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Following our article in the last newsletter we have had a chance to put the concept of a Pre-Starter to the test. In a trial conducted at Ross Breeders Doornkop research facility we tested a Starter vs. Pre Starter diets to 7 days of age. The specifications of the diets used are shown in the table below:

We did not use any Full Fat Soya or Acid oil in the Pre Starter formulation and also removed the Sunflower oilcake from the formulation so as to ensure that we had as much digestible Carbohydrate in the diet as possible.

The results can be summarised as follows:

As can be seen from the table we achieved no immediate benefits from feeding a Pre-starter diet. This negative result can only be explained in one of two ways. Either the Pre-starter diet was incorrectly formulated, or as we suspect is more likely, the feed intakes that were achieved in the test house were high enough to ensure that the amino acid and energy intake were able to meet the genetic potential of the birds on all diets.

There was a significant improvement in 42 day weights though. It is difficult to be sure that feeding the Pre-Starter diet was the cause of this increase in performance as differences only began to emerge by 21 days of age. The trial has demonstrated however that our "typical" formulations are capable of great things and that most of the nutritional problems experienced on farm are probably due to reduced feed intakes rather than poor formulations.

We would like to thank Lee McGrath and Koos Barnard of Ross Breeders for making this trial possible.

Rick Kleyn

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Search engines are perhaps the most popular way people learn about websites on the Internet, and there are a growing number of search engines coming on-line. In general, a person should use the right search engine to perform his/her search. Here are a few guidelines for searching for poultry-related information.

To learn more about an unfamiliar topic, you may use Yahoo (www.yahoo.com), LookSmart (www.looksmart.com), or Lycos (www.lycos.com). For example, a university student unsure of pursuing a degree in poultry science may search for "Poultry Science" to see a broad, categorised outline of his/her future field of study. Yahoo is the oldest and most popular major search engine; it employs 80 editors all working toward the behemoth task of categorising the Web.

To find a specific answer to a general question, try Ask Jeeves (www.aj.com). This site is good at answering specific questions, such as "Who is the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture?" Ask Jeeves teases information out of searchers by prompting them to ask a question. This question is matched against a database of over 7 million questions generated by 30 employees; then, it directs its user to either the exact page answering the question or a list of webpages from various search engines.

This latter aspect of Ask Jeeves, its ability to poll other search engines, means that it is also a metacrawler, a type of search engine that returns results from many different search engines.

Metacrawlers are good at revealing a lot of information about one particular topic because they automatically search a number of popular search engines for you. For example, if you would like to find out all you can about Preempt, a new drug which increases chickens’ immunity to Salmonella, you may use a metacrawler such as Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) or Go2Net (www.go2net.com) to search for "preempt AND Salmonella" to find the most information you can about this highly specific topic.

Users may also turn to "popularity" search engines like Google (www.google.com) or Direct Hit (www.directhit.com). Popularity search engines return results based on a website’s popularity.

This is good if your query is only one or two words returning too many results from other search engines. A good search here would be "chicken recipes" because a recipe site would not be popular unless it was delivering tasty recipes.

To determine popularity, these search engines employ two techniques: they record the number of times users from their site access a site, and they look at the number of links from other websites pointing to their website.

Finally, search engine technology can be used to find information on people and businesses. InfoSpace (www.infospace.com) and BigYellow (www.bigyellow.com) offer e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and a lot more information on businesses, while MapQuest (www.mapquest.com) provides maps plus door-to-door driving directions.

Of course, the search tools mentioned are only a sampling of all the tools available; to find out more about using these tools to automate information gathering, go to SearchEngineWatch (www.searchenginewatch.com) or perform your own Internet search for "search engines."

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As consumers become more health conscious so they increasingly seek out healthier alternatives to traditional food. These ""functional" foods would include such products as vitamin enriched Mealie Meal and high protein bread. Surveys have shown however, that consumers will not accept products in which flavour is altered.

