Linseed meal price

Linseed meal is a protein feed, fed to raise a ration's crude-protein content. On a dry-matter basis it runs about 38% crude protein and 77% TDN, roughly 0.79 Mcal of net energy for lactation per pound of dry matter, at about 90% dry matter as fed. Those figures come from Colorado State University Extension, Feed Composition for Cattle and Sheep (Fact Sheet 1.615). The leaderboard uses them to convert each USDA report week's board price into a cost per pound of protein and per pound of energy, so it can be ranked against corn and soybean meal. Prices are quoted per ton, and the cheapest board price is not the cheapest fed price once freight and moisture are counted (see the FOB-vs-delivered guide). Linseed meal is what remains after flaxseed is crushed for linseed oil, an industrial oil used in paints and varnishes as well as food and nutraceutical omega-3 markets, and it trades in a much thinner market than soybean or canola meal because US and Canadian flax acreage is a fraction of the size. North Dakota is the main US growing state. Horse owners have long favored linseed meal for its reputation of putting a shine on a coat, a niche demand that still shapes part of its market even though its protein quality is unremarkable next to soybean meal.

Nobody crushes flax for the meal. The Flax Council of Canada feed industry guide says most flaxseed is processed to extract oil for industrial products such as paints and floor coverings, so a crusher's first job is getting the oil out efficiently. Linseed meal is the residue. Its volume is set by flax acreage and by demand for the oil, which AmeriFlax lists going into varnishes, lacquers, linoleum and printing inks among other uses, and a strong feed bid cannot pull more seed into the crusher.

Two meals come out of two kinds of press. The Flax Council describes prepress solvent plants that remove virtually all the oil but cost too much for a small company to build, alongside expeller plants that can run at almost any scale and leave more oil in the meal; feed companies can even set up a press at the feed mill. NDSU Extension puts expeller meal at up to 8 percent residual oil against about half a percent for solvent meal. Because processing moves the meal's oil and energy, a linseed meal quote means little until the buyer knows which press made it.

Dairy sets the bid. NDSU says linseed meal is in demand as high-quality protein for dairy cows, poultry and swine, and that dairy demand often limits how much a beef ration can use economically. The Flax Council rates its protein quality for dairy close to canola meal and ahead of soybean meal, with solvent meal often preferred for its higher rumen bypass protein. So the price gets argued against canola meal and soybean meal on protein, with dairies making the marginal bid. Horse owners (the Flax Council says flax products are often their preferred protein source) and show-cattle feeders add a small niche that buys on reputation as much as on protein cost.

Whole seed competes with the crusher. Not every bushel goes to oil. The Flax Council notes that feeding flaxseed to laying hens produces the omega-3 eggs sold in most North American grocery stores, and omega-3 pork has followed, while NDSU's flax production guide points to flax seed's value as human food for its fiber, omega-3 oils and lignans. Every bushel sold whole into those markets is one the crusher never sees, which keeps a thin meal supply thinner. The cost-per-protein board shows where it lands against the rest of the protein complex each week.