Alongside the desire of individual farmers to improve the wider environment, there are a couple of main drivers pushing regen. First, there are the Sustainable Farming Incentives within the Environmental Land Management scheme. These represent the government’s investment in farming, which is kicking in as subsidies are phased out. Livestock-related regen actions that attract annual payments.

Upstream processors and retailers are the second driver. They want their end-result products to attract minimal carbon values, so are keen to work with farmers who have sustainability built into their systems. Lidl, for example, launched a beef programme in 2024 to ‘financially reward farmers in its newly formed producer group for adopting regenerative farming techniques and reducing on-farm carbon emissions.’ With a budget of £1.5bn over five years, the supermarket is putting its money where its mouth is.

The first four pillars are easy to grasp. Numbers one and two boost the health and diversity of soil species, which provide food sources for insects and birds. Numbers three and four prevent soil from blowing away or washing into rivers by locking it down with roots and covering it with crops year-round. 

Number five may be more of a surprise, as the finger often points to livestock as a cause of environmental damage. But for regen to work, grazing sheep and cows are needed to stimulate grass growth and provide fertiliser.

In an age-old virtuous circle, animals eat grass and then spread manure that boosts soil fertility by replenishing organic matter and restoring nutrients. Grass has evolved to prioritise seeding. If it is allowed to go to seed, it stops growing. That is why grazing grassland or cutting it for forage is important. When grass is repeatedly cut, it works hard to grow again in order to produce its all-important seed. To grow, it needs to photosynthesise. During photosynthesis, it takes in carbon and emits oxygen. All of this is good news.

But there is a downside. Year-round grazing for all livestock is impractical in Britain as grasses become dormant in the colder months and livestock can damage poorly covered or waterlogged ground. Winter housing is essential for cattle, which need supplemental rations over and above forage to maintain milk yields, daily live weight gains and fertility. Currently, grain-based livestock feeds fill the gap and they, along with compound feeds, represent a big chunk of any farm’s carbon production.

Luckily, there is a solution that lets you remove grain crops from your system: co-product feeds. These deliver equivalent nutritional benefits to cereals, so you can hit your milk or DLWG targets without the need for maize grain, soya or rape. Co-products come in many forms, from moist brewers grains, brewers yeast, raw potato chips and distiller’s wheat syrup. These are palatable for sheep and cows and are easy to integrate into a total mixed ration in place of staples such as ewe nuts or rolled barley. If you have specific needs, Duynie also produce bespoke blends which can be formulated for your livestock. 

As co-products are secondary outputs from the human food industry, they are considered almost carbon neutral at point of production. In the main their emissions have already been assigned to the primary product, be that oven chips, beer or baked goods. As a result, they are perfect partners for regen systems. Now is the time for nutritionists to choose co-products first.

While carbon may not be a traditional metric by which successful farming is measured, it has become an essential one. To farm regeneratively, it is important to understand how much carbon is created by a grain-based diet and swap in alternatives to increase sustainability. Co-products are readily available and are proven performers.

To demonstrate the carbon savings you could make, we have put together dairy and beef rations comparing traditional compounds vs Duynie Co-product blends. The carbon values published in October 2024 by the AIC from The Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI) make for compelling read.

Both options offer equivalent nutritional values, including dry matter, crude protein and sugars. The difference is the Duynie dairy ration cuts the carbon by 49% and the Duynie beef ration brings the carbon value down by a staggering 83%. Both scenarios represent a huge saving through the simple use of selected circular livestock feeds.

Get in touch with your local Duynie representative to find out how co-products can boost your farm’s sustainability and help you support your regenerative practices.