We are continually being asked about this concept and thought that it would be a good idea to discuss some of the theory behind it. It would then be appropriate to discuss the situation in South Africa.

Eggs are a perfect product for enriching as it is widely known that we can alter egg composition through dietary change. An area that human nutritionists are concerned about is that the average person consumes too few "healthy" omega -3 fatty acids. Fish are known to be rich in omega -3 acids and in countries where fish consumption is high it has been shown that the incidence of heart related illness is greatly diminished.

One of the most important, yet most limiting omega three fatty acid in human diets is docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA plays a unique role in eye and brain function. 60% of all fat in the human eye is DHA where it aids in visual sharpness, while 40% of the unsaturated fat in the brain is also DHA where it is though to assist with learning skills and emotional balance.

Many vegetable products are known to be rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including soya bean and it’s oil and perhaps most importantly flax seed (linseed) and its oil. By feeding laying hens diets rich in flaxseed it is possible to increase the level of omega-3 acids in the egg.

Flaxseed is rich in linoleic acid, which is known to have health benefits for the skin and to some extent the heart. Linoleic acid is also the precursor of DHA in both man and the chicken.

However, the conversion rate of linoleic acid to DHA is limited, and the feeding of flaxseed alone results in only marginal increases in DHA in the egg.

Marine algae are known to be the original source of DHA in the food chain and an American company called OmegaTech Inc. have recently developed a commercial product based on a golden algae rich in DHA. This is being marketed as an alternative to the use of fish oil in the diet.

The pioneer work in developing the commercial "designer" egg was carried out by an Australian, Dr David Farrell. Dr Farrell enriched eggs by feeding laying hens a combination of edible vegetable and fish oils. In addition he developed a patented product known as OLPB which eliminates any fishy taint in the egg. Not only was Dr Farrell able to show that there was an increase in omega-3 acids (700%), but there was also a decline in the cholesterol content of the eggs.

The rights to Dr Farrell’s patent in Southern Africa are owned by a Gauteng based egg producer who has a marketing agreement with the Highveld Egg Co-op. The Co-op owns the "New Start" brand and in addition they have registered the "Omega-3" enriched brand.

The situation as set out above does not preclude any other producer from using another method of enriching eggs and marketing them under their own brand names. However, the claims that are being made are health claims and as such any egg product that claims to be nutritionally enriched needs to be approved by the Department of Health.

In order to do this the claims made must be proven and guaranteed. At present the Foodtech Division of the CSIR is the only organisation in the country that can certify that the claims regarding egg enrichment are valid. For this reason any producer who wishes to promote his own brand of enriched eggs would have to work through the CSIR.

The USA pig industry continues to move to earlier weaning. This trend is driven by economic factors, such as improving the number of piglets per sow per year, and the need to minimize the capital cost of farrowing facilities by moving more sows through the facilities.

Plasma protein is a blood protein that is derived from healthy slaughtered animals. The concept of using plasma protein in starter diets was developed in the USA in the late 1980’s.

A summary of recent experiments that evaluated spray dried plasma as a protein source for weaned pigs is shown below:

The table shows that compared to skim milk blood plasma increased the performance by 27%. The introduction of plasma protein to starter diets has thereby enabled pork producers to reduce weaning age with success to as low as 14 days with an average at 17 to 18 days.

In Europe weaning age is approximately 28 days. Until recently it was not believed that plasma protein would be as effective in Europe as it was in the USA. Recent trials in European institutes however confirm the US results. Feed intake and average daily gains in the first period after weaning are improved by more than 20% even in pigs weaned at 28 days.

Application:

	Blood plasma has the potential to increase the post weaning performance significantly.
	USA data has shown that the best response to plasma feeding occurs when pigs are fed in challenging environments. The occurrence of diarrhoea is also significantly decreased.
	Plasma is normally fed during the first 2 weeks post weaning and included at levels of 2.5 to 5% of the diet.
	Blood plasma costs approximately R20/kg. At an inclusion of 2.5% it would increase the cost of the starter diet by approximately R450/ton. The payback would be between 2 and 5:1 depending on the level of performance.
	The South African market is too small to justify a local spray drying plant for the production of blood plasma. It therefore needs to be imported.

