Lower cost, same performance...
When specialist feed ingredient costs rise to the degree they have done there are generally just three options to take:
• bite the bullet (pay the price and keep using the product);
• stop and suffer the inevitable consequence of poorer production, or;
• look for another product that is just as effective, but cheaper.
Well, the latter option is exactly what Advance has done for its C16 Protected fat energy-supplementing product. C16’s core ingredient – palm fat – has been increasingly used in other industries and sectors, and that has driven-up the price significantly to more than £800 a tonne. Environmental arguments against using palm fat have also increased in recent years, which Advance has taken into consideration with its sustainable usage policy.
For the last few months Advance has therefore been working with its suppliers to source “the perfect alternative” – a C16 replacement that is cheaper, but which has the same energy boosting qualities. The new Advanced E50 is the result!
Advanced E50 is based on a formulation of coconut, rapeseed and palm oil, plus choline, which improves liver function, and it is half the price of C16! The equally good news is that cows fed on diets containing Advanced E50 have performed exactly the same as those on C16 - the only difference is the £400 a tonne you’ll be saving.
Anthony Gothard (pictured), a partner in Chedzoy and Gothard at Slough Court Farm, Stoke St Gregory, Taunton is one of the first to save from the introduction of the new product. Milking 360 cows with an average yield touching 10,000 litres on a Sainsbury’s contract through Dairy Crest, he can’t afford to get his cow’s nutrition wrong, and has relied on the high energy C16 supplement in his predominantly maize ration for several years now. Because of the escalating cost, though, the farm’s nutritionist Mike Bray, from Advance’s sister company Kite, convinced him of Advanced E50’s credentials, and the switch was gradually made over a three-month period. “I have not seen any difference in our cows’ performance,” he says.
“There have been no issues with them. The only change has been the price, and the savings. I’m really delighted with it.”
Chris Laycock, of Advance, estimates the savings will be equivalent to around 11p/cow/day or around £4,000/100 cows/year, accounting for the fact that C16 was fed at around 0.5kgs per cow per day and Advanced E50 needs to be upped to around 0.75 kg per cow to deliver the same amount of energy. “Advanced E50 is a great product that comes with financial and environmental benefits. I urge farmers who are still on C16 to get in touch and make the switch as soon as possible,” he says.