Native chickens that eat rice taste better! Livestock Research Institute develops domestically produced rice feed: chicken and duck breast meat is tender and juicy, and pork tastes better too

The domestic feed self-sufficiency rate is only 5%, and corn imports alone reach as high as 4.2 million metric tons! At the same time, the self-sufficiency rate of domestically produced rice is as high as 107.9%, with public grain stocks overflowing. The Livestock Research Institute (abbreviated as "Livestock Research Institute") of the Council of Agriculture tried replacing feed corn with domestically produced rice to feed seven kinds of livestock and poultry including chickens, ducks, geese and pigs, and found that meat pigs and native chickens that eat rice become more delicious! Lee Tsung-yu, assistant researcher at the Livestock Research Institute, pointed out that brown rice increased all the monounsaturated fatty acids in the meat, "chicken breast meat is more tender and juicy, enhancing the flavor of the meat."

Chuang Lao-ta, deputy director-general of the Agriculture and Food Agency, stated that the domestic annual safe stock of public grain is maintained at about 400,000 metric tons, used for emergency materials and war reserve grain, while the remaining stock is sold through various channels, with high-value uses sold first, such as exports, student and military rations, judicial grain, and rice for processing. "Using aged rice as feed requires sound management methods to prevent it from flowing back into the edible rice market and disrupting market prices."

"Taichung Sen 17" has high yield and low production cost, making it especially suitable as feed

Rice has feasibility as a substitute feed ingredient for corn, but must it be the "Taichung Sen 17" variety? Lai Ming-hsin, a researcher at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute responsible for breeding specialty feed rice varieties, explained that corn is the carbohydrate source in formulated feed, and rice is also a carbohydrate source, so differences in protein and amino acid content among different rice varieties are not the main factor in selecting feed rice, and using public grain rice that is mostly "japonica rice" is also no problem.

"Using any rice variety as feed has roughly the same effect, but the lower the production cost, and the higher the yield and stronger the disease resistance, the more suitable the variety." Therefore, "Taichung Sen 17" was ultimately chosen for the "rice feed" trial.

Processing aged public grain rice into rice feed has a price advantage

While increasing the feed self-sufficiency rate, there is also hope to open up a diversified consumer market for rice. In recent years, Taiwan has been affected by changes in dietary habits and the impact of low-priced imported rice, and domestically produced rice is generally in oversupply. In 2017, average per capita rice consumption was 43 kg, nearly 15 kg less than 20 years ago, and last year 200,000 metric tons of fresh rice went unsold domestically. Japan, which faces the same situation as Taiwan, has in recent years developed "rice-fed pigs" and created distinctive poultry meat products, which have also gained popularity in the consumer market.

By comparison, if Taiwan wants to fully promote "rice feed," it must first solve the cost problem. Lai Ming-hsin pointed out that the production cost of domestically produced grain is inherently high, and moreover no variety suitable for feed rice production has yet been bred, so it may be hard to compete with the average imported corn price of 7-9 yuan per kg. Only by using dumped aged public grain rice processed into "rice feed" and pairing it with relevant supporting subsidies could the cost of use avoid too large a gap with corn feed, and also help reduce the storage pressure of public grain rice.

Although the Livestock Research Institute strongly promotes domestically produced rice to replace imported feed corn, at this stage no feed company has developed "domestically produced rice feed." Lee Chun-fang explained that the production and management of domestic feed rice is not yet mature and is still in the trial period. To establish a complete rice-fed livestock and poultry industry, it will still be necessary to develop specialty feed rice varieties in order to ensure stable supply and lower operators' costs. At present, it is recommended to move public grain that has been stored too long, is of poor quality, and is no longer suitable for further processing into feed use, expanding the diversified use of aged rice and also solving the problem of public grain disposal.

Agricultural by-products can also be used, increasing the domestic feed self-sufficiency rate

In addition to rice, the Livestock Research Institute also promotes enriched feed sources. For example, using 12% corn distillers grains to replace corn and soybean meal not only does not affect the laying rate of laying hens, but can also improve egg yolk color; whole-plant rice silage can also serve as a good feed source for lactating goats; in addition, using rice by-products (rice bran, rice hulls) and soybean meal to feed meat goats can save livestock farm feed expenses and also effectively reduce the cost of handling agricultural waste, further increasing the domestic feed self-sufficiency rate.

Pig farmers: The plan is feasible, but a stable source of raw materials is needed for long-term use

In response, Su Tseng, an operator at "Central Livestock Farm," said that pigs have a keen sense of smell and like to eat what they are used to. Regarding the practice of replacing corn with rice, he believes that as long as the feed formula is properly adjusted and all the nutrients pigs need are met, growth performance and carcass quality should not be greatly affected. "Rice has lower protein content than corn, so in making the formula, more soybean meal must be added to supplement it."

"Whether raw materials can be supplied stably" is the key to implementation. He further explained that foreign corn is convenient to purchase, and if rice at a price similar to corn is to be obtained, one must wait for the aged public grain rice publicly tendered by the government each year. "But the amount released each year is unstable. If the formula is adjusted well and then there is not enough public grain, the feed the pigs are used to eating will have to be changed again." He believes that feed raw materials that are price-competitive and can be supplied stably are the first choice for pig farmers.

Agriculture and Food Agency: Public grain disposal should prioritize the highest-benefit uses, with feed as the last option

In response, Chuang Lao-ta, deputy director-general of the Agriculture and Food Agency, stated that the domestic annual safe stock of public grain is maintained at about 400,000 metric tons, used for emergency materials and war reserve grain, while the remaining stock is sold through various channels, with high-value uses sold first, such as exports, student and military rations, judicial grain, and rice for processing. In addition, crushed brown rice suitable for feed use is also released, and the allocation price is based on 90% of the average price of corn imported through Kaohsiung Port in the current year as the floor price. Last year, for example, the average winning bid price was between 6-8 yuan. After feed mills win the bid, it is used as raw material for livestock and poultry feed. "But using it for feed is the last option; in public grain disposal, it should still be handled through the highest-benefit methods."

Facing the current problem of overproduction of domestically produced rice, Chuang explained that the current policy is to reduce rice planting area and promote a crop conversion plan, hoping to reduce it from the current 270,000 hectares to 240,000 hectares, and encouraging farmers to grow crops other than rice. Therefore, regarding the supply of raw materials for "rice feed," he believes that rather than additionally increasing the planting area of feed rice to replace existing rice, the approach should be to dispose of existing stock.

However, he also reminded that using aged rice as feed requires sound management methods to prevent it from flowing back into the edible rice market and disrupting market prices. He emphasized that the supply mechanism and price coordination for feed rice will still be discussed further with relevant units, to communicate how to increase the feed self-sufficiency rate while also helping with public grain disposal.