I changed feed companies in the summer after receiving some sub-standard feed. I wouldn't have been to bothered had the company taken the complaint seriously but they didn't. After using the new supplier for a few months, I noticed milk disappearing. I'd gone from some cows giving over 60L to none giving over 40L. I spoke to the rep and he changed a few things but to no real avail. He mentioned poorer quality silage this year but we opened the clamp 6 weeks before we switched cake when everything was ticketyboo.
I eventually decided it must be the feed and sent a sample of 38% meal and 18% cake for wet chemical analysis. Surprise, surprise the meal came back at 35.7 and the cake 16.6. I did that maths and in order to make the ration up to the advertised protein level, I need to feed an extra £0.24/h/d of the meal. Obviously unimpressed I spoke to the rep and was told the feeds are within tolerance.
After checking the legal requirements, he's right. An 18% feed can be as low as 15.75% and a 38% meal can be a low as 35%. I did the maths on these numbers as well and that would cost me an extra £0.40/h/d. Apparently there are around 1.85m cows in the UK. That means feed companies are LEGALLY aloud to cost uk dairy farmers over £270m a year by selling sub-standard rations within the legal tolerance.
So legally, there's nothing I can do except walk, however in future I will be sending random samples off for analysis to ensure the feed companies are closer to the mark. I suggest everyone considers doing the same.
I eventually decided it must be the feed and sent a sample of 38% meal and 18% cake for wet chemical analysis. Surprise, surprise the meal came back at 35.7 and the cake 16.6. I did that maths and in order to make the ration up to the advertised protein level, I need to feed an extra £0.24/h/d of the meal. Obviously unimpressed I spoke to the rep and was told the feeds are within tolerance.
After checking the legal requirements, he's right. An 18% feed can be as low as 15.75% and a 38% meal can be a low as 35%. I did the maths on these numbers as well and that would cost me an extra £0.40/h/d. Apparently there are around 1.85m cows in the UK. That means feed companies are LEGALLY aloud to cost uk dairy farmers over £270m a year by selling sub-standard rations within the legal tolerance.
So legally, there's nothing I can do except walk, however in future I will be sending random samples off for analysis to ensure the feed companies are closer to the mark. I suggest everyone considers doing the same.