Swine Grist
A PERIODIC NEWSLETTER PRODUCED BY FORTIFIED NUTRITION LTD. VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3 | FALL 2021
Dear Friends, Greetings from all of us at the GVF group of companies. Having recently celebrated Thanksgiving, we are reminded of the many things that we grateful for in 2021. Notwithstanding so many challenges that the world is navigating, we have experienced another year of strong demand for meat, milk and eggs, adequate supply of feedstuffs (albeit more costly than a typical year), robust prices for pork and other proteins and promise of strong demand in 2023. Many producers in the Prairies have experienced a particularly difficult growing season and harvest yields and quality are generally low. In light of this reality, Dr. Samuel Waititu has authored a great article indicating the tools he and his nutritionist colleagues at GVF are armed with to formulate diets with alternative, possibly non-traditional ingredients, that are cost effective and still provide the ADG and FCR that producers need to be profitable. Bruce Schumann has also provided an update on the impending (late 2022 or early 2023) changes to the Canadian Feeds Regulations that will impact diet formulations for all species once enacted by Parliament. We are also very pleased to officially introduce Dr. Tanka Khanal, our newest poultry focused nutritionist who is quickly providing great customer service, diet formulation efforts and poultry research support. Additionally, we excited to share an article by Victoria Seip who is now providing oversight to what we are calling our On Farm Business Intelligence Initiative. With an evolution in Victoria’s role focus, and a change in title to Livestock Business Intelligence Manager, Victoria will be helping to introduce technology and data analytic tools to swine and poultry producers across the country, positioning them to make more informed decisions on farm, seeking to enhance their profitability. We trust that you enjoy this edition of the Swine Grist. Sincerely, Ian Ross, President & CEO, GVF group of companies
ZINC REGULATORY UPDATE
by: BRUCE SCHUMANN Director, Regulatory Compliance and Quality Management, GVF group of companies
T
he Canadian Feeds Regulations was solidified into law in 1983. Since then, with the addition of a couple of addendums they have remained essentially unchanged. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in consultation with industry partners has been working for a number of years to modernize the Feed Regulations. There are nine documents and tables, which have been imbedded in the Feeds Regulations, that impact livestock nutrition and have been unable to be reviewed or updated. As part of the modernization, these documents will be brought outside of the regulations, permitting them to be reviewed and changed without opening up the Feeds Act again or having to go to Parliament for approval. One of those documents is the Tables of Maximum Nutrient Values for Feeds. Previously there were a set of maximum guidelines, which the feed industry had to abide within when making feed for general use. If a company wanted to go outside of those guidelines, they either needed to register their feed, supplement or premix with the CFIA or else create a custom product that could only be used for a single customer. In consultation with toxicologists, nutritionists, producer groups and regulatory guidelines in other countries, the CFIA has created maximum guidelines now, by species and by age for nutrients in feeds, which all feeds will have to fall below. When these regulations become
law, there will be no opportunity to register or customize feed outside the new guidelines. All decisions on maximum levels have been made with consideration to the health of animals, humans and the environment. Many of the changes to the maximum levels have allowed the industry greater flexibility in formulation, and has been quite positive, but there are a few exceptions, one of them being zinc levels in piglets. The vast majority of starter feeds in Canada contain pharmacological levels of zinc. These are levels outside the nutritional requirements for piglets and range from 2000 ppm to up to 5000 ppm. Their function is to control post-weaning diarrhea, and it has been tremendously successful in doing just that. However, scientific evidence has been mounting in recent years demonstrating that high levels of zinc oxide used in pig nutrition is increasing the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance bacteria. There is global concern surrounding antimicrobial use in both humans and animals and their effect on antimicrobial resistance. Because it is believed zinc is a confounding and contributing factor in resistance, there is a movement world-wide and in Canada to decrease its use. The original maximum zinc level proposed for the new guidelines by the CFIA was going to be 300 ppm of zinc oxide in swine diets. This is double what other countries around the world are being mandated to include as their maximum by 2022. The EU maximum levels for zinc will be at 150 ppm when those guidelines come into effect in June 2022. In December 2018, the new medicated feed regulations came into effect in Canada. This made veterinarians solely responsible for ensuring prudent and judicious use of all Category I, II and III antimicrobials in livestock production that have human importance. Our industry, after Gazette One (the first reading at parliament on June 12,
