Lallemand Animal Nutrition is launching a new practical guide to help farmers harness the full potential of fibre from forage, a crucial area of opportunity for those looking to build business resilience in the face of industry change and rising input costs.

The Forward with Fibre guide sets out step-by-step advice for dairy and beef farmers to improve on-farm efficiency and make savings, through making better use of fibre at every stage within its on-farm cycle. This begins with maximising fibre potential when the crop is in the ground and extends right through to improving the value of the fibre in the manure.

According to nutritionist, Roy Eastlake, focusing on fibre offers a huge opportunity to offset some of the external input costs that can heavily erode margins while also improving environmental credentials.

“Many farmers are still missing out on the significant potential fibre from forage offers, despite it lying well within their management control,” says Mr Eastlake.

“As the agricultural industry transitions through some of the biggest changes seen for a generation and input costs continue to eat away at small margins, attention to detail to maximise efficiency in this area is an absolute must.”

Highlighting some tangible benefits of improving fibre utilisation, Mr Eastlake cites the 2021 Kingshay Dairy Costings Focus report, which shows that moving from the bottom 25per cent of herds for milk from forage, to the top 10per cent increased margin by 4.36 pence per litre.

“Similarly for beef producers, trial work has shown that a 12 per cent increase in neutral detergent fibre (NDF) can boost average daily gain by 90g/day,” he adds.

To get a copy of the guide, visit https://bit.ly/3sr6exg or head to the Lallemand Animal Nutrition stand (B119) at Dairy Tech in April