Many users of the current C
 Traffordgold were very keen to examine the potential of the New C
 Traffordgold and so KW supplied development product to a series of dairy farmers to seek their views. Below are some comments from the various farms where New C
Traffordgold was originally evaluated.. Messrs Sowary, three brothers, from near Harrogate, Yorkshire, milk 300 cows giving circa 8500 litres and feed a TMR with, grass, maize and whole crop silage, straw, potato chips, pressed sugar beet pulp, Spey Syrup plus a protein blend alongside 8kg C
Traffordgold. "When we swapped current for New C
Traffordgold we saw no change in milk production or any feeding problems, it appeared very palatable but it is much denser than the current product - the bucket was very heavy" remarked Mr Sowary. "That will save a trip or two to the clamp" he adds. Similarly David Leeming, who also farms near to Harrogate and milks180 cows producing circa 8500 litres, replaced 8kg of current with New C
Traffordgold in a TMR with grass silage, straw, SpeyMol, and a wheat, rape soya blend. "When I introduced C
Traffordgold I thought I saw an increase in milk production, certainly there were no feeding problems, it appeared very palatable though there's more weight in the bucket," summarised Mr Leeming, I see great value in moist feeds as they improve the palatability of the mix and are very competitive against dry feeds. I will be buying it if the price is right," he concludes. In May/June 2006 James Hodge, JTH Farms, Skelmersdale, Lancashire needed a buffer feed to support the yields of 300 cows giving 8000 litres where fresh grass supply was limited partly due to the hot dry weather and reduced use of dry straights. "Over a 2-3 month period I received 3 trial loads of deliberately varying dry matter and fed 6kg in TMR with grass silage, bread, wheatfeed, SBP and Soy Hulls plus fresh grass. The New C
Traffordgold replaced some of the more expensive wheat and soya. I had highs giving 40 litres plus and a milk quality at that time of 3.8% fat and 3.3% protein. I was pleased to see that yields and quality were maintained when feeding C
Traffordgold and I saved on feed costs," he explains. "It appears to do the job" KW claim, "We tried two different dry matter products, the trial wetter product was like molten lava and couldn't do anything with it, it oozed everywhere, the drier product stacked and kept very well with only a small bit of mould, we just pushed it up with the bucket and pressed the top down," he adds. "I'm waiting on price to see if I will feed it this year. If the price is right I'll happily take 1,000 tonnes in a clamping deal," he concludes.
These early studies identified the optimum ratio of the fermentation liquor and wheatfeed allowing KW to move on to more detailed scientific studies to determine the Metabolisable energy (ME) and protein degradability characteristics and feed value of New C
Traffordgold. As with all branded products AB Agri used ruminants in precise feeding studies to determine these values rather than a feed laboratory as we empathise with producers who wish to know the real value of a feed product as their stock see it! Under the auspices of Dr Liam Sinclair, Harper Adam University College (HAUC) the ME and protein degradability of New C
Traffordgold was determined. KW recognise that these are difficult tests and to give more practical meaning they tested US maize gluten feed at the same time to give a relative value. "The metabolisable energy content of the New C
Traffordgold was high at 13.4 MJ/kg DM compared with 12.0 MJ/kg DM for the maize gluten," states Dr Sinclair in his report to KW. It is 11.6% higher than the maize gluten feed and ironically the same approach was taken with the current C
Traffordgold under the control of Professor Ian Givens, ADAS Feed Evaluation (now closed) and then the current C
Traffordgold was 11% higher than the maize gluten feed. Much of the protein in New C
Traffordgold is rumen degradable as it is supplied mainly from the fermentation liquor that is made up of small particles of feed, much of which are yeast. This is common with other distillery feeds such as Vitagold. New C
Traffordgold has the greatest economical benefit to the producer when it replaces relatively more expensive concentrates, especially manufactured compounds. Hence, to demonstrate the potential in very controlled conditions, KW embarked upon a dairy feeding trial at the Scottish Colleges, under the supervision of Dr Dave Roberts, Nick Offer and Jenni Bell. Up to 7.5 kg of dairy compound were replaced with New C
Traffordgold with the most economic benefit being achieved when 5 kg of compound were replaced *. New C
 Traffordgold feed rate | | Milk yield (kg/d) | 30.40 | 30.80 | 30.60 | 30.20 | | Fat (%) | 3.32 | 3.50 | 3.42 | 3.20 | | Protein (%) | 3.32 | 3.29 | 3.27 | 3.25 | | | Milk value (p/litre) | 15.97 | 16.18 | 16.02 | 15.65 | | Milk revenue (£/cow) | 4.85 | 4.98 | 4.90 | 4.73 | | | Actual Compound feed rate | 11.50 | 8.96 | 6.39 | 4.00 | | Actual New Traffordgold feed rate | 0.00 | 5.26 | 9.81 | 14.10 | Purchased Feed cost (£/day) | 1.61 | 1.51 | 1.37 | 1.24 | | Margin over feed (£/day) | 3.24 | 3.48 | 3.54 | 3.49 | | Margin increase (% of control) | | 7.1% | 9.0% | 7.5% | | DFOB Schedule 2006/2007 | | Milk Fat Price (pence per 1%) | 1.50 | | Milk Protein Price (pence per 1%) | 2.00 | | Base Price (pence per litre) | 2.35 | | Volume Adjust (pence per litre) | 2.00 | | New Traffordgold price (£/tonne) | 48.00 | | Compound Price (£/tonne) | 140.00 |
In the conclusion of the SAC report the research scientists stated, "It may be concluded that New C
Traffordgold can be incorporated into a dairy cow ration to replace dried concentrate of the same nutrient density on a DM basis with no loss of yield." [* Based on New C Traffordgold @ £48 per tonne and compound at £140 per tonne and the 2006/2007 D of B milk contract]
| 
Testimonials
