Farmers Business Network (FBN), the global AgTech platform and farmer-to-farmer network, has officially confirmed that its livestock-focused division has partnered with Boveta Nutrition to conceive a proprietary feeding system for beef cattle. To understand the significance of such a development, we must take into account a set of studies conducted by Boveta where it discovered that backgrounding cattle on a forage diet showed a $0.20/lb. cost of gain advantage when on Boveta’s balanced diet supplement. Next up, the studies showed how cattle on Boveta’s amino acid balanced finishing diet consumed 15% less feed, and at the same time maintained daily gain, thus delivering an average savings of $0.07 per pound gained. Another detail which came to the fore, thanks to a large commercial feedlot study, happened to depict a clear $30/head advantage for steers on the Boveta diet. As for the impact it has on the environment, Boveta’s optimized diet is understood to cut back on methane by an range of 8 to 12%. Alongside that, it also ensures that roughage can be scaled back from beef feedlot diets to further decrease input costs and reduce methane by up to 30%. Keeping the same in mind, this partnership will bank upon Boveta’s feed formulation to facilitate a more effective brand of delivery for the nutrients. Once that is achieved, it should automatically get the cattle to consume less feed but maintain, or even increase, their gain or milk production.
Talk about availability, Boveta’s proprietary solution will be initially available to FBN cattle operators in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and South Dakota. However, there are plans already in place to expand nationwide and beyond at some point down the line.
“Amino acid balancing has been a standard nutritional practice in the swine and poultry industries to drive margin and animal growth but we haven’t been able to solve the riddle with beef cattle until now,” said Dr. Monty Kerley, Senior Ruminant Nutritionist at Farmers Business Network. “After decades, we finally believe we’re able to deliver this solution to beef producers and its unique potential to decrease feed costs while maintaining optimal growth.”
The partnership between FBN and Boveta comes at a time when ranchers across US are dealing with rising fertilizer and corn prices. A more specific representation of the same would reveal itself if we look at the data provided by USDA Economic Research Service. Going by the stated data, prices for beef cattle feed were up 16% in May 2022 relative to May 2021.
“Our studies clearly demonstrate the economic benefits of our system. It’s exciting because we’re delivering on our goal of enabling livestock operations to function more efficiently and profitably while minimizing feed waste and lowering the environmental footprint of meat and milk production,” said Greg Mills, president and CEO of Boveta Nutrition.
We touched on Boveta’s utility in the context of this partnership, but what we still haven’t discussed how FBN will also chip in massively through what is one of US’ biggest farmer-to-farmer networks. To give you an idea regarding the same, the organization’s Farmers First® promise, which focused on helping farmers maximize their farm’s profit potential with data and technology enabled direct-to farmer commerce, community and sustainability offerings, has already attracted more than 55,000 members till now.
