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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest threats facing both animal and human health. Dr. Richard Murphy, research director of the Alltech European Bioscience Center, joins us on Ag Future to discuss the challenges that AMR presents in livestock production and the possible benefits of a multifactorial approach.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Dr. Richard Murphy hosted by Tom Martin. Click below to hear the full audio or listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Tom Martin:                 Antimicrobial resistance, or “AMR,” in agriculture can negatively impact public health, with an ever-increasing rise in bacterial strains that are less and less sensitive to treatments.

                                        Antimicrobial resistance has the potential to become one of the greatest problems of our generation. Each year, 700,000 people die of AMR. Without action, the death toll could rise even higher, to as many as 10 million deaths annually by 2050, and cause a 3.8% reduction in annual gross domestic product, all of that according to the 2017 report, “Drug-Resistant Infections: A Threat to Our Economic Future.” The world’s poorest people — those living in low- and middle-income countries — are disproportionately vulnerable.

                                        So, the search is on to find ways to reduce antimicrobial use in livestock production. That imperative is challenging scientists, like our guest, to come up with alternatives.

                                        Joining us on this episode of AgFuture is Dr. Richard Murphy, research director of the Alltech European Bioscience Center in Dunboyne, Ireland. Welcome, Dr. Murphy.

Richard Murphy:          Thank you. How are you?

Tom Martin:                  I’m great. And first, if you would, for those of us who know just enough science to be dangerous, if you could, help us with the difference between antibiotics and antimicrobials — or is there a difference?

Richard Murphy:          That’s a great question, and I guess there can be some confusion with that.

Typically, when we think about antibiotics, we’re talking about medicines that we use to prevent and treat bacterial infections.  “Antimicrobials,” then, I guess, can be used as a broader term, and antimicrobial resistance — you can refer to resistance to drugs to treat other infections that are caused by other microbes, like parasites or perhaps viruses.

                                        So, there is a tendency to use them interchangeably — so, “antibiotics” and “antimicrobials” — but antibiotics are the medicines that we would know, whereas the antimicrobials could be a lot of different types of compounds. So, I hope that helps a little bit.

Tom Martin:                  It does, yes. Thank you very much.

                                        So, Dr. Murphy, your colleagues and you have written, in an article on Nature.com,  about pressures to understand the mechanisms surrounding antibiotic resistance and the search for alternatives. So, let’s begin there. Where are we in our understanding about antibiotic resistance?

Richard Murphy:          Gosh, it’s an era that’s really exciting, actually, because when we look at antibiotic resistance, it’s actually been around for a very, very long time. In a lot of more recent work, which would look at, I guess, profiling historical samples, say, in fossilized remains of animals or even in mummies from Egypt, for instance. And with, you know — scientists have been able to identify the presence of resistant gene markers well before what we will call the so-called golden age of antibiotics, which would have been the 1960s and 70s.

                                         So, really, antimicrobial resistance or antibiotic resistance has been around for a long, long time. And the problem has been that the selection pressures that really are driven by not only the use but the misuse of antimicrobials in disease prevention and treatment in humans and in animals — and then, as well as improving their use for improving growth rates in food-producing animals — both significantly contributed to an accelerated development of AMR.

So, while antibiotic resistance has been around for a long, long time, I think it’s the accelerated development of antibiotic resistance which is, really, a lot of concern. That being said, I do think that the intensification of agriculture and widespread use of AGPs, along with the use of antibiotics for so-called metaphylaxis, that’s really allowed for an enhanced spread of resistance.

                                        And then, right now, I guess, the major spread — area of concern has been the spread of antibiotics, the spread of resistant antibiotics of critical importance to humans, and so — antibiotics like silver quinolones , for instance.

                                        The last number of years has really gotten quite interesting in that a lot of the focus has started to shift to trying to understand the makeup of the resistant gene markers that are present within the gastrointestinal tract, the ecosystem. So, within our GI tract and within the GI tracts of animals, you’ve got an entire population of all the microbes — not just bacteria, but fungi; you’ve got viruses; you’ve got protozoa. As well as that group of organisms, you have a population, for want of a word, of resistant gene markers, and that’s called the so-called resistome. And so, that’s a really exciting area.

                                        And what that’s shown, over the last while, is that there are hundreds of markers to antibiotic resistance that are present within this GI tract ecosystem. Some of these can be chromosomally incorporated, from the chromosome of the bacteria or of the fungi, but the majority of them tend to be on, I guess, more what you call as mobile genetic elements. So, small pieces of DNA, certain pieces of DNA called plasmids, or we may have other ones called the intergrins, or that could even be present on phage that can easily move around, the bacteriophage that can easily move around.

                                        I think the biggest area of interest for me has been the demonstration that antibiotic resistance is persistent. And that’s the way I like to think about it, is that once antimicrobial or antibiotic resistance gets a foothold, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of.

                                        And you can look at data from a lot of different monitoring agencies — whether it’s the ECDC here in the EU or NARMS in the U.S. — a lot of different monitoring agencies produce these really good data sets each year, and they all seem to indicate or they all show that simply restricting or banning the use of antibiotics doesn’t necessarily result in an elimination or a very significant decrease in the problems associated with antimicrobial resistance.