Walter Scharlach

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Importance of Grain Particle Size in Pig Diets

 

Proper milling is an effective way to ensure maximum performance of growing pigs. By reducing the particle size of grain, a greater surface area is exposed to the digestion enzymes.

Therefor, more of the nutrients that are already in the feed can be digested and utilized by the pig.

Kansas State University conducted experiments with finishing pigs. Grinding maize to particle sizes ranging from 1000 to 400 microns an 8% improvement in gain/feed was found.

In growing pigs fed diets with maize ranging from 1200 to 400 microns, a 1.3% improvement in gain/feed for each 100-micron reduction in average particle size was found. Kansas State University also did a lactation experiment with maize milled to four particle sizes (1200, 900, 600 and 400 microns). The researchers were concerned that the diets with the finely ground grain would not be palatable, but found that the feed intake actually increased as the particle size was reduced. Sows consuming the fine meal had a 14% greater intake of DE and an 11% increase in litter weight gain.

To determine the optimum particle size Kansas State University considered the cost of reducing particle size. This cost is dictated by mainly two factors:

1. Energy required to mill a given quantity of grain and
2. Production rate per horsepower hour when grinding.

 

It was found that milling energy increased only slightly as particle size was decreased from 1000 to 600 microns, while it took more than double the energy to reduce the particle size another 200 microns to 400 microns. There was also a marked decrease in production rate when milling to 400 microns, while there was only a slight decrease in production rate as the average particle was decreased from 1000 to 600 microns. The recommendation is to grind maize to an average particle size of 600 microns.

Spesfeed has begun to evaluate the maize particle size on local pig farms. The twenty-one samples tested thus far have had an average particle size of 1072 microns.

 

Distribution of average particle size of 21 samples.

Figure 1 shows that of the 21 maize samples tested none had an average particle size of under 800 microns while 75% of the samples had an average particle size of more than 1000 microns. The difference between the average particle size and the optimum (1072 – 600) is 472 microns.

With an improvement of 1.3% in digestibility for each 100 micron reduction in particle size the average unit can increase the maize digestibility by more than 6%.

 

Application & conclusion:

1. For every 100 micron reduction in grain particle size, approximately R13/ton of feed can be saved.
2. The average pig farm mills maize to 1075 microns. Reducing the maize particle size to 600 microns has a potential saving of more than R50/t of feed.
3. The saving in feed will be measured as an improvement in feed efficiency. The average pig farm could reduce the DWFC by 0.2 units. This is equivalent to 16kg of feed per pig marketed.
4. The potential disadvantages to finely ground grains are that bridging problems may increase and that the feed may become dustier.
5. South African producers grind feed coarser than desired. Although management is more difficult with finely ground feed, the dividends in feed conversion and nutrient utilization can make the effort worthwhile.

Walter Scharlach

Helena van Rensburg

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Responsible use of Anti-Microbial Drugs

 

Anti-microbials have made a major contribution to farm animal health and welfare for several decades. They are vital medicines for the treatment and control of animal diseases and the use of certain categories as digestive enhancers has also made them a useful tool for farmers.

Concerns have been expressed about the crossover of resistant bacteria from livestock to the human population and the associated possibility of medical antimicrobial treatments becoming less effective.

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA), a coalition of organisations including agricultural, veterinary, pharmaceutical and retail interests, has been set up to address these concerns. It aims to review the use of antimicrobials and to establish practical strategies to enable farmers to reduce their use.

To this end, RUMA has formulated guidelines for the responsible use of antimicrobials in poultry production. These give advice on all aspects from application and responsibilities of the farmer and the veterinarian, to strategies for reduced usage.

The use of animal medicines carries with it responsibilities. Under UK legislation, all antimicrobials are licensed for specific species and uses. Therapeutic antimicrobial use is the direct responsibility of veterinarians.

