More than 100 people at Friday’s Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation's annual beef forum in Wagga heard of Charles Sturt University research evaluating the use of canola meal, a by-product of oil production, as a supplementary feed ration for beef steers.

Michael Campbell, from CSU's School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, said preliminary results were positive.

“It’s gone really well so far, we’ve got live animal performance as good as feeding grain based pellets,” Mr Campbell said.

“We haven’t seen any negative impacts on meat colour or fat colour so it’s all looking positive at the moment.”

The 60-day trial, conducted by CSU Bachelor of Animal Science (Honours) student Emma Lynch, saw 20 steers fed a supplementary ration of canola meal and another 20 steers fed pellets.

The canola meal was a bulk by-product of canola oil production and was sourced from oil producing facilities across the Riverina and northern Victoria and served as a supplement at 2.5kg a day.

It was included on the Pasture Fed Cattle Assurance System eligible supplements to maintain grass fed certification.

“Pasture growth and quality can be variable throughout the year and supplementary feeding in a grass-fed production system is one way producers can meet carcase specifications,” Ms Lynch said.

​“The canola meal we have used is a by-product of oil production and in recent years it's been a cheaper option than the pellets producers often use to supplementary feed their cattle.

“There is an increasing demand for grass-fed beef that complies with the Pasture Fed Cattle Assurance System. 

“The advantage of using canola meal, rather than supplementary feeding with a traditional finishing grain diet, is that producers can still meet the PCAS guidelines.”

The economical canola meal has been used in pork and poultry operations, and some dairy farms, but rarely as a pasture supplement in sheep or cattle grazing operations.

“Especially low quality pasture. Over summer northern Victoria and Riverina is dry with a lot of stubble,” Mr Campbell said.

“This canola we’ve been using is high quality protein which should increase the fed intake on those low quality pastures.

“One of the key points of the whole trial was maintaining grass fed certification. Processors cannot get enough grass fed cattle.”

The steers were weighed every 14 days to compare growth rates and blood samples were taken to study the fatty acids, in particular Omega-3.

Steers were slaughtered in the lead-up to Friday’s forum, allowing Ms Lynch to assess the meat quality along with the fatty acid composition of the carcase.

“The fatty acid data, in particular the amount of omega-3, will provide valuable information that will link with other projects examining human health attributes of meat,” she said.

"I hope to be able to give producers more information about the effect of canola meal on live animal performance and carcass quality so they can make better decisions about how to fill the feed gap in their production systems.

"The study will also provide useful information for processors about how canola meal influences the carcass traits of grass-fed beef cattle."

The research is supported by a Graham Centre Honours Scholarship and supervised by Mr Campbell and NSW Department of Primary Industries livestock research officer Edward Clayton.

The Graham Centre is a research alliance between CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.