2018 Gold Cup Winner, Metcalfe Farms, show positive results from including NovaPro in its feed regime.
Stratford-upon-Avon, 26th of September – Metcalfe Farms are among the early adopters of the new high energy rumen-protected protein, NovaPro™, launched earlier this year by Yelo Enterprises Ltd. Metcalfe Farms have been steadily reducing their hipro soya feeding rates and are now using a 68% NovaPro™, 32% Soya ratio. The 525ha dairy farm consists of 1,300 pedigree Holsteins and is based in Leyburn in North Yorkshire. The business, owned and run by Philip and his two brothers Brian and David Metcalfe, was the recipient of the prestigious NMR RABDF 2018 Gold Cup.
“NovaPro™ has given us an opportunity to reduce our soya footprint and adopt a homegrown source of protein and energy. We started integrating it into the ration about 4 months ago and are gradually reducing our hipro soya inclusion,” says Philip Metcalfe.
Dr Anna Sutcliffe, the KW nutritionist overseeing the reformulation of the ration says: “NovaPro™ has cost-effectively replaced hipro soya in the ration maintaining milk yield and constituents to expectation. We are also seeing reduced milk urea levels indicating improved nitrogen efficiency”.
The comparative milk performance of feed regimes based on rapeseed proteins versus soya protein has been well documented across many academic studies. A meta-analysis of some 49 different studies (Martineau et al. 2013) showed that milk yield and dry matter intake were generally improved with rape-based feeding regimes. More specifically, pressing plants that produce (“expeller”) rapeseed protein feeds have a higher residual rapeseed oil component that increases the metabolizable energy content of the resulting feed by around 1 MJ/kg above conventional solvent extracted rapemeal. NovaPro™ is a further evolution of an expelled feed, undergoing gentle heating with a wood sugar technology that greatly improves its rumen bypass protein content. A recent controlled farm trial at the University of Nottingham further explored the benefits of incorporating NovaPro™ in rations.
“In a trial in which NovaPro™ replaced soya, we witnessed an additional 1.7 litres of milk per cow per day alongside improved dry matter intake (DMI), compared to the control diets of soya and rapemeal extract. The analysis identified better amino acid balance and protein utilisation, with no significant effect on milk constituents,” says Dr Michael Marsden, Head of Innovation at Trident Feeds.
“The trial demonstrated an improved MOPF of 28p/cow/day on the NovaPro™ diet,” adds Dr Marsden.
Two thirds of the UK’s protein requirements are met by imported protein sources, such as soya. However, there is increasing scrutiny from NGO’s and retailers to understand their feed supply chains and the full environmental impact of the feeds they source.
Strategically located in the heart of England near Stratford upon Avon, Yelo’s NovaPro™ production facility also generates its own heat and power renewably, from UK sourced low-grade biomass residues, making it one of the most energy and carbon-efficient production sites in the UK.
Kevin Ball, CEO of Yelo, is looking to the future: “We are proud to be championing UK farming and developing higher value products from homegrown rapeseed. We are very excited about NovaPro™, now seeing farm evidence of it successfully replacing soya in dairy rations. Furthermore, whilst we are focussing on reducing our footprint, with a carbon efficient operation, we are producing a protein feed that, in turn, helps the dairy sector improve its nitrogen efficiency,” he concludes.
About Metcalfe Farms
Washfold Farm was established by Frank Metcalfe in 1940. At that time the farm consisted of a dairy herd, numbering 20 cows. Today David, Brian and Philip Metcalfe, Frank's grandson's, along with their father John and mother Thora, have 1,300 pedigree Holstein cows on their 3,200-acre Washfold farm and adjacent farms. David, Brian and Philip run the farms and are involved in Agricultural and Haulage contracting. The most recent addition to Metcalfe Farms has been a commercial & automotive repair business, which deals with all types of vehicles. More at: www.metcalfefarms.com
About KW Alternative Feeds
KW lead the development of alternative feeding in the UK, making it the natural choice on high performance livestock farms. Today, the choice of alternative feeds is greater than ever and KW offer the widest possible range of dry, moist, liquid, blended and compounded feeds alongside more traditional straights, minerals, vitamins, protected fats and silage additives. For more information please visit www.kwalternativefeeds.co.uk
About Yelo
Yelo are at the forefront of the UK food and agricultural industry, proud to produce UK sourced and sustainable products from rapeseed with its unique manufacturing process. Based in Warwickshire, the state-of-the-art production facility is powered by renewable energy. Here at Yelo, we believe that keeping manufacturing processes to a minimal help preserve the natural goodness of the rapeseed, yielding nutritious foods for human and animal consumption. This innovative, solvent-free and non-waste producing approach delivers optimised performance, and as we use 100% UK-grown rapeseed, we deliver with a small footprint. Please visit: www.yelo.com
Note to editors
Photos available on request.
Contacts
Sophie Le Metais 07876 860661 sophie.lemetais@yelo.com
Ed Hopkins 07940 968 704 yelo@greenhousepr.co.uk