Samuel Waititu, Ph.D. | Saymore Ndou, Ph.D. Monogastric Nutritionists
Ian Ross, President | David Ross, VP & CMO Martin Clunies, Ph.D. | Bruce Schumann | Adam Totafurno |
AB/SK: 1-866-610-5770 | MB: 1-866-626-3933 fortifiednutritionltd.com
Youngji Rho, Ph.D., Monogastric Nutritionists Michael Peckover, Layout Editor
2021), responded to the proposed maximal levels for zinc during the 90-day comment period with backlash insisting that zinc levels needed to be significantly higher to mitigate scour and the potential of piglet mortality in nursery piglets. This is especially necessary, since using more antimicrobials to counter the effect of lower zinc would not be a viable option as it is counterintuitive to our antimicrobial resistance strategy set in place in December 2018. As a result, the CFIA has retracted and is not making any change to maximal zinc levels, allowing therapeutic levels in customer formula starter swine diets to continue until January 1st 2026. After that point, the maximal level in swine starter diets will be 300 mg/kg of zinc, which is still double many international maximum levels. The CFIA hopes that between now and January 1st , 2026, new alternative strategies and approaches will be developed by the industry to cope with zinc removal challenges. We at the GVF group of companies believe that this timeline on lower zinc levels will be shortened and have already been preparing for the anticipated lower zinc levels for a number of years now. GVF, in partnership with Primary Diets based in the United Kingdom, has been researching and conducting low zinc trials at both University research facilities and on commercial farms in Canada and the UK, with and without antimicrobial usage. We are pleased with the results so far but continue to research, and make further improvements in order to be able to provide our customers with the best nursery feeds available when the lower zinc level regulations eventually take effect. These new lower zinc diets will be optimized to provide nursery piglets with superior nutrition no matter if being fed with or without antibiotics. For more information, please contact your GVF Swine Specialist or a GVF Monogastric Nutritionist. n
WELCOME DR. TANKA KHANAL Monogastric Nutritionist, Grand Valley Fortifiers
G
rand Valley Fortifiers is pleased to welcome and introduce Dr. Tanka Khanal as our newest monogastric nutritionist to join the GVF Monogastric Nutrition team. Dr. Khanal’s primary focus is poultry nutrition across the GVF group of companies. Originally from Nepal, Tanka has always had a passion for agriculture and specifically poultry. Tanka graduated with a DVM degree from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. Following his veterinary degree, Tanka taught at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Agriculture and Forestry University in Chitwan, Nepal, while pursuing his Master’s in Veterinary Medicine focused on poultry. Tanka’s responsibilities at the University included disease diagnosis and consultancy on both health and nutrition of poultry. Dr. Khanal was a poultry veterinary consultant for the Himalayan Poultry Feed Industry and Hatchery Pvt. Ltd in Nepal, where he was responsible for the health management, feed formulation and technical consultancy to poultry producers and hatcheries for commercial layers, broilers and breeders. Tanka’s interest in nutrition grew and led him to Wageningen University in the Netherlands, where he pursued his Master’s in Animal Nutrition and Metabolism. His research looked at alternative protein sources and amino acid metabolism in organic layers as well as amino acid metabolism and proteolytic fermentation in commercial broilers. Upon the completion of his master’s degree, Dr. Khanal came to Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Poultry Nutrition under his advisor,
Dr. Elijah Kiarie at the University of Guelph. His Ph.D. thesis investigated rearing mineral nutrition and housing cage types and its impact on bone quality in pullets and hens. Dr. Khanal’s diverse and extensive knowledge in veterinary medicine, nutrition, and commercial poultry production will provide a wealth of knowledge for him to assist our poultry customers with their management, production, nutrition and disease challenges. We are very excited to welcome Dr. Tanka Khanal and count it a privilege have him join the GVF team. We hope you get the opportunity to meet and work with Tanka in the near future. n
DOES THE ALTERNATIVE MAKE SENSE?
by: DR. SAMUEL WAITITU Monogastric Nutritionist, Fortified Nutrition Ltd.
W
hen corn, barley and wheat trend at $10 a bushel, which one should I buy? How do I make the choice with minimum cost? Which option is better across all feeding stages? What if I forego wheat for triticale or oats? What about substituting some barley with wheat millrun, oat hulls or soya hulls? Would the canola meal or peas price in profitably instead of soybean meal? Should I use cheap tallow instead of canola oil? How do I know what choice(s) makes sense in terms of the overall picture of feed cost? Sadly, such has been the predicament for many livestock producers and feed manufacturers in the last couple of months. We all hoped the new crop would bring a smile by Thanksgiving, but the dry summer has left many of us just wagging our heads and pondering how to sustain our businesses when grains are high-priced. I want to share two tools we can use in making these decisions and two perspectives that are key to a successful choice. Table 1: Illustration of Shadow Pricing
Ingredient Wheat HRS 13% Soybean Meal 47% Vegetable Oil
Ingredient Cost ($/tonne)
Shadow Price
351.00 633.00 2,200.00
Barley Western 11% CP
373.00
240.06
High Fat Canola Meal 31% CP
440.00
611.88
Corn 8.5% CP
390.00
393.78
Field Peas 20% CP
320.00
357.09
Shadow Pricing
The GVF nutrition team developed an in-house shadow pricing model that has been used at the Direct Source Commodities (DSC) group since 2009 to prepare weekly Shadow Prices reports. The shadow price is the economic replacement value of an ingredient if it was to displace corn or wheat, soybean meal (SBM) and vegetable oil or tallow in a ration. The model estimates replacement value of an ingredient by calculating the relative nutrient specification value of metabolizable energy and amino acids in that ingredient compared to those nutrients in corn or wheat, SBM and vegetable oil or tallow. This tool instantly estimates the difference between the current market price and what the product is actually worth. For instance, in Table 1, for a farm with wheat, SBM and oil at the given costs/tonne, the shadow price of barley ($240.06) is lower than the market price ($373), hence it doesn’t make sense buying the barley. On the other hand, high fat canola meal is undervalued by $171.88, hence at 10% inclusion we can save $17.19 per tonne of complete feed.
Feed Conversion
Least-Cost Formulation
The FNL nutrition team is equipped with ration formulation software with capability for least-cost formula optimization. Unlike shadow pricing, the producer supplies the actual cost of the commodities and the most affordable practical rations for each feeding phase are formulated. Furthermore, it allows us to take into consideration all nutrient and energy uplifts imparted by various supplements, hence providing a more accurate estimate. The formulation software gives ability to determine the maximum inclusion level of each ingredient based on their cost and the nutrient specification of the ration. For instance, Table 2 shows how the actual cost/tonne of a pre-grower ration (50 to 90 lbs) formulated to the same nutrient specifications would differ depending on the choice and cost of ingredients in one of the farms we deal with in Alberta. Table 2: Effect of Ingredient Choice and Cost on Feed Cost*
Ration 1: Wheat SBM Cost/Ton
414.51
Ration 2: Ration 3: Ration 4: Wheat Wheat Corn Barley Corn SBM SBM SMB 429.60
420.12
455.85
+15.09
+5.61
+41.34
3.30
3.30
3.32
3.40
18
18
18
18
Crude Fibre, %
2.60
2.90
2.60
2.40
SID Lysine, %
1.10
1.10
1.10
1.10
Cost Difference Nutrient Specifications Energy (ME) Mcal/kg Crude Protein, %
Swine Grist
*Feed cost was computed from an actual pricelist from a farm in Alberta.
Shifting from Traditional Practices
Remember the warning against tradition, “no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.” By tradition, a western Canada pregrower ration consists of at least 15% barley. Ration 2 in Table 1, depicts that at the current cost of ingredients in that farm, adding 15% barley in the ration will increase the cost by $15.09, which I will call the ‘cost of tradition’, yet pigs fed Ration 2 would perform no better than those fed Ration 1. The current scarcity of barley and its high price has put much pressure on many producers. Therefore, it is prudent to spare the little barley you posses for the breeding barn and seek other high fiber low energy feedstuffs (e.g. sunflower meal, wheat midds, soya hulls and oat hulls) to dilute the energy in rations of finishing pigs. A 10% inclusion of high fibre feedstuffs would cut barley inclusion by up to 50% in both finishing and sow rations thus allowing you to include more corn and wheat.
The search for an affordable alternative should never blindfold us from the deadliest yet mysterious cost in production also known as poor feed conversion. Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, popularized the concept of survival of the fittest: it is my strong belief that feed conversion is what will demarcate the difference between farms that will survive the onslaught of the grains crisis and those that will crumble in huge losses. Everyone is bombarded by the high-priced grains and premixes, ‘cheap’ is a word that has gone missing, even the used-to-be ‘cheap’ competitors cannot claim this beloved title. Only feeding programs designed for the best feed conversion will stand the test of this hour. If that is true, then I am justified to say that the pigs will remain the true umpires in this game until the season of high-priced grains is over. This is because ‘cheap’ low quality ingredients and poorly designed feeding programs will be red carded when the books are balanced, and poor feed conversion will be to blame. In conclusion, don’t allow the feeling of indecision to overwhelm you in this hour. The FNL Nutrition team has the necessary tools and expertise to assist you make a winning decision. n
WELCOME BRAD CRAMER Regional Sales Manager, Fortified Nutrition Limited
W
e are very excited to announce that Brad Cramer has joined the GVF group of companies in the role of Manitoba Sales Manager for Fortified Nutrition Limited on Monday August 30th, 2021. Brad joins the Fortified Nutrition Limited team bringing over 30 years of multi species sales, operations and leadership experience in the feed additive, feed and premix sectors and has held a number of key positions within multinational companies focused on the livestock sector. Graduating from the University of Manitoba, Brad started his career in Ontario at the Shur-Gain Research Farm in Burford, Ontario. From there Brad moved on to be a multi species sales representative for Western Feeds. From there he moved to Cargill where he was a Sales Manager for several years. Brad looked to diversify his experience and took the opportunity to shift into the operations side of the business after being on the sales side for many years. Brad held the position of Chief Operations Officer at Stomp Pork Farm for 9 years and went on to become the General Manager at Genesus for a couple years. Wanting to get back to his sales roots, Brad became the Swine Business Manager at Nutreco where he was responsible for growing Nutreco Canada’s swine feed market share in Western Canada. In 2013, Brad moved to Hi-Pro Feeds where he held the position of Regional Manager in Manitoba for 4 years. Most recently, for the past few years, Brad has been the General Manager for Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms where he has successfully developed an intensive lambing production system in Manitoba. All this to say, Brad brings a wealth of experience to our team as he has spent his entire career in the agriculture industry working with producers to improve performance and profitability. We look forward to having Brad lead and support our FNL Manitoba sales team and help them to continue and serve our customers well. Brad is married to his wife Crystal, and they have two children and live in Carmen Manitoba. Please join us in welcoming Brad to the team. n
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PLANNING THE FARM & FARMING THE PLAN
by: VICTORIA SEIP Livestock Business Intelligence Manager, GVF group of companies
I
