Dairy Feed Co-products: The Ultimate Recycling Story

It’s a well-kept secret in the dairy industry that needs to be shared, according to longtime dairy nutrition researcher and educator Dr. Larry Chase: how dairy cows can take the “leftovers” of human food and fiber processing and turn them into high-quality protein that humans can consume in the form of meat, milk, and other dairy products.

Chase, who has spent a storied career for 40 years in the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University and another decade as an Emeritus Professor and industry consultant, told listeners on a recent edition of The Dairy Podcast Show that cows also perform this nutrient-conversion hat trick with amazing efficiency.

“In the last probably 10 years, there’s been a lot of research effort on how much protein a cow can produce versus how much she consumes,” noted Chase. “When you go through the rations, especially those with higher levels of co-products, it’s very common for cows to produce 2-1/2 to 3 times more human edible protein than she consumes. That’s a really great advantage for the industry, and a good reason to use those co-products.”

Chase said co-products also play a key role in substituting for forages in regions where forage sources are more scarce, costly, or both. He noted Florida and California as U.S. dairy regions that rely heavily on co-products like citrus pulp, brewers’ grains and yeast, fruit pomace, cottonseed meal and gin trash, wheat middlings and more. Both states maintain excellent milk production despite rations commonly containing forage inclusion rates of just 35-40%.

Another example is Israel. There, alfalfa is quite scarce and expensive but co-products are plentiful, and forage inclusion rates may drop even lower, to just 30%. Yet Chase said Israel has the highest average milk production in the world.

According to Chase, much of the original research assessing cows’ conversion efficiency of co-products to human edible protein was performed in Europe, specifically Austria. The European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) has developed a colorful, highly informative and well-illustrated brochure that can be used to tell the story of dairy protein recycling to consumers.

“We need to be talking more to our consumer friends as to how the cow is really helping with the sustainability of the whole system,” stated Chase. “Especially because the other option for those co-products is the landfill.”

For more on nutrition, read:

• U.S. Harvest Analysis Reveals Variable Mycotoxin Risk, Alltech Reports 
• Interest Growing in Inulin for Lactating Dairy Rations
• The Sweet Spot for Oral Calcium Supplementation
• Can We Improve Colostrum Through Dam Nutrition?
• 5 Ways to Help Minimize Feed Refusals
• In Search of the Maternal “Goldilocks” Diet