NSC Soy

Dr. L.E. Chase, Cornell University, analyzed the highest producing herds in the world whose nutritionists would share information and the rations were fed consistently over time. Energy corrected milk was 110.8 to high pens, Fat 3.77 %, Protein 3.06%. Of the 53 groups selected, the preferred protein feed fed to high groups was an Expelled soybean meal (EE-SBM), like NSC Soy. 79% of respondents feed an EE-SBM. 60% of the highest producing farms used a combination of SBM and EE SBM. It is reasonable to think the other combination of popular protein products used was Canola and EE SBM, as the Rumen Degradable Protein content of Canola would complement a high bypass, energy dense product such as NSC Soy.

All protein sources have different levels of EAA’s and tend to complement one another when fed in combination. Based on the locality of the protein source, price per ton can drive some proteins out of formulation and make others more attractive. The trick is to evaluate the protein types equally. Perdue Agri evaluated 7 protein sources to determine how many pounds, as fed, it would require by feed stuff, to produce 100g of metabolizable protein in the cow. They indexed the Amino Acids from AA profile of the feed source and NASEM, 2021 milk protein prediction equation relative to SBM to perform the evaluation. The following table presents the Amino Acid profile index, the amount (lbs) of each feed to produce 100 grams of Metabolizable Protein (MP), the cost per ton, cost as fed to produce 100g of MP and rank of each feedstuff based on its cost effectiveness.

Amino Acid Index ranking cost effectiveness of Protein Feedstuffs

Diets high in unsaturated fatty acids have been shown to depress milk fat production. Fiber digesting bacteria produce acetate, the volatile fatty acid that is the building block of milk fat, is particularly sensitive to unsaturated fatty acids. These bacteria use a process known as biohydrogenation to detoxify the rumen. Biohydrogenation reduces particularly harmful unsaturated fatty acids to less harmful fatty acids and some of these isomers can actually prevent fat synthesis at the udder. The most harmful of these unsaturated fatty acids is Alpha-linolenic acid 18:3 which is found primarily in fresh forages, like direct cut hay. The most common unsaturated fatty acid is “linoleic” acid 18:2. All plant based feeds contain some level of UFA’s and the condition of the rumen ecosystem has more to do with the ability of bacteria to biohydrogenate fatty acids. For example, rumen acidosis is the most common culprit of causing Milk Fat Depression (MFD). The shift from Acetate producing bacteria (which produce fat) are washed out by propionate producing bacteria (which drive milk flow) due in part fiber digesting bacteria being unable to biohydrogenate fats thus causing them to die off.
RUFAL stands for Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load and is best used to trouble shoot MFD events. The cooking process used to manufacture NSC Soy denatures part of the fatty acids in the raw soybean into a more Rumen inert form that doesn’t alter rumen bacteria to the extent that other vegetable oils do. Linoleic acid, C18:2, is the most prevalent fatty acid found in soybeans. Our heat treating process significantly reduces the linolenic acids that can contribute to MFD and increases the Oleic fraction. The lower the unsaturated load is, the less harmful it is to fiber digesting bacteria.

Quality control is paramount to producing NSC Soy consistently. Each batch is sampled and tested daily for key nutritional indicators. Compiling data from a third party lab, RockRiver, we analyzed NSC Soy and two other regional Expeller meal products that were averaged over a 90 day period.

CNCPS 6.55 was used to model the diet of multiparous Holstein cow, 150 DIM, 90 lbs of 4.0% BF 3.2% MP and 65 days pregnant. Forages, grain and additives were held constant, and proteins were allowed to float to meet protein and amino acid requirements.