How much does the soybean crush industry rely on the Canadian cattle industry?
Beef cattle don’t consume very much high protein feed ingredients. Their protein requirement is quite low (less than 10% as they get older), so barley actually provides most of the protein they need (it contains 11.5% protein). For dairy cattle, half of its intake is typically forage (grasses, hay, etc.). The other half is a concentrated ration. Of that, up to 25% could be a high protein “by-pass” protein, such as soybean meal. Other commonly used “by-pass” proteins are canola meal and fish meal.
