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Innovation in animal nutrition
Staff writers
The animal nutrition and stockfeed sector may not be the first facet of agriculture you think of when you hear the word “innovation”, but a considerable amount of science and research goes into perfecting feed to ensure farmers get the best possible gains in terms of animal health, growth rates and meat quality.
Weston Animal Nutrition is a major player in this market, manufacturing stockfeed for large-scale producers in both the monogastric and ruminant industries. To David Harris, General Manager of Weston Animal Nutrition, innovation in animal nutrition means helping to make farmers more efficient and more sustainable.
“It sounds a little counter-intuitive, but the innovation we do means our customers buy less of our feed,” says David. “But we know if we make them more competitive in the global landscape, there are also other opportunities for them to be providing a more efficient and affordable source of protein both domestically and in the global market.”
The industry has changed significantly in the last ten years as research and development work from large global animal nutrition players has led to a greater understanding of livestock gut health and how to produce feed more effectively. According to David, this has led to gains of 10-15 per cent in efficiency of feed conversation in the same time period.
“Will the industry continue to improve by the same amount in the same period of time? I’m not sure, but we’re certainly working with our customers on some pretty ambitious plans to drive efficiencies through innovation in the future,” says David.
To facilitate future improvements in the animal nutrition field, Weston Animal Nutrition works hand-in-hand with universities and research institutions to sponsor a wide range of external research and development, and has an internal technical team that embrace and adopt global advances.
One of these advances is in the area of enzyme technology, which is enabling stockfeed manufacturers to better harness the properties of grains such as wheat, barley and sorghum and enable an animal’s gut to more efficiently extract the most energy possible from feed. And, given Australia’s strong standing as a world leader in agricultural innovation, these improvements will be available to Australian farmers sooner rather than later.
“I think we’re very, very good early adopters of global technology,” says David. “We’ve certainly seen a significant improvement in recent years with global companies wanting to engage with Australian agriculture to support innovation and drive us to adopt new products.”
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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