Welcome to another year of the SPESFEED NEWS.  I am sure that just like me, many of you are still wondering what happened to the rest of 2005.  

As you may be aware, much of the international work that I have done in the past has been on behalf of the American Soybean Association (ASA).  At the end September last year, ASA ceased to exist, with the marketing function for US Soybeans having been taken over by the US Soybean Export Council.  USSEC - as they are known - has decided to stop market development activities in Europe, Russia , North Africa and West Africa . 

This means that my trips to these exciting destinations have ended for the moment. I have just read a book on how to improve one’s written English.  I have tried to apply some of the techniques that I have learnt in this edition of the newsletter.  Please let me have some feedback on whether it is easier/faster to read than previous editions.

New Course

SPESFEED, in association with Abnatech Global, (a part of Associated British Nutrition and Agri-products), are pleased to announce that they will be jointly hosting the first of a series of workshops on Practical HACCP for the Agri-Food supply chain.

Angela Booth, who has extensive experience of  designing and implementing HACCP systems in the feed industry in Britain, will run the workshop.  We believe that it will be of relevance to those companies that are in the process of implementing GMP in their feed mills.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a system devised to identify, evaluate and control hazards that are significant for food safety. It is the most widely used method for assessing potential food/feed safety hazards in industries right across the globe. HACCP is the recommended food safety methodology of the World Health Organisation and is a requirement of food and feed regulations and certification standards in Europe . Regardless of the legislative requirement for HACCP, food and feed companies are discovering that it can deliver real benefits, both financial and otherwise, to their businesses.  In particular, the management of commercial risk is a significant benefit of an effective HACCP system.

The workshop has been designed to help the following operations use HACCP principles within their businesses:

·         Producers and processors of feed materials, additives and additive like substances (feed ingredients);

·         Those who trade, merchant, store, pack or deliver feed ingredients;

·         Producers of compound animal feeds;

·         Those who trade, merchant, store, pack or deliver combinable crops for human or animal consumption.

The program is intended both for companies for whom HACCP may be a completely new concept and for those companies with prior experience of HACCP. Companies already operating an HACCP system will find it particularly useful if they are seeking certification against an accredited feed industry assurance scheme or have found that their existing HACCP system does not bring significant benefits to the business. HACCP systems can be effectively implemented to provide benefits to companies of all sizes, from one-man operations to multi-national corporations.

The workshop will be held on the 7^th and 8^th March at the Country Club Johannesburg’s Woodmead facility.  The cost of the workshop is R2950.00 (excluding VAT) it includes a light lunch.  As this is a workshop and not a course places will be limited so please let us know if you or anyone in your organisation wish to attend.  We can be contacted on (011) 803-2050.

New Product

An new alternative to AGP’s, called CHEMEQ®, has just been launched in South Africa .  Research results are encouraging with significant improvements in FCR and weight gain and measurable results in mortality having been achieved.  As with all additives, the cost effectiveness of application is likely to be the key issue.   

We are aware that the maintenance of gut health in broilers is one of the major concerns for the industry. For over 50 years, antibiotics have been administered at sub therapeutic doses in the feed to control intestinal disease and in turn, promote feed efficiency and improve weight gain.  

Frequent use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP’s) has led to a decline in efficacy due to resistance. Additionally, there are concerns relating to diseases in birds that are caused by organisms that have become resistant to traditional antibiotics, and there is a heightened awareness amongst consumers of the development of resistance to related antibiotics used in human medicine. It is for this reason that organisations such as the European Union are banning the use of AGP’s.  To compensate for the problems associated with AGP’s, various compounds have been developed for use in controlling intestinal disease, with varying degrees of success.

CHEMEQ® is a polymeric antimicrobial. It represents a new class of antimicrobials – the polyaldehydes, which have a non-specific mode of action. Traditional antibiotics target a specific site or metabolic pathway within the bacteria, whereas the active ingredient (2-propenal, 2-propenoic acid) has a non-specific affinity for the surface proteins in the bacterial cell wall. It binds by multiple mechanisms to the bacteria to cause rupture and death. This unique mode of action allows it to kill bacteria that have proliferated in the intestine. The non-specific binding of   proteins in the bacterial cell wall makes it unlikely that resistance will develop.

Although price may be an issue, drug free broiler producers now have a viable alternative to AGP’s. For further information regarding this product, please contact Pieter Grimbeek on (018) 297-8155.

