Swine Grist
A PERIODIC NEWSLETTER PRODUCED BY GRAND VALLEY FORTIFIERS VOLUME 23, 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 a harvest here in Ontario that is setting new yield highs and early indications are that the crops are of good quality. In this edition of the Grand Valley Grist, Dr. John Doerr has written a great article reminding producers to test for mycotoxins early as these results provide an indication of the quality of crop, prior to storing it in the bin, silo or crib. By doing so, producers can, if necessary, quickly discuss animal performance reducing mitigation strategizes with our nutritionists. Bruce Schumann has 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 and a smooth, fruitful harvest. Sincerely, Ian Ross, President & CEO, GVF group of companies
AN EARLY LOOK AT MYCOTOXINS IN THE 2021 HARVEST
by: DR. JOHN DOERR Vice President Science & Technology, Agrarian Solutions
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arvest time is well underway and many producers ask about doing preliminary tests for mycotoxin levels. Some key points need to be made for the testing of corn. What does early testing tell us? Molds are often thought of as being in two kinds of categories: those that infect and produce toxins in the field and those that do so in stored grain. One must consider that those are only rough guidelines. Most cereals become infected in the field. Aspergillus species tend to infect mid- to late-season via silk or insect damage. Fusarium species, however, are more likely to infect an emerging seedling and in the tissues of the growing plant. While that sets up chances for pre-harvest mycotoxin contamination, both genera can also be involved in post-harvest problems. Also, it is important to remember that molds and their toxins do not distribute uniformly in a field. That is, within a field, a few plants or partial rows may sustain infection and toxin synthesis while the rest remains relatively clean. The same principle holds true for stored grain. Finally, while some types of ‘rots’ have a high association with toxin contamination, other visible signs of mold don’t always yield positive mycotoxin tests. So, back to the basic question… what does GRAND VALLEY FORTIFIERS PO Box 726 Cambridge ON N1R 5W6 1-800-567-4400 grandvalley.com
early testing reveal? Assuming a good sampling plan, such tests may offer a sense of whether the crop represents an ‘average’ year with minor toxin loads or is, instead, a true problem year with alarming amounts of preharvest contamination. Keep in mind that the toxin status can only get worse as time passes in storage, so a truly bad pre-harvest lot may require some extra measures to protect animals being fed from that batch. And, to complicate the issue, consider the mycotoxins you will likely be testing for. Whether commercial lab analyses or do-it-yourself quick tests, you are generally just looking at one or two of the major toxins, e.g. fumonisins or deoxynivalenol (DON). But there are literally hundreds of others, most of which have not been well tested in animal models either singularly or
Ian Ross, President & CEO | David Ross, VP & CMO Martin Clunies, Ph.D. | Bruce Schumann | Adam Totafurno | Youngji Rho, Ph.D., Monogastric Nutritionists Michael Peckover, Layout Editor
in combinations. Research shows that low levels of several of these may act with greater synergy and affect livestock more than moderate to high levels of a single mycotoxin. But, I will concede that early testing also lets one know that the conditions for mold growth and mycotoxin synthesis were or were not present. If one is there, others should be suspected. Next to consider is the approach to sampling. Harvesting at high moisture (as with ears destined for a crib) needs a different approach than the shell corn coming from the combine in fields where the dry down has gone further. With high moisture (~ 25%) ear corn (HMEC), the producer will still need to shell that corn and submit appropriate amounts to a good lab. For shell corn, obtaining samples from the truck as it fills from the combine is the best source. Whether by repeated grab samples or using a grain probe in a pattern in the truck, sufficient quantity must be included in the final submitted sample. The quantity? The best scenario for a good analytical result is a sample size of around 4.5kg of shell corn (at 12.5% moisture) or 5.4 kg 25% moisture HMEC; essentially about 4 kg dry matter. This amount has been proven statistically to yield the lowest sampling error in the test. It is, however, not practical. Commercial labs generally won’t process that quantity because of drying capacity. So, we must be content with about 0.5-0.75 kg (a well-filled 1L zip bag) and accept the fact that the test error will not be trivial. When your test result arrives, remember the test error, particularly the effect of sampling error. The value reported may be off by +/- 20% for low moisture corn, but may approach +/- 40% for higher moisture. One way to reduce the impact of that error is by taking two independently collected samples from the same lot and averaging the results. Do keep in mind that mycotoxins can increase in whatever storage format is used and that good quality control depends on periodic re-testing. Once in use, the samples should be taken from what the animal is eating; that is where real risks on the farm will be determined. Grand Valley Fortifiers offers complimentary testing to our customers through ActLabs in Ancaster, Ontario. This is a fully accredited independent commercial lab that screens for 18 mycotoxins using state-of-the-art liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The major mycotoxins are included as well as several of those lesser-known toxins that can impact livestock. Results are normally returned 3-5 business days after receipt of the sample by the lab. Mycotoxins are elusive. Sampling is not an easy task and limits on the amount of sample that labs can process impose errors on the final test result. Nonetheless, the information those tests provide are an essential part of pro-active plans to offset contamination and protect livestock. Hope for the best crop year, but, be prepared for the alternative. Please contact your Grand Valley Fortifiers Swine Specialist for more information on how we can assist you in interpreting your results and providing you with solutions on your farm for mycotoxin challenges. n
ZINC REGULATORY UPDATE
by: BRUCE SCHUMANN Director, Regulatory Compliance and Quality Management, GVF group of companies
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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, 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.
Swine Grist 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
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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
PLANNING THE FARM & FARMING THE PLAN
by: VICTORIA SEIP Livestock Business Intelligence Manager, GVF group of companies
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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
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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
by: STEVE MCGUFFIN Commodity Desk Manager Manager, Direct Source Commodities
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BM values have firmed in Ontario as we approach harvest with the Ontario crush rate reduced due to tight soybean supplies. Some early soys have been harvested and when we get through this current wet weather soy harvest should start in earnest. At this time projecting ahead to your next load and ordering early will help avoid running out. Last year China stepped up in a big way buying US soys and corn and combined with the declining US crop ratings last year due to wind and drought damage we never did see a harvest low. This year the US crop ratings have mostly held and China seems to be focusing on buying South American soys. This is partly because of the loss of US gulf export capacity due to this year’s hurricane damage. Due to this SBM export demand will also shift to Ontario and I expect this to continue through to the end of December when the Seaway closes. Canola meal values have also jumped due to the drought in Western Canada reducing the supply of seed with one Ontario crusher pulling their offer. The resulting price relationship between these two proteins now favours SBM and I expect truck demand for it to increase. Wheat shorts have pulled back in price as there currently seems to be good supply.
We’re currently going through the various ethanol plant maintenance shutdowns and projecting ahead to your next load is also recommended here as the demand has increased due to the high price of corn. This is normal as corn supply is lower as we approach harvest. Ontario looks like they’re about to harvest a huge corn crop and new crop values are lower giving some price relief. 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