winter wheat into the feed market

[craig]

Wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. Talked to a producer today who was trying to sell winter wheat to a feedmill. They turned him down when they found out it was winter wheat claiming the protein was too low. producer said protien was 11.5 to 12. Moral of the story. A lot of time CPS wheat will have low protein( below 11%. The feedmills are buying feed wheat for energy not for protein.I do not believe they have any grounds for turning winter wheat down. I have sold winter wheat into the feedmarket on many occasions and have never had a complaint about it's quality. Probably 90 % of people who work in a feedmill wouldn't be able to tell the difference between HRW and HRS wheat. If you run into this situation you need to do a few things. First ask why it is being turned down and then clarify why. If it's protien ask if they have a minimum acceptable level. If it's not then ask for an explanation. If you still have problems let the winter wheat commission know. It's frustrating when some nutritionists are still living off one bad experience or heresay. If there are feed studies to support their position then that is a different story. I don't believe that's the case.

[FarmRanger]

Craig, I sold winter wheat to a feedlot this fall. I was apologetic because it had 9.5% protien, but he didn't care. He was only using it for the energy.

[TOM4CWB]

Craig,

I think the biggest issue is to let the people know before hand (before it is priced) that you have winter wheat.

Protein is relatively cheap...

The sad part is the CWB is partly responsible for this mess. Because they won't allow PX below 11.7% into the system... (.2% above the 11.5 minimum) when there are massive milling markets globally for this lower px winter wheat... especially if it is a select variety.

THis is simply inexcusable... as is the CWB only taking 80% of the CWRS offered on the A series contracts.

This year especially when the world is actually much shorter than normal of lower px milling wheat supplies.

[TOM4CWB]

Craig,

It is almost this simple.

Select Winter Wheat 11.5 PRO is $203/t
If the wheat is below 11.7px, it is worth the PRO $188/t.

There obviously must be something wrong with this wheat... or it would not be at a $15/t discount...the grain buyer can easily justify economically the position he took. And who can do anything about it!

It sure has the effect of keeping winter wheat acres low... and allows the CWB to cherry pick CWRS... at a discount price! Keep the volume down... less work that way!

If you were lazy... and wanted an easiest sell... wouldn't you do the same thing?

[Braveheart]

Craig, you're absolutely right, wheat is the energy part of the ration. I have run into this before and questioned the buyer asking them if they were short changing their customers on "usable" protein, ie. lysine by trying to count on the less usable proteins in cereal grains. He couldn't or wouldn't answer but ended up buying the winter wheat.

But here is something interesting. I sell winter wheat to a local dairy farm. They send their feeds to the U.S. for testing. Our winter wheat samples they sent to their U.S. lab came back at close to 19% protein. The same sample in Canada tested only 9.8%. Go figure. Anyway they use the U.S. test to formulate their rations (the company testing the feed does their rations as well), and their results whether going for protein in their milk or milkfat, are always spot on their target. Again, go figure.

[TOM4CWB]

Braveheart,

I will test my protein as well. I agree there is something strange going on.

We must be patient with the CWB... they have been messed with; and Greg Arason has a big job bringing this organisation back into reasonable management. It is important that we work together to resolve these issues.

Being extreme is not where we need to go... but we must solve these problems so people can work with our institutions and create value on both ends... grower and end user... this needs to be our objective.

[stubblejumper]

Tom it is amazing how you can turn any subject into an anti CWB rant.

[Braveheart]

Sorry Tom, I have no patience for the CWB, and even more so when it comes to winter wheat. But, back to making feed.

It's not the protein in feed that animals need for growth, it's the amino acids that make up protein. Cereal grains contain a number of amino acids, mostly in small amounts but don't contain the major one conducive to growth (for animals) that being lysine. Soybean meal, and to a lesser extent canola meal, have the levels of lysine required to be a good protein source for hog or poultry feed (which I suppose Craigs feedmill was sourcing for).

Anytime a feedmill starts rejecting a sample of wheat because the protein is low I get suspicious. This sounds like a company just wanting to meet the analysis on the feed tag without enough concern about the performance of the feed.

But it's a free market so buyer beware.

Hey Tom, just think how cheap that livestock feed must be in Algeria.

[TOM4CWB]

stubblejumper,

It is amazing how much power the CWB has in our western Canadian grain marketing system. Power to LOWER our domestic prices!

"single desk" marketing has many responsibilities that accrue to it... I take them seriously... I hope you do as well!

Is telling the truth a "Anti-CWB Rant"?

A Soviet era joke from the Czech Republic; After the 1968 invasion when asked how things were going, the response was "Everything's normal. The situation is desperate."