Establishing canola meal as the protein supplement of choice for growing beef cattle and dairy heifers

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The growth in canola seeded acreage (>20 million acres in 2012) has facilitated the expansion of the Canadian canola crushing industry. For example in Saskatchewan alone, crushing capacity has grown to exceed 4.5 million tonnes generating in excess of 2.5 million tonnes of canola meal annually. As a result, the supply of canola meal has expanded greatly and finding new markets is becoming more important than ever for the canola sector. To this point, the vast majority of the research on canola meal in cattle diets has been with lactating dairy cattle. While this is an important market, in Canada it is limited in size due to the nature of the dairy industry. In contrast there has been limited work targeting the protein needs of growing cattle, specifically beef steers/heifers or growing replacement dairy heifers. Both are important potential markets. For example, there are approximately 444,000 dairy heifers in Canada while the beef sector consists of ~ 4.1 million beef cows and ~ 4 million calves annually. There is also in excess of 2.5 million head of cattle fed for slaughter annually. This project will attempt to establish canola meal as the preferred protein supplement for growing beef cattle and dairy heifers. In order to do so, it will compare performance and rumen fermentation and microbial protein flow in growing cattle relative to other commonly used protein sources. By doing so it will provide an alternative national market for canola meal that will help support canola meal pricing, benefiting both the canola processor and ultimately through higher prices and demand for canola meal, it will support higher prices for canola growers.