Envirolac

About

UFAC developed a new palm-free fat supplement, Enviro-lac, manufactured from locally sourced vegetable oils together with fish oils. The selected research partner facility to test the product was the University of Nottingham Centre for Dairy Science Innovation, led by Professor Phil Garnsworthy Enviro-lac was incorporated into the Partial Mixed Ration (PMR) fed to the cows ad libitum at a rate of 0.5 kg/day. For the Control diet, the rumen-inert fat was Megalac, based on palm oil, fed at 0.5 kg/day. Cows were more efficient in feed utilisation when fed on Enviro-lac, the new fat supplement. It increased milk yield (+0.6kg/d), fat (+0.16%) and protein (+0.05%) concentrations with no difference in dry matter intake. The potential financial benefit to UK dairy producers based on current market prices for the products under trial and liquid milk is £52 per cow per year. This equates to in excess of £85m to the total UK dairy herd (AHDB Jan. 2022 dairy herd numbers). Enviro-lac increased the proportion of short and medium chain fatty acids synthesised in the mammary gland pointing towards improved rumen fermentation, leading to higher acetate production. Although the new fat supplement has a higher fibre content than Megalac, it did not increase methane emissions. Feed carbon footprint of the new fat supplement was approximately one third of the footprint of Megalac, and reduced the feed carbon footprint per kg of milk by 11%. The reduction in carbon footprint could help to reduce land use change associated with growing palm trees. Enviro-lac contains fish oil. There is a trend towards healthier milk shown by the Milk Fatty Acid profile analysis, in particular with regards to Omega 3 DHA.