be free of bacterial and viral pathogens.
Vomitoxins that are associated with wheat and barley crops infected with fusarium head blight can hamper feed intake, resulting in poor weight gains. That’s why feed companies have low tolerances for those grains, he said.
