Stories of the Heartland September 2026 | Page 41

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men-protected bypass fat that is fed to dairy cows to deliver concentrated energy directly to the small intestine, sparing the rumen).

“ High oleic soybeans are rumen-friendlier than high-linoleic fats and help avoid milk fat depression that is seen with conventional soy or early high-fat distillers,” he said.

Visser said while research has pushed feeding up to 15 pounds of high oleic soybean meal to dairy cows, a more realistic“ sweet spot” is about six to eight pounds per cow daily taking storage space and cost in mind. He also recommends producers who are considering introducing high oleic soybeans into their dairy herd’ s diet to start out small and increase over time rather than feed more than six pounds from the get-go.

Myer said the introduction of high oleic soybeans and the results from feeding them has been monitored closely at Enchanted Dairy. Back in 2024 before high oleic soybeans were introduced, the dairy cows were fed a mixture of canola, gluten, cottonseed, corn silage, haylage and standard soybean meal. The cows were also milking well for the time.

“ When we decided to put these beans into production, we were getting them roasted elsewhere, not here on the farm, and we wanted to fully see what the beans could do. We wanted to fully pull out all the supplemental fat out of the diet, we pulled back the RDP( Rumen Degradable Protein) urea source, the RUP( Rumen Undegradable Protein) source, so we were feeding a synthetic blood( a processed, dried powder meal made from animal blood that is high in protein and nitrogen). We pulled this all out to let the beans shine to see what would happen with this,” she said.

Myer said the average analysis on the beans in 2024 showed a result of being 82.3 % oleic and 4.2 % linoleic, meaning the fatty acid profile was really favorable. Prior to introducing the high oleic soybeans, the energy content of the milk in kilocalories per kilogram of milk fat( ECM) was 103.5 for Enchanted Dairy in December 2024.

“ January, we started the year out with a bang. We put the beans in right away, first part of January, and we saw about a four pound energy corrected month increase. We went up to

107.49. I’ m not guaranteeing that in every single situation. Obviously, the beans are going to be different everywhere,” she said.

Myer said genetics of the cows may also make a difference. As they continued to feed the beans to the cows, they also considered other variables that could make a difference, including how finely they grinded the beans into a powder.

As of February 2025 when the beans were removed from the cows’ diet, the ECM at Enchanted Dairy was 108. At that point in the trial, they wanted to see how they could keep going without the beans and what that would look like. Another part was also that they had a limited among of beans since only 200 acres had been planted.

Myer said she looked at the ration given to each cow, including the amino acids and the fatty acids, and tried to replicate what was in the beans in order to keep seeing what the cows would be doing when they were taken off the beans.

Costwise, the Enchanted Dairy saw significant feed cost savings the first year, around 50 cents per head

MBC

Drainage LLC

Sheila McCoy / Stories of the Heartland

Visitors at the field day held at Enchanted Dairy, in Little Falls Aug. 14, had an opportunity to learn about the benefits of feeding dairy cows high oleic soybeans and the roasting process, including touching the final product mixed in the cows’ feed.

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