Winter wheat into feed market

[craig]

I was talking to a farmer from the Vegreville area recently and he said that some of the feedmills he had approached to sell winter wheat into were bad mouthing the product mostly because of low protein. Looking for comments from other growers. In our area we are experiencing no problems.

[charliep]

A couple of questions.

1) What variety of winter wheat? My understanding is some of the newer varieties have better protein.

2) Protein only has value if someone is willing to pay for it. Does the mill pay premiums for protein? If they do, then the answer is to get a feed test and price your product accordingly.

At the Feed and Fodder conference AARFD is putting on in Red Deer next week. Are their any feed mills that pay based on nutrient content? Do they pay premiums for committed delivery periods or the ability to call for delivery at their notice (i.e. deliver at 48 hours notice).

[rain]

Winter wheat has never been readily accepted by the feed mill industry. Generally speaking if a mill considered it at all it was with a $5.00-$10.00/MT discount to CPSR varieties if they will take it. Why would anyone have seeded winter wheat without knowing this. Lets put in the ground and we will do something with it later is not good planning.

[craig]

Charlie. My understanding is that most in the feed industry buy wheat for energy and protein is considered a none issue. The question becomes what are the reason's the feed trade has for not liking winter wheat. In past I have heard comments such as winter wheat not being quite as hard as spring types and not milling as well. My concern is that like many things half truths or a bad experience a long time ago maybe influencing present day thinking. I have seen a lot of nutritionists that work for large feed companies who are not up to speed in the industry. Winter wheat is used in many areas (Ours included; Red Deer area) for feed with no complaints from the end users. Kestral may have given the industry a bad name as it showed piebald quite often. I would suggest that some of the newer varieties would stack up much better than the other option which in many years is frozen CPS

[charliep]

Craig

Thanks for your comments. I think it is really important to understand our customers objections to our product - feed grain (be they fact or fiction) and deal with them head on. I don't want to give any buyer a reason to discount a product when it is not warranted.

[craig]

Rain To condemn winter wheat for feed without knowing the reasons behind it is no smarter than supposely knowing your end market before you plant. The feed industry gave every reason in the book for not using peas and yet we have proven that peas are a good replacement for soybeans. The feed industry also use to discount CPS to HRS wheat for feed. Sometimes the buyer will try to convince you that your product is inferior just to be able to buy it for a discount.If there is a legimate reason to discount the crop then I need to understand why. Craig

[rain]

Because you have not convinced the enduser you have a product he wants. It is up to you to convince him your product works for his needs not the other way around.

[charliep]

Just a note we have been looking at feed grains at AAFRD. One of the things we have noted is the need to do more feed trial type and processing research. The objective is not to find out what the buyer and seller think about the feed grain alternatives but rather let the animals themselves communicate their needs through feed trials/other research type activities. There seems to be at least some interest in doing this type of research work with funding from all levels of government and the different commissions. The objective is to work with buyers and sellers in understanding the value of different feeds.

[Braveheart]

In Manitoba winter wheat has been accepted at feed mills and colonies for a few years (with no discount). Winter wheat became actually more sought after because it usually had much lower vomitoxin levels. Fusarium head blight has ravaged HRS varieties here since the early nineties, and rendered most HRS wheats unacceptable for feed.

Feed mills here used to try to discount winter wheat due to the protein issue. Most farm managers soon learned to remind feed mill grain source people that wheat was the energy portion of the ration. The protein in wheat is not made up of the types of amino acids that build muscle or promote growth. No one wants to have it known that their product might be substandard.

Braveheart

[craig]

Just wanted to do a follow up based on recent conversations with the feed trade. There is amble information and experience that shows winter wheat works just as well as CPS or Hard Red Spring in feed rations. Protein levels are not an issue unless it was extremely low. Over the last few years most of the winter wheat produced has ended up in the feed market in large enough volumes that if there had been problems they would have shown up.In fact many feeders have a preference for winter wheat because of the higher level of quality that's associated with its early harvest. Anyone having problems selling winter wheat should let the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission know.