Dairygold has launched an Irish beef feed, available in both a cube and a coarse ration; the ingredients are Irish cereals and beans.
According to Liam Leahy – manager of the tillage and beef division at Dairygold – the company purchases approximately 110,000t of Irish cereals each year and wants to support its local tillage farmers.
Speaking to AgriLand, Liam stated: “We are anxious to show our allegiance and support to the tillage industry as much as possible, not just by paying strong prices in a very pressurised market but also by promoting home-produced feeds from native grains.”
The ration, which will be sold as the ‘Gold Farm Beef’ coarse ration, is also accessible cubed and is now available.
The protein content of the coarse ration is 12.5%, while the cube comes in at 12% protein. UFL values are at 0.97 and 0.95 respectively.
The ‘Gold Farm Beef’ coarse ration will retail at €250/t, while the cubed ration will be available for €265/t.
The rations do not differ in price when compared to a similar feed, which contains ingredients such as maize, distillers and soya.
Committed to beans
In January of this year, Dairygold announced a contract price of €210/t (at 20% moisture content) for beans for the 2019 harvest season, showing a commitment to home-grown protein. Farmers who grew non-contract beans were paid a price of €200/t.
Harvest prices
At the beginning of this month Dairygold announced its grain prices for harvest 2019. A top price of €143/t (20% moisture) was paid for feed barley, while €150/t was paid for feed wheat where farmers had fulfilled minimum purchase requirements.