Agriculture and Forestry: Feed Lab Responsive to Client Needs

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Feed Lab Responsive to Client Needs

Prince Edward Island livestock producers have long recognized the importance of a well balanced feeding program for maximizing profitability of their operation. Many Island producers routinely submit samples of their feed ingredients to the Prince Edward Island Soil and Feed Lab for analysis. Lab staff can determine the dry matter, crude protein, bound protein, acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), mineral, ash and crude fat content of feeds and feed ingredients as well as the pH.

The Soil and Feed Lab has a well-deserved reputation for providing fast, accurate analysis of livestock feeds. In 1994, results of over 3000 feed samples were reported with an average turn around time of just two days.

Despite this high level of service, the staff of the lab have not been content to leave well enough alone! Quite the contrary, the staff have been improving their quality control methods and record keeping to become accredited by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In addition, lab staff have been working on additional laboratory methods for analyses requested by their clients. As a result, soluble protein analysis is now available upon request.

This is especially good news for dairy, beef and sheep producers since determination of soluble protein, in addition to crude protein, provides valuable information on the protein quality of fermented forages. Armed with information on the soluble protein content of their forages, dairy, beef and sheep producers will be better able to determine the appropriate supplemental protein source(s) to balance their rations.

The cost for determining the soluble protein level is $4.50 for producers and $9.00 for non-farmers. On top of the basic package or you can select the new comprehensive silage package which includes determination of dry matter, crude protein, bound protein, soluble protein, ADF, NDF, macro and micro minerals, as well as pH and calculated values for NEL, DE and TDN. This package is a real bargain at $20.00 for producers or $40.00 for non-farmers.