The EPNIX program offers an antibiotic-free supplement that can be used when a cow enters a feedlot through to the end of finishing, said Vaughn Holder, Alltech beef specialist.
“This is a combination of a lot of the work that has been done up to this point,” he told Feed Navigator. “We are realizing that our technologies are working better when they’re put together than when they’re used alone, and it’s important to look at the entire diet.”
The nutritional program, targeting every lifestage of feedlot cattle, has been in development for about five years, he said, and is an extension of work stared in nutrigenomic technologies and epigenetics.
“It focuses on providing the right blend of nutrients, at the right time to encourage the animal to express its genetic potential,” he said. It includes a proprietary blend of ingredients along with organic trace mineral supplementation, he added.
Program process
In a traditional production system, the first stage of the EPNIX program starts when an animal enters the feedlot, said Holder. The treatment works to improve the animal’s health and help it move past any disease burden.
During the finishing phase, the supplement program aims to keep animals healthy, while improving feed efficiency, he said. “You need to keep the animal stable until they reach the finishing weight,” he added.
Additionally, the nutritional additive can be used in either a traditional production system or with one that is designed for a specialty market – like antibiotic-free production, he said.
“At the end of the day, the value of the program is the fact that it is able to be profitable in both systems,” he said.
The supplement has been examined by the Feed Verified program and is listed as being approved for cattle raised in Non-Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC) systems, Never Ever 3(NE3) processes and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) systems.
Market reaction
There already has been a lot of interest in the system from industry, said Holder.
“We did a survey recently looking at hot topics, and, across the board, producing food animals without the use of antibiotics is the number one hot topic at the moment,” he said. “When we developed this program that was not necessarily the intention of the program, but it can be used in that respect.”
The program will initially be offered in North America, he said. But there are ongoing studies looking at its effectiveness in other markets.
More information about the program is set to be presented at the upcoming National Cattlemen's Beef Association Convention in San Diagio, California at the end of January.
Results
In the most recent study, the company compared results from 1680 head of cattle, said Holder. Part of the group received a regular feedlot diet and the other cattle were given the EPNIX program.
“Both groups of animals went through the production cycle as normal,” he said. “As far as performance goes, the EPNIX animals increased average daily gain [they] put on 14lb more carcass weight per animal – it was pretty exciting work.”
The treatment also provided additional dressed yield and increased the ribeye area, reported the company.
In earlier research work involving the treatment, 512 cattle were given one of two diets, said researchers. The diets included a control group and a group on the programmed nutrition beef program (PN), a form of the EPNIX program. Both diets had two sub-groups, one that was also getting exogenous growth promotants (ExGP) including ractopamine hydrochloride for the last 28 days of production, and one that did not.
Cattle on the PN diet received a receiver diet for 20 days and a finisher program for day 21 through 175, they said.
“Use of the PN in the absence of or in conjunction with the presence of ExGP produced feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, and fatty acid profiles similar to those produced by a conventional feedlot system,” said researchers. “Therefore, the use of these products provides a feasible feed alternative to producers seeking to finish cattle in a natural or organic production system.”
Source: Journal of American Science
Title: Effects of the Programmed Nutrition Beef Program on feedlot performance and carcass characteristics
DOI: 10.2527/jas2014-8661
Authors: K. J. Phelps, J. S. Drouillard, J. S. Jennings, B. E. Depenbusch, C. L. Van Bibber-Krueger, K. A. Miller, M. A. Vaughn, D. D. Burnett, and J. M. Gonzalez