Dry weather & exports drive stockfeed surge
Demand for Manildra Stockfeeds’ highly nutritious and extremely palatable stockfeed pellets for all ruminants has been boosted by a dry winter at home, and increased exports to New Zealand, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan produced at Manildra’s state-of-the-art, purpose-built pellet mill at Nowra.
Manildra Stockfeed National Manager Tim Wirth said dry conditions in NSW had contributed to a significant boost in sales of dried distillers’ grains, wheat bran and syrups for beef cattle, lactating dairy cows and sheep.
“We’re feeding an estimated 420,000 head of cattle daily in Australia and New Zealand – including feedlots, pasture supplementing beef cattle, lactating dairy cows, calves, bulls and heifers,” Mr Wirth said.
“We produce a range of liquid feeds based on molasses from our sugar refinery in northern NSW, and distillers’ solubles from our starch- gluten-ethanol production at Nowra.
“Every week we process 11,000 tonnes of stockfeed (mainly loose commodity product) and of that, 5000 tonnes is value-added production, namely pellets.”
Mr Wirth said demand for Manildra’s high-protein stockfeed pellets began trending up late last year with the new harvest, when there was “plenty of grain about, but very low protein content”.
“Coupled with a lot of dry weather north of NSW and a typical winter to the south, demand has significantly increased for dried distillers’ grains and soluble proteins,” he said.
“Our pellets are highly nutritious and extremely palatable to all ruminants and a balanced source of fermentable proteins and non-fibre carbohydrates.”
Manildra Stockfeeds’ DDG-S Wheat Pellets are formulated from Manildra’s unique brewers’ grains and enhanced by the addition of extra- soluble wheat proteins and cereal starch.
Leading Australian Hereford breeders Peter and Deanne Sykes, of Mawarra Herefords down at Longford in Victoria’s East Gippsland, feed 300 breeding cows Manildra’s DDG-S Wheat Pellets.
“It’s incredibly dry at the moment, so the DDG-S pellet is perfect with a combination of roughage,” Mr Sykes said. “Manildra’s DDG-S Wheat Pellets are some of the most palatable I’ve seen. The cows and calves love them, waiting at the gate each morning for the feed to arrive.”
With his cows calving twice a year, the DDG-S Wheat Pellets help maintain the cows’ condition and assist milk production to give calves a good start.
He feeds the cows about 3kg of pellet each per day, trailing it out through pasture as they eagerly pick it up. His cows with five-month-old autumn calves are now enjoying the DDG-S Wheat Pellets, along with cows being joined now.
“It works really well alongside the roughage we are providing the cows and gives the extra protein and energy that they don’t get out of the hay,” Mr Sykes said. “Milk production has increased under this feeding regime, with the calves looking better.”
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