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

油菜籽种植面积的增长(2012年为2000万英亩)促进了加拿大油菜籽压榨行业的扩张。例如，仅在萨斯喀彻温省，粉碎能力就增长到超过450万吨，每年产生超过250万吨菜籽粕。因此，菜籽粕的供应大大增加，寻找新的市场对菜籽粕行业变得比以往任何时候都更加重要。到目前为止，关于牛日粮中菜籽粕的研究绝大多数都是针对哺乳奶牛的。虽然这是一个重要的市场，但在加拿大，由于乳制品行业的性质，它的规模有限。相比之下，针对成长中的牛的蛋白质需求，特别是肉牛/小母牛或成长中的替代奶牛的蛋白质需求的工作有限。两者都是重要的潜在市场。例如，加拿大大约有444,000头小母牛，而牛肉部门每年有大约410万头肉牛和大约400万头小牛。每年也有超过250万头牛被饲养供屠宰。该项目将尝试将菜籽粕确立为生长肉牛和奶牛的首选蛋白质补充剂。为了做到这一点，它将对生长牛的生产性能、瘤胃发酵和微生物蛋白质流动与其他常用蛋白质来源进行比较。通过这样做，它将为菜籽粕提供一个替代的全国市场，这将有助于支持菜籽粕的定价，使菜籽粕加工商受益，最终通过更高的价格和对菜籽粕的需求，它将支持菜籽粕种植者更高的价格。

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.