New Technology Brings New Opportunity in China

CHINA - The U.S. Grains Council recently helped purchase near infrared radiation (NIR) equipment for Huaxia Dairy Farm, a USGC partner farm for the Sino-U.S. Dairy Management Training Center and one of the most advanced dairy operations in China.
calendar icon 19 June 2009
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NIR technology rapidly analyzes nutritional qualities of feed content, enabling Chinese dairy farmers to implement superior feeding practices, says the USGC. The NIR equipment will be used to set up a forage lab at the Sino-U.S. Dairy Management Training Center. "The use of low quality forage is currently a big constraint for the Chinese dairy farmer," said Cary Sifferath, USGC director in China.

"NIR technology will enable Chinese dairy farmers to evaluate their forage and help promote the feeding of full ear corn silage in modern dairy operations, thus increasing the demand for feed grains in China." Benefits of NIR technology are not limited to Huaxia dairy farm. Dairy producers across China can send feed samples to be analyzed for accurate nutritional content, allowing for more cost-effective practices.

"Currently, Chinese dairy farmers don't know the quality of forage because there is so much variability," said Mike Callahan, USGC senior director of international operations for Asia. "This technology will provide Chinese dairy farmers to take a step towards higher corn silage, and feed grains use in larger-scale commercial operations." NIR technology will enable large commercial Chinese dairy farmers to increase production efficiency and reduce costs by augmenting feed to an appropriate ration for livestock.

"The amount of arable land for harvesting feed grains in China is limited," said Sifferath. "As more dairy operations use full ear corn silage, it will decrease the amount of Chinese corn available for other domestic uses in China, thus generating a future demand for U.S. feed grains exports in a current almost non-existent Chinese import market."

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