Better balanced fatty acids

WATERVILLE, Minn. —Saemrow Dairy has boosted herd productivity and lowered costs for the past six years through balancing fatty acids in the ration using the high oleic soybeans they raise.

Wayne Saemrow said energy-corrected milk — the combination of milk production and fat and protein — has gone up since high oleic soybeans were added.

Saemrow dairy farms with his three brothers — Ron, Gordon and Keith. Saemrow Dairy manages 825 milking and dry cows, which are housed in a freestall barn and milked in a double-12 parallel parlor.

Saemrow Dairy has been planting Pioneer Plenish high oleic soybeans since 2019. Pioneer had reached out to Saemrow and his brothers to see if they would be interested in growing and feeding high oleic soybeans to their herd. The family had worked with Pioneer on other projects and decided to give it a try. At that time, Saemrow said they had been working on fatty acid balancing for their herd.

Saemrow noticed cost savings in their fatty acid balancing at the dairy after adding high oleic soybeans. Since making the switch, they were able to replace palm fat and calcium salts in their ration.

All soybeans have about 20%-22% fat or oil, and traditionally that fat is higher in linoleic acid, said Barry Visser, Vita Plus Corporation dairy technical specialist. What makes high oleic soybeans different is a modification has been made to give them a higher oleic acid versus linoleic acid fatty acid profile.

Being able to balance fatty acids in the ration Visser said helps improve milk components.

“Typically, what you’ll see is a milk fat increase and a butterfat increase, again because that fatty acid is more rumen friendly,” Visser said.

When it comes to feeding high oleic soybeans, the first step is getting them processed. Visser said each farm is different on how finely they grind their high oleic soybeans. Particle size choice can differ depending on the amount being fed and other elements of the ration.

“With these high oleic beans, we actually want that oil to be more available in the rumen, so the most efficient way to do that is to grind them finer and make the particle size smaller,” Visser said.

Saemrow Dairy has used trial and error to find the best processing method for their soybeans. The soybeans are first roasted, then ground up prior to being fed. Grinding the soybeans gives better digestibility, Saemrow said.

“We actually noticed right away that it was a good feeding program,” Saemrow said. “We only improved it over the years as we improved our grind and our processing on the beans.”

Initially the dairy rolled the beans. As time passed, they rolled them finer and finer before ultimately, they switched to hammer milling.

“When we went to hammer milling, we really, truly saw the positive impact,” Saemrow said.

In order for farms to feed standard levels of urea and soluble protein alongside soybeans, the soybeans must be heat treated or roasted.

“The challenge is the logistics of (high oleic soybeans),” Visser said. “They have to be roasted or heat treated in some manner, but roasting is most common. (Also) they have to be stored separately and processed.”

This thermal processing deactivates the trypsin inhibitor and makes it safer to feed higher levels of soybeans in the ration.

“Anytime you heat treat a soybean or a bean you make the protein portion more rumen undegradable, so you will get more of the protein to the intestine,” Visser said.

Out in the field, from Saemrow’s experience, planting and harvesting methods for high oleic soybeans are the same as traditional soybeans in terms of growing, disease management and weed management. However, the Plenish soybeans are long season only, with the shortest maturity being 1.9.

“These are long-seasoned beans and the best yielding ones are actually 2.1 (maturity),” Saemrow said. “You need to be aware of that and get them planted early.”

The Plenish soybeans are only available as Roundup Ready, Saemrow said. There are no Enlist traits on the market yet. Yield-wise, Saemrow said the production on high oleic soybeans has been comparable to traditional soybeans.

Overall, Saemrow said he is happy with the results of using high oleic soybeans.

“I’m very commonly meeting my goal of 4.5 (butterfat) and a 3.3 (protein),” Saemrow said. “During the heat here, it dropped to a 4.2 butterfat, but (that is) still good.”