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Food: Production

Answer

We have not made a specific assessment of the advantages of enabling the United Kingdom meat and dairy industry to reduce its reliance on grain feedstuffs but we are commissioning research in partnership with industry into ways the livestock industry can reduce its reliance on grain. The mix of feedstuffs for livestock is a commercial decision made by farmers based on nutritional requirements, the production system used, available forage and relative costs of different elements of the feed. Data from the farm business survey in England show that feed costs vary widely both between and within livestock sectors and much of this variation is due to differences in the efficiency of feed use. For example in 2009-10, on dairy farms ranked by gross margin performance, the bottom 25 per cent of farms incurred concentrate feed costs of around 8 pence per litre compared to nearer 6 pence per litre for the high performers. Beef, sheep and milk producers can reduce their reliance on feed grains by boosting the forage component in the diet, but weather can be an important factor impacting on forage availability as will the economic return from competing enterprises for land. Pig and poultry producers are more limited in their ability to vary the grain content of feedstuffs, but high performers will have better feed conversion rates and the average across the sectors as a whole are continuing to improve over time. The environmental impacts of different livestock production systems are complex. For example, more intensive grain-fed beef production systems see cattle slaughtered at a younger age than more extensive grass based systems, with potentially less methane emissions over the lifetime of the animal. But for any given system, more efficient feed use will improve both economic and environmental performance. In partnership with industry, Defra is funding research (Project LK687) on genetic improvement of perennial ryegrass to develop varieties with enhancement of sugar levels 8 per cent beyond that seen in material currently available to farmers. Increases in readily available forage carbohydrates should offset grain inputs to beef and dairy systems on an equivalent feed energy basis. Defra is also funding work, in partnership with industry (Project LK694), to develop reliable prediction equations of the energy content and degradability characteristics of maize silage for use by the UK dairy and beef industries. Better knowledge of the nutritional value of maize silage will help to improve the efficiency of nutrient use in balanced rations, including resource-efficient grain inputs.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

10859; 729 c204-5WA

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Cereals Animal feed Livestock

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk