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Leading ruminant amino acid nutrition by Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health Milling and Grain magazine were very happy for the opportunity to speak with Mr Robert Hamilton, Technical Sales Manager UK & Ireland and Mr Stefaan van Dyck, President, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health EMENA about their leading amino acid solutions for the animal feed industry. Can you provide some background about Kemin’s history in amino acid nutrition? Can you also defend the idea that you are a pioneer of the amino acid balancing concept?
Stefaan Van Dyck: Kemin pioneered the entire amino-acidbalancing concept. For more than a decade, we have been dedicated to providing the best products, tools and knowledge for the best implementation of amino acid nutrition. We have become recognised experts in this area, serving customers with both knowledge and application. Our team of experienced professionals serve as a reference point for customers, transferring our scientific findings and adapting these findings for the best practical implementation. With more than 10 years of expertise and field experience, we can state that we are today the EMENA market reference in amino acid formulation.
Why is it an important step forward for ruminant health to have both rumen-protected lysine and rumenprotected methionine available from a single supplier?
Robert Hamilton: We feel today that dairy producers are demanding improved solutions to advance their precision in formulation, efficiency and sustainability in operations. Amino acid formulation is a key tool to meet these requirements. However, it is a complex concept where product and technical services must work closely together to maximise the implementation benefits. We have set our own principles and found a new way to apply the amino acids concept to improve dairy farming profitability, which is backed up with a wealth of success stories and testimonials. We are reaching and perfecting the next level in ruminant nutrition through extensive services, solution offerings and technical expertise. Our aim is to continue working closely with customers, providing innovation and efficiencies. We are the only company supplying the best sources of metabolisable methionine and lysine for ruminants, both of which are easy to handle and are pellet stable, based on our encapsulation and core technology, scientifically proven and consistently tested under field conditions, supported through our Lifelong Learning program.
What is KESSENT? How does it fit in with Kemin’s other amino acid solutions?
Robert Hamilton: KESSENT™ M is a new source of rumen protected methionine for the modern dairy producer who is looking for improve efficiency and operation sustainability. This product has been developed with a proprietary core 68 | July 2020 - Milling and Grain
technology that provides a combination of granule uniformity, spherisation, specific gravity, and particle size. The unique combination of special technical protection and ideal core technology provides a high stability and homogeneity for our rumen-protected methionine. These key characteristics supply the highest amount of methionine available to the animal, as shown by the high degree of rumen escape and high intestinal digestibility.
What makes a rumen-protected amino acid reliable? How does Kemin stand out from competitor products offered by other manufacturers?
Robert Hamilton: Several products in the market have bioavailability issues which negatively impacts the desired outcome. This lack of bioavailability results in lower efficiency and lower profitability than expected. We developed a three-step validation process, which is now an international reference, and which shows the effectiveness and superiority of our products. This is the only and most reliable tool to test rumen protection. The first step is conducted under in vitro conditions, the second step in vivo and the third step under field conditions. KESSENT’s superiority and higher stability is proven in our Ruminant In Vitro Release Model. This model studies the behaviour of different rumen protected methionine supplements simulating all gastric phases. Under in vitro conditions, we measured that the product combines both a high methionine availability with a high stability under field conditions, resulting in the highest metabolisable methionine content for ruminant formulation. Kessent produces the best productive performance results and profitability, improves the yields in cheese production and allows more accurate ruminant diet formulations. This was shown consistently throughout countless field, academic and industry trials.
I understand that an important part of Kemin’s amino acid offering is the technical services you provide, what does this service consist of?
Robert Hamilton: We are very proud to have a qualified and experienced ruminant team to maximise the benefits for our customers. With this team, we can provide the right knowledge and technical service for the most profitable amino acid implementation under field conditions. This team is supported by our Customer Laboratory Services (CLS). They offer tailored scientific support for nutritional and integrity evaluation and determine the right inclusion rate calculation in every individual situation. We also offer the Lifelong Learning Program to our customers.