A story published back in September 2014 has proved to be a top hitter on FeedNavigator this past month.
It relates to product development at Land O'Lakes with that company saying calves managed aggressively for growth will produce more milk as two-year-olds. The US firm, as it unveiled new protein products for calves, was aiming to get producers to feed calves more frequently and at a higher plane of milk nutrition to boost their health and growth.
“A way of reducing high mortality rates in young dairy calves is to get them to ingest more nutrients early to support growth and immune function,” Tom Earleywine, director of nutritional services at Land O'Lakes Animal Milk Products, told us at the time.
You can read the full story here.
There was lots of interest in the story about Cargill restructuring its leadership team, announced at the end of October.
The agribusiness giant said the moves were part of its effort to “align” company leadership and strategy.
“Cargill has come a long way in the past three years, undertaking significant changes in the way we work that have invigorated our team and generated greater profits for reinvestment."
The staffing changes are part of a process to ensure the company reflects customer needs, it said.
“This includes positioning us to grow and invest in the highest-potential markets, including accelerating our efforts in Asia Pacific. The changes we make today will translate directly to a future-ready Cargill.”
You can found out about the restructuring here.
An article, first posted in February 2018, about how the use of the additive, copper hydroxychloride, in weaned pigs diets may improve weight gain and performance, was doing the rounds again this month.
Scott Fry, director of technical sales support at Micronutrients, had told us back then about the research undertaken by industry players and the University of Illinois exploring the role that copper hydroxychloride (Cu) plays in energy digestibility in young pigs.
You can really the full article here.
There were lots of clicks on a story about how consumer interest in aquaculture production and nutrition is supporting the role of alternative, algae-based omega-3 feed ingredients, according to Corbion and Biomar spokespersons.
Jill Kauffman Johnson, head of global market development in algae ingredients, Corbion and Vidar Gundersen, global sustainability director, BioMar, talked to FeedNavigator recently about both companies’ efforts in relation to boosting aquaculture sustainability and about the use and development of AlgaPrime DHA – an algae-based omega-3 feed ingredient.
You can read the story here.
The fifth most popular story this month was a spotlight on how Rabobank sees the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak changing the structure of the Chinese swine sector there, and accelerating a consolidation trend,
“China’s hog industry is fragmented, with 40% of hogs coming from small producers. Biosecurity has been a weakness of this segment, and most reported cases of ASF come from farms with fewer than 500 hogs, commonly using kitchen waste to feed hogs. Conversely, large-scale farms have very strict biosecurity, with standardized feed and have, so far, largely been unaffected by ASF. We expect ASF to catalyze widespread industry consolidation, with many small farmers becoming uncompetitive under the new market conditions.”
The full piece can be accessed here.
Coming in at number six in our list of most read stories over the past month is the report on Evonik acquiring the Belgian big data software provider, Porphyrio.
Porphyrio is a KU Leuven spin-off delivering big data technology for poultry production to help farmers better manage, predict, and optimize their operations.
You can read the full news story here.
Featured among the most popular stories this month was one reporting on a study on broiler chickens fed a diet containing black soldier fly (BSF) larvae. The researchers found that use of the BSFL meal improved chick weight gain and boosted production of immune system elements.
The meal also was linked to improved survival in a disease challenge against Salmonella Gallinarum, they said.
“These findings suggest that BSFL feeding can stimulate nonspecific immune responses in broiler chicks and increase their survivability against S. Gallinarum experimental infection,” they said.
The full study can be found here.
There was renewed interest this month in a story we filed in March documenting a report from not-for-profit group, Mighty Earth, along with Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) and Fern, investigating soy-linked deforestation in Argentina and Paraguay
Their report, The Avoidable Crisis, claimed soy raised for European animal feed is behind deforestation in Argentina and Paraguay, and that commodity traders like Cargill and Bunge have failed to put in place meaningful mechanisms to ensure that they are not driving these harmful practices.
You can read the full story here.
A story on how miniaturizing NIR technology improves its utility and brings dairy producers closer to having daily feed assessments and improved corrections of feed variability needed for consistent milk production, also proved popular this month.
During the Cornell Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufacturers, we had a chance to speak with Chris Piotrowski, director of Aunir, a division of AB Vista, to hear more about the development of near-infrared (NIR) technology and how connection to digital technology and cloud computing are progressing the use and functionality of NIR.
You can get the low down here.
A story from EuroTier piqued the interest of many readers in the past few weeks.
Dutch feed and agribusiness group, Agrifirm, and insect protein and oils producer, Protix, announced that they will be collaborating on a range of new initiatives using insect-based ingredients in products for the broiler, layer and pig sectors in the Netherlands, and beyond, as well as targeted applications for soil improvement.
Dick Hordijk, Agrifirm’s CEO, said the group sees a clear opportunity to develop more products such as OERei, which is Protix’s live larvae fed egg brand, stocked by Netherlands supermarket giant, Albert Heijn, and is also in the stores of a more regional Dutch food retailer.
You can read the interview about this development with Protix's co-founder here.