PRODUCTION CATCH-UP Data on production of compounds, blends and concentrates in Great Britain in 2017 is currently available for the first ten months of the year
In total, production amounted to just over 9.5 million tonnes,
349,300 tonnes or 3.8 per cent more than during the equivalent period of the previous year. To set this figure in a broader context, this is the largest total for the time period in question since records started to be kept in their present form in 1992. It is not possible to make a comparison with years prior to 1992, as data was then collected on a quarterly rather than on a monthly basis as at present. However, at its current level, production in the first ten months represents a second successive year of record production since the same period in 2013, when production hit 8.93 million tonnes, largely as the result of atrocious weather experienced during the first three months of that year. Production of feeds for cattle and calves during the ten months
under review, at 3.38 million tonnes, was ahead of year earlier levels by 219,000 tonnes or a substantial 6.9 per cent. Production of cattle and calf feeds accounted for 35.6 per cent of total production compared to 34.6 per cent during the previous year. However, to set this figure in its long-term context, the record figure for the period in question during the twenty-six years under review was the 3.5 million tonnes reported in 2013, succeeded by the 3.4 million tonnes reported in the succeeding year. What drove production of cattle and calf feeds in the first ten
months of 2017? Of the 219,000-tonne increase, 108,000 tonnes, or 49.3 per cent arose from increased production of compounds designated for dairy cows. There was also a 41,600 tonne or 6.8 per cent increase of production of blended feeds for dairy cows. This is likely to reflect the evolution of farmgate milk prices in Great Britain which, simply averaged in the twelve months ending in October 2017, amounted to 27.74 pence a litre excluding bonus, compared
Editor’s Notebook is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd
to an equivalent figure a year earlier of 22.86 pence, an increase of 4.88 pence or 21.3 per cent. Dairy farmers naturally sought to take advantages of these improved market conditions; however, it will have been noted that several dairy companies have recently announced reductions in the price that they will pay for milk, the effects of which are likely to begin to emerge in the coming months. Production of compound feeds and blends for non-dairy cattle
during the ten months under review amounted, respectively, to 537,800 tonnes and 225,300 tonnes, up by 17,500 tonnes or 3.4 per cent and 12,800 tonnes or 3.4 per cent on the equivalent period a year previously. Part of this is likely to have arisen as a spin-off from increased emphasis on the dairy herd. Another source of increased demand for feeds would be an increase in cattle numbers, both beef and dairy. Unfortunately, no data is available for December 2017 for obvious reasons, but the June data for England suggests that while the numbers of animals in the beef breeding herd of two years and older was unchanged in June 2017 compared to a year earlier, there was a significant increase in the number of beef breeding animals of less than two years old. The number of beef cattle of between one and two years old rose by 13,000 or 2.9 per cent and the number of beef cattle of less than one year old rose from 510,000 to 529,000, an increase of 19,000 head or 3.8 per cent. This data is thus suggestive of increased consumption of feed by beef animals as a result of increased population. It needs to be noted that the numbers of cattle in England are
derived from the Cattle Tracing System, they are therefore, not subject to the same reservations concerning other data in the Census that are derived from survey data. As regards feeds for pigs, production of these during the first
ten months of 2017 amounted to 1.49 million tonnes, 7,500 tonnes or 0.5 per cent less than in the corresponding months of 2016. There were two divergent trends evident in the data. The largest declines in production were in finishing and breeding feeds, down respectively, by 10,200 tonnes or 1.3 per cent and 8,700 tonnes or 2.6 per cent. Growing feeds were also down by 3,600 tonnes or 1.3 per cent. Conversely, production of link and early grower feeds during the first ten months of the year, at 91,800 tonnes, was 12,500 tonnes or 15.8 per cent more than in the corresponding months of 2016. There were also small increases in the production of pig starter and creep feeds and also in the production of protein concentrates for pigs. The proportion of feeds for pigs as a percentage of total production
www.cfegroup.com PAGE 4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 FEED COMPOUNDER
of compounds, blends and concentrates amounted to 15.7 per cent during the period under review, down from 16.4 per cent in the
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