Visit to USA

In September 2005, I was invited to speak at the Arkansas Nutrition Conference held in Rogers , Arkansas.  I made use of my visit to the US to visit the Poultry Science Department at the University of Georgia where I met up with my old friend Prof. Nick Dale and conducted a seminar for the staff and post graduate students at the University

At the conference itself, I was one of a number of speakers from far flung corners of the globe who talked about broiler production and feeding in their own countries.  These included the Far East, Mexico and the USA itself.  We are mostly doing the same sort of thing, although we tend to feed diets of a higher nutrient density in South Africa.

The speaker who represented the Far East , Harlan Hochstetler,  made the statement that “the working definition of ‘optimum nutrient density’ occurs when the minimum diet formula cost per ‘thousand kilocalorie nutrient package’ is determined” with which I disagreed, as this does not consider the growth potential of the bird or the financial returns at all.

Jean Allard, from OK Industries talked about the situation in the USA immediately after I had finished my presentation.  He started by putting things into perspective.  OK Industries produces about 70% as much chicken meat as the whole of South Africa does in a year.

Frank Robinson from the University of Alberta gave a presentation on the management of the high yielding breeder female.  He stressed that optimizing reproductive efficiency in modern high-yielding females requires attention to detail and skill in managing the metabolism of the bird. It is essential that the particular strain (genotype) and particular flock is known well.  A key point is to be familiar with not only body weight, but also the weekly or daily change in body weight (gain).  Providing small daily increases in feed allocation (or avoiding sudden large increases in feed intake) can result in gains in body weight following the target recommendations while not eliciting a metabolic response of ‘storing’ excess nutrients in the liver, which ultimately will result in increased follicle recruitment. By making the feed increases as small and frequent as possible, it is more likely to trick the bird’s metabolism and as a result not negatively influence follicle recruitment and hence egg production.

Delaying light stimulation until such time as most of the flock is mature enough to respond to it, is an important factor in the uniformity of sexual maturation, and hence peak egg production. Management of sexual maturation implies that puberty is stimulated by changing the day length (not changing the feed).

His colleague Doug Korver reported on his work with HyD, which is the trade name for name for 25-OH cholecalciferol (25-OH D₃).   Although he only presented preliminary results he was able to show that in broilers, broiler breeders and laying hens, it appears that HyD may have beneficial effects on bird performance, immune function and skeletal integrity.

Another talk that I found very interesting was a talk given by Peter Ferket from the North Carolina State University who talked about “Enhancement of Early Gut Development by In Ovo Feeding”.  In a talk on the addition of liquid enzymes to the diet by Andy Smith of the ChemGen Corporation, I realized that adding liquids is very scientific. I have a complete copy of the proceedings should anyone want one.

Following the meeting in Arkansas I was invited by ChemGen Corporation to visit their offices in Virginia , near Washington DC .  Here I was able to see their laboratory facilities and was shown some of the biotechnology that they are applying to produce enzymes that are heat stable.  A highlight was to watch a ‘robotic’ lab technician in action. A most enlightening day.  My host Mark Jackson then spent the day with me doing the sights in Washington itself.  I will remember the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the Wright brother’s plane and Rembrandt staring down at me from the wall of the National Gallery for the rest of my days.

My visit to the USA ended with a visit to the AFIA show that was held in Kansas City (which I discovered is in the state of Missouri and not in Kansas ).  I was a tad disappointed as the show is far smaller that Victam, which is held in Holland .  Most of the stalls on the show were equipment (including any number of bulk tankers), and there was very little to do with nutrition.  I did run into fellow South African, Pete Karnezos, who has left Alltech and is now working for a premix company called “The Old Mill- Troy, Inc.”.  I have just read that in future they will be combining the AFIA show with the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta and I can understand why.

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Effective Biosecurity: The case for compliance and regional perspective.

Given the size of farms and the high regional density in many swine and poultry production areas, any serious contagious disease situation can potentially turn a peaceful rural community into a war zone. Getting ready for it makes sense. It requires planning, practice, and above all, the right attitude: one that is visionary and resolute.  

A paper, by Dr. JP Vaillancourt of the Poultry Health Management Team, University of Montreal , was presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians in Toronto . I believe that it is a great relevance to all animal producers.