Farmers have an important role to play in ensuring that the directions of the veterinarian are properly carried out. They must also in develop and apply disease control measures which minimise the need for antimicrobials.

Under the RUMA guidelines, farmers must:

	Regard therapeutic antibiotics as complementing good management practice, vaccination programmes, and site hygiene.
	Initiate medication only with formal veterinary approval, a verbal direction or an approved treatment programme or protocol.
	Obtain a Medicated Feedingstuff Prescription (MFSP) for in-feed medication.
	Ensure that accurate information is given to the veterinarian in order that the correct dosage can be calculated for the birds concerned, and ensure that clear instructions for dosage and administration are obtained and passed on to the staff responsible.
	Always complete the course of treatment at the correct dosage. Ensure that the dosage is consumed in an effective manner by careful administration.
	Accurately record the identity of the animals medicated, the batch number, amount and expiry of the medicine used, the withdrawal period required and the date and time completed.
	For in-feed or in-water medication ensure that the end of medication is accurately determined by cleaning the header tank or feed bin as appropriate.
	For any medicines used a copy of the package insert and the safety data sheet should be readily available to staff and kept on file.
	Report to the veterinarian or direct to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, any suspicion of an adverse reaction to the medicine in either the treated animals or farm staff having contact with the medicine. This should include any unusual failure to respond to medication. A record of the adverse reaction should also be kept on the farm.
	Ensure that the appropriate withdrawal period is complied with prior to the sale or collection of the treated birds or eggs for human consumption.
	If it is necessary for a product to be prescribed for a species for which it is not licensed or at a dosage higher than the licensed dosage, then ensure that the appropriate withdrawal period specified is adhered to, to ensure that food produced from the treated animals does not contain residues harmful to consumers.
	Track antimicrobial usage taking account of the potency of various products. The simplest approach is to record the number of kgs. of animal treated/day as a proportion of the total kgs. of animal at risk for each species and class of stock. Any usage where the mg/kg dosage does not match licensed values would need to be highlighted.
	Ensure that different medicines are only given at the same time when this is with the specified approval of the veterinary because adverse interactions sometimes occur.
	Maintain a medicines logbook on farm together with copies of relevant regulations and Codes of Practice.

Produced by the Poultry Working Group of the
RUMA Alliance
May 1999

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Pre-partum Feeding of Fat to Sows

 

Sows with mild constipation are often slow to start milking after farrowing. This often leads to high pre weaning mortalities. Many producers add wheaten bran to the sow’s diet before and a day after farrowing.

It is believed that this practice helps prevent constipation, reduces the incidence of mastitis and may prevent death loss due to twisted gut. The most recent research on this subject does not support the need of bran feeding of preventing mastitis or improving sow productivity.

A topic of recent research interest has been the addition of fat to sow diets during late gestation and lactation in an attempt to improve the survival of baby pigs. Newborn pigs are vulnerable to cold stress because of their sparse hair coats, thin hides, and small amounts of body fat. Percentages of body fat are 1 to 2% and only 5-10g of fat are utilized during starvation. At the time of birth, piglets have a source of readily available energy stored as glycogen in their liver, heart and muscle. These stores are depleted rapidly after birth. As the glycogen is depleted, the piglet must receive an external source of energy of the level of circulating blood glucose will fall dramatically. If the blood glucose drops to a certain level the piglet develops a condition called hypoglycaemia, which leads to weakness and predisposition to be overlain by the sow.

	Several studies have shown a consistent increase in body fat of newborn pigs from sows fed fat.
	Almost all studies have shown elevated fat contents of milk and colostrum of sows fed added fat.
	Most studies have reported an increase in overall survival of the litter due to fat feeding.