n August, we were fortunate to be able to travel to Alberta and Saskatchewan for our customer appreciation BBQs in five different locations. My role within the GVF group of companies has recently changed. As a result, I was pleased to be able to present on some topics that we see as great opportunities for our customers to better help them “Plan the farm and farm the plan”. This article will recap the key points from my presentation. On Farm Business Intelligence (On Farm BI) is a term we’ve coined to cover various aspects of livestock farming focusing on increasing production and profitability. The main goal of On Farm BI is to allow farmers to maximize the value of the data and numbers they collect to make better, more informed decisions for their business. Some of the related topics are better performance, data transparency, increased efficiencies, sustainable growth, and strategical control. Every farm should have a production plan in place with clear goals to work towards and ultimately achieve. Even if those goals are not comparable with other industry goals, having something measurable is a great way to evaluate the farm’s efficiencies and where areas of improvement may arise. To set your farm up for success, it is important that you have protocols in place to make sure you follow your plan. Here are some examples of factors we identify as being important when considering areas to track and collect data on: • Data collection must be easy and done in manageable numbers; • It helps to use herd management software to aid with organization of raw data and create comprehensive reports based on your production (ie. Pig Expert, Swine Books, Pig Knows etc.); • When you get an output, make sure you use that for decision making (ie. closeouts); • Follow protocols and plans you have in place; they will most likely save you money (ie. feed budgeting); • Use the knowledge and experience your Swine Specialist has to offer. They can help make suggestions and explain performance parameters; and • When setting your production goals, think about your farm (ie genetics, weaning weight/age, logistics of feeding system, health status). At GVF, we have found some unique tools to help better understand production parameters and to help maximize the use of On-farm Business Intelligence. The first example is the PigScale. This is a voluntary scale that allows either nursery or finishing animals (two different units) to have continuous access to a scale which collects real-time weight and gain in the production loop. These weights, gain, and visits to the scale can be used to help track performance, feed switches (based on weight), room temperature, uniformity, and animal activity; all of which can help assess the performance of a group of pigs. To maximize the value of this information or to act as a standalone when additional measures can be used to track pig weights, a feed hopper and scale are valueable to track feed usage and cost associated with a group of pigs. GVF has recently partnered with AgriSyst, a company based out of the
Netherlands, to help track performance from farrow to finish. Some of their reporting tools and outputs have shown us easy and comprehendible ways to view weekly production data for the farrow to finish system. My take home message for you is this: • Have a plan and realistic goals for your farm. • Help yourself by utilizing the power of numbers and data to help make the right decisions for your hog operation, no matter the size. • Maximize the experience your Swine Specialist brings to the table to help improve performance efficiencies such as feed budgeting, ingredient utilization and management. And finally, if you have any questions about some of the tools we have available or desire help setting goals for your farm, please feel free to reach out to me and we can talk numbers and what data would be most valuable to track on your farm. n
On October 1st, 2021… became
We are excited to announce that Farmers Farmacy®’s operating name has changed to become Farmers Depot™. This change is being made due to our desire to see Farmers Depot™ become a national brand across Canada. We believe that our new Farmers Depot™ name will more clearly communicate this product and service offering going forward. We want to thank all of our loyal customers for their many years of support, and we look forward to serving them and others under our new Farmers Depot™ name with our continued commitment to carefully selected quality products, excellent customer service and fast shipping.
Thought for the Day Watch out for Bitterness “…looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;” Hebrews 12:15 NKJV Bitterness is easy to justify, and it has a tenacious way of taking root deep within the soul and resisting all efforts to weed it out. You can get so used to a bitter heart that you are even comfortable with it, but watch out, it will destroy you. When you allow bitterness to grow in your life, you reject the grace of God that can free you. Bitterness enslaves you, but God is prepared to remove your bitterness and replace it with His peace and joy. - Adapted from Experiencing God by Henry & Richard Blackaby