Current infectious disease events are occurring at a time when more restrictions are placed on veterinary drugs and when there is a growing concern by the public over the safety of the food supply. Rightly or wrongly, the conjuncture is negative. To face this situation, the emphasis has turned towards enhanced biosecurity. In fact, if you are reading this paper, it is because you already know about the importance of biosecurity and you have already heard a few talks about it. So, what’s new? Not much in terms of farm biosecurity measures. We have known for years how to biosecure a premises and every company has a plan on file.

But the implementation is just not done consistently. People do not comply. This is true at different levels in the production system. The growers are key to the disease control effort. Dr. Beard from the US Poultry and Egg Association put it clearly: “If the growers are not brought into the effort to upgrade the biosecurity situation in the U.S. poultry industry, very little will be accomplished. The grower level is where the biosecurity effort needs to be concentrated because that is where the birds are.” The same goes for swine producers.

In today’s animal production, it is no longer possible to biosecure an industry one farm at a time. For a given region, poultry and swine veterinarians also need to develop a regional perspective to biosecurity.  This article will therefore focus on compliance issues, and on the regional approach to biosecurity for disease prevention and containment.

Often what company management perceives as happening on farms in terms of biosecurity and what actually happens are two different things. Low levels of compliance can be significant when it comes to biosecurity.  A turkey company asked people to sign in to each site.  Using hidden camera’s it was found that compliance with this - the simplest of tasks - ranged from 7 to 49%.

Economic models developed to assess the value of biosecurity systems suggest that prevention of disease is always less expensive than treatment. In work with broiler breeders it was confirmed “that expenditure on protective measures can be justified by both the risk of introducing a disease and the magnitude of losses that may occur following infection”.  On a breeder farm, the benefit-cost ratio of biosecurity is at least 3 for a farm considered at a 30% risk of being infected by an agent causing a severe disease. In the case of the most pathogenic conditions, they found that investment in biosecurity was justified even with a 0.01 probability of outbreak. Estimating the risk of disease is partly a subjective exercise. However, substantial evidence has been reported regarding major risks such as:  

·         Poor farm location: farm located in high density region (other farms within 2 km)

·         Introduction of animals of unknown origin

·         Introduction of contaminated material or infected animals

·         Presence of an infectious disease in a region

·         Presence of the disease on neighboring farms

·         Pest infestation (rodents and/or insects)

·         Poor sanitation

·         No restrictions or requirements for visitors (i.e., high on-farm traffic, including hired help going from farm to farm)  

These are common sense hazards that must be considered when estimating the risk of disease transmission. Although self evident, these risks are often ignored in practice.  

Assessing risks is assessing reality. Recent events in many regions are forcing this on us. But what is the knowledge or sensitivity of all industry people (and of those working for satellite organizations) relative to such current events? How many are truly aware of the most significant risks? Execution of a biosecurity plan (i.e., compliance) very much depends on how educated these people are on contagious disease issues. Too often, this is where the system fails. Employees are told what to do, but without a good understanding of the ‘why’ it is not possible to reach the compliance level required to make a biosecurity program work. One could go one step further and state that, to achieve long-term benefits, we need more than just education. We need a paradigm shift.  

The recent Californian experience is a case in point. People with backyard flocks and live-bird markets started moving birds around, i.e., increasing animal traffic, during the effort to quarantine and reduce traffic to contain the Newcastle epidemic of 2002-2003. For these people, the risk and impact of loosing their birds and/or business was considered much greater than the risk and impact of spreading a very virulent virus throughout the community.  

Our long-term objective should be to shift from the old paradigm (animal production seen as a mechanical process largely dictated by accountants; animal ownership and trading seen as an individual right independent of environmental and disease conditions) to one where health risks are factored in by all participants. This will likely be a long process.  

The New Paradigm: The Case for Regional Biosecurity: All animal activities comprise disease transmission risks and these risks increase in significance as the regional density of such activities increases. The management of infectious disease risks must therefore include a regional approach in terms of disease prevention as well as disease containment.  

Key issues from the avian influenza simulation held in Ontario, Canada , in October 2004.  

Improvement in biosecurity compliance at the regional level should parallel improvements in communication within and between companies. The stigma attached to having an infectious disease is real and often leads people to keep this information from others. Just being suspected of having a diseased flock or herd may be enough to stop exports or affect business agreements. But silence has been shown to be even more costly. Although liability will always be a concern, pointing fingers has never been an effective disease control strategy and companies sharing a region must also share the necessary information needed to contain contagious diseases.  