 

Application:

	Added fat also reduces the risk of constipation around birth, reduces the risk of mastitis and generally enables the sow to go unto feed sooner.
	It is suggested that sows should consume at least 1kg of fat before farrowing. This is achieved by feeding a diet with 10% added fat for 5 days before farrowing (from  the time that the sow is moved into the farrowing crate till the day of (farrowing).
	Use 200 kg lactating feed and mix with a 25kg bag of fat.
	The highest response to fat feeding occurs when pre weaning mortalities are high.
	The benefits of feeding fat may be very high in summer.

Walter Scharlach

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Final Report on ASA Soybean Project

 

During the past year, SPESFEED have been involved in a survey to determine the quality of soybean meal (SBM) used in South Africa. The project was initiated by the American Soybean Association. This survey is now complete and we would like to share the results with you.

A total of 197 SBM samples were submitted for analyses to the Central Agricultural Laboratories. These samples represent the SBM that was used on the South African market. The origin of the SBM samples is shown in the below:

 

 

Protein analysis: The protein analysis is summarised in Table 1 below:

 

	USA Hipro	Argentina (47%)	RSA (42-44%)	Zimbabwe (45.5)
Samples	8	127	24	34
Avg. (%)	47.4	46.1	44.2	46.1
Min. (%)	45.1	42.6	41.3	42.5
Max. (%)	49.4	49.0	47.4	49.9
% CV	3.1	2.4	5.4	3.1

	The protein content of the American Hipro SBM is 1.3% higher than the Argentinean product.
	The South African SBM still has the highest variability with a coefficient of variance of 5.4%.
	The Argentinean SBM analysed at 46.5% during the first 3 months of the year.

It than declined to 45.4% during the next 4 months and moved back up to 46.5% during the last 2 months of this survey. This is graphically illustrated in Figure 2 below.

 

 

Protein Solubility Percentage:

According to the literature KOH values of 73 to 85 % are indicative of optimally processed SBM. Table 2 summarises the KOH protein solubilities.

 

	USA	Argentina	RSA	Zimbabwe
Samples	7	110	21	27
Avg.(%)	83.5	81.7	79.0	80.4
Min.(%)	78.0	65.8	53.4	52.7
Max.(%)	93.8	96.5	94.3	92.3
%CV	6.7	7.6	14.0	10.3

 

	This data shows that the processing of the American and Argentinean product is far superior to the Zimbabwean or South African SBM.
	Over-processing occurred in 9 Argentinean samples (8%), 5 South African samples (29%) and 3 Zimbabwean samples (11%).
	One third of the Argentinean SBM samples were under-processed (KOH solubility of more than 85%).

 

Calcium level:

Since calcium carbonate is routinely used to improve the flowability of SBM during processing, the Ca level was monitored. A Ca value of 0.20 to 0.25 % is considered normal.

Since the Calcium level of all the products are within the acceptable range, they all contain reasonable amounts of flow agent.

Summary

The quality monitoring survey has kept the quality issues of SBM topical and made buyers aware that not only the chemical analysis but also the physical appearance is very important in quality control.

It has resulted in a clear shift away from Zimbabwean and Indian SBM into Argentinean SBM.

The USA product carries a premium of approximately 10 to 15 US $. This represents approximately 5% of the current purchase price.

Our efforts to convince the local feed industry that USA Soya bean meal is cost effective were seriously hampered by a lack of USA SBM on the South African market.

The only shipment we received was a parcel of 2000 tons USA Hipro that came into the country in June 1999. It would appear that the USA Hipro is 1 to 1.5% higher in protein. If this was true it should be possible to persuade the industry to pay the 5% premium.

Walter Scharlach

Rick Kleyn

Helena van Rensburg

 

                               

 

 

SPESFEED cc

Animal Nutrition Consultants SPESFEED NEWS is published by the consultants at SPESFEED cc. The purpose of the newsletter is twofold. It serves both as a source of information for those involved in animal agriculture as well as a means for us to maintain contact with out clients. Spesfeed provides a professional technical service to the livestock and animal feed industries. Our aim is to ensure that our clients use optimal production and feeding systems in order to maximise the return on investment. The company has no affiliation to any particular product or supplier.