A full scale simulation of an avian influenza outbreak was held in late October 2004 in Ontario , Canada . This revealed that key issues centered on the ability to detect rapidly an initial case and to communicate effectively within and between companies and organizations to implement all necessary measures to control the problem (see table).  

Industry leaders and decision-makers from local government must receive the required epidemiological information in order to act quickly if an epidemic emerges.  Geographical information systems (GIS) are fast becoming routine tools out of the necessity to quickly determine the location of infected or diseased flocks/herds.  

Confidentiality is important, but when it prevents the timely flow of information to people who could act to prevent the spread of disease, it becomes the microbe’s best friend. Do-able confidentiality agreements must be reached for routine and for emergency activities if we are to establish proper regional biosecurity and disease control plans.  

If we have learned anything from disasters such as the Foot-and-Mouth epidemic in the UK or the Avian Influenza outbreaks in Italy is that time is of the essence. The successes of the modern poultry and swine industries have also created an environment very favourable to highly contagious agents. In this environment, the window of opportunity to contain an epidemic is very narrow.  

Dr. JP Vaillancourt

University of Montreal

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 Chick Quality: An Update

Chick quality is a term that is hard to define and different people use different methods. It is based on observations such as whether or not the chick is alert, dry or wet, whether the navel is completed sealed, and on any deformities.  This is not reliable and we need an objective measurement of chick quality in order to better manage poor flocks.

Brian Fairchild, of the University of Georgia published (May 2005) a document on chick quality.  This information is relevant to nearly everyone involved in the poultry industry.  I have included some of the original data as well.

Most people working to evaluate chick quality agree that first week mortality may be the best measure available but this information is only available after the fact.  Producers need the information as soon as possible in order to make the management decisions needed to optimize that flock’s performance.

There are several factors that affect chick quality (Table 1).  But as yet there is no objective measure of chick quality.  A group in Belgium (Tona et al.,) has evaluated chick quality from three different breeder lines and has come up with a system that has been successful for their application.

Table 1. Factors that can affect chick quality

A perfect score is 100 (sum of all scores).  The level of score for each parameter was related to its importance to in the survival of the chick and the severity of any anomaly it may carry.  To demonstrate the system effectiveness, eggs held for 3 or 18 days were incubated and the chicks then graded according to chick quality score. The impact of chick quality on relative growth rate could be seen, but also the time that the eggs were stored before incubation.

Figure:  Relative growth according to the storage time and the chick quality score.

This method of chick scoring was useful in research. In practice, however, some alterations may be required.  For example, it may be important to decide on a how – and how  large - a sample should be taken in order to evaluate chick quality.

Table 2: Parameters used to asses chick quality.

Table 3:  Scoring system used to determine chick quality.

It is important that any system that developed to measure chick quality should use multiple parameters and that consistency should be shown when evaluating each parameter.  The results of each need to be accurately recorded so that norms and exceptions can be established.

Brian Fairchild

University of Georgia

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What Type of Mixers should we use?

People frequently ask us about what mixer they should use.  Obviously, the volume of feed required and the cost of the equipment play a role.  Canadian, Stirling McLeod, recently published some information on the different types of mixer to be used.

Horizontal Mixers: Horizontal mixers have been the standard of commercial feed mills. These are available as paddle mixers, ribbon mixers or combinations of the two. These mixers all have the ability to reach desired mixing accuracy with a relatively short mixing time (3 to 4 minutes).

Due to the ‘lifting and tumbling’ action of these mixers, they are not well suited to being mounted on a scale skid, because the fluctuations in scale readings created by this action significantly reduces their accuracy.  If stopped while scaling in ingredients, the accuracy returns, but these mixers are difficult to start when full of material.

These mixers are best suited to high capacity mixing applications where a scaled hopper to measure pre-processed ingredients is used to supply the mixer.

Vertical Mixers: Vertical mixers have been used extensively in portable on-farm mixers and can achieve acceptable mixing accuracy if the mixing time is monitored and controlled. They are low cost and have low energy requirements.

Due to their smooth mixing action, they can be operated on a scale skid without adversely affecting scale accuracy while weighing in ingredients.

Transverse Mixers: Transverse mixers incorporate the low cost and power requirements of the vertical mixers with the mixing capability and speed of the horizontal mixers, and as a result have become the most popular mixer for on-farm applications in western Canada .

Although they are significantly more ‘aggressive’ mixers than their vertical predecessor, they still mix smoothly without creating measurable scale fluctuations.

Stirling McLeod

Stirdon Systems, Canada