                                        And that’s the biggest not only an area of interest for me, but also, I think, it’s also one of the biggest areas of concern for me, that while we have a drive towards restricting and reducing the use of antibiotics, which is very much needed, I think there’s less attention paid to how we’re actually going to reduce the presence or the prevalence of resistant organisms that are already present within our production system or present within the environment. And that’s the, I think, where the most critical needs over the next few years will be, is to look at strategies that we can, I guess, (utilize to) reduce the presence of resistant organisms.

                                        So, I guess that’s a very whirlwind look at the whole area. Certainly, it’s not all-encompassing, but those are the most — the most interesting areas, to be honest.

Tom Martin:                  Okay. Well, thank you for bringing us up to speed on that.

                                        The EU, the European Union, banned antibiotic use in 2006. And since then, there has been this imperative to find ways to support antibiotic restriction while continuing to promote animal health without contributing to antibiotic resistance.

                                        What have been some important outcomes of that drive to identify alternatives to antibiotics?

Richard Murphy:          Yeah. That’s a really interesting question as well. I think the key message that we would see is that, really, there’s no silver bullet. So, you know, taking antibiotics out of the diet has been difficult, and that’ll cause issues for producers. And there is definitely a need to look at this from the point of view of being, of it being a multifactorial issue that we need to look at.

                                        So, for instance, we need to look at management, hygiene practices and antibiotic use for disease prevention in animals that do get sick. But we also need to look at diet, and I think we need to look at nutrition more closely as well, because within the production system, everything is linked.

So, while there is no silver bullet to replacing antibiotics, I do think it’s a much bigger picture that we’re trying to look at. And I do think that, really, when we think about replacement of antibiotics, we will need to take into consideration multiple factors or dimensions, such as animal management and facility hygiene; diet certainly is going to be absolutely critical, and nutritional components play a huge role in transitioning — (that word) is probably the way to look at those — away from antibiotic use, in transitioning towards antibiotic-free production systems.

Tom Martin:                  What can you tell us about dietary oligosaccharides in feeds as a non-pharmaceutical alternative to antibiotic growth promoters?

Richard Murphy:          Again, (that’s) a really exciting area, and certainly one that Alltech has been involved with since the, I guess, the late 1990s. Really, the heart of what we’re talking about with dietary oligosaccharides, such as mannan-oligosaccharides — these are, I guess, isolated components that we take from yeast. So, from baker’s yeast — like Saccrharomyces cerevisiae, for instance.

                                        The realization has been that the oligosaccharides that are present within the yeast cell wall have many different functions. So, some of them, for instance, can be used to reduce the impact of mycotoxin contamination in feeds, and some of them — like mannan-oligosaccharides, for instance — have the ability to control pathogens.

                                        And when I talk about controlling pathogens, I guess, from the historical perspective, mannan-oligosaccharides would been viewed as a tool to control E. coli and control Salmonella. So, they bind the E. coli and Salmonella and prevent them from colonizing the GI tract, thereby reducing the overall load of them within the bird, and then, obviously, reducing problems in the associative consumption of contaminations in meat and egg products, for instance.

                                        Something that is quite of interest when we look at mannan-oligosaccharides is that, typically, they are associated with a performance response. So, we do tend to see improvements in feed conversions, we see improvements in weight gain, but critically, we also see decreases in mortality as well.

                                        So, for a producer, they represent the really elegant, I guess, solution — or elegant part of the solution — to replacing antibiotics in that you can look at them as a way in which you can improve the performance of your animals, your livestock and your poultry, but also, you can begin to reduce the presence of pathogens like E. coli, like Salmonella. And more recently what we have seen is, I guess, is control of other pathogens, like Campylobacter, for instance. That’s really a different mechanism but, certainly, is a very important aspect to the use of mannan-oligosaccharides.

Tom Martin:                 Are prebiotics such as yeast MRF (mannan-rich fractions) effective alternatives to antibiotics?

Richard Murphy:          Okay, so when we talk about MRF, what we’re actually talking about is, again, a further refinement of the whole mannan-oligosaccharides concept. And initially, when we developed our mannan-oligosaccharide product in Alltech, we looked at the interior cell wall of Saccrharomyces yeast.

With MRF, it’s actually a much more refined structure that’s obtained from those MOS preparations. And it’s characterized, I guess, by being a very highly branched mannan sub-structure. So, we call it mannan-rich fraction. MRF as a prebiotic really does represent a very good part of the arsenal that we would have in terms of looking at transitioning producers away from the use of antibiotics and transitioning towards antibiotics-free diets.

                                        And certainly, we developed some quite nice data from the use of MRF within the laboratory and within the research program here in Dunboyne. And we’ve basically shown that with preparations like MRF, you can have dramatic impacts on the growth and the sensitization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria; you can actually change the way in which the bacteria metabolizes, and that makes those bacteria more sensitive to the use of antibiotics. And certainly, yeast MRF do represent a very good part of the puzzle in transitioning away from antibiotic use.

                                        Click here to access more detailed information on MRF.

Tom Martin:                  After that EU ban on antibiotics, there was a turn to zinc oxide, which also turned out to be problematic. How has zinc oxide also contributed to the spread of antimicrobial resistance?

Richard Murphy:          Again, that’s a really good question, and one that we could chat, really, at length about, to be honest. And it tends to get, I guess, when you look at the literature, it can be — there’s a lot of, I guess, conflict in the literature about whether zinc oxide has or hasn’t contributed to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.   

                                        Personally, I do think it has. And there are quite a number of excellent publications out there indicating that the use of high levels of zinc — and also, high levels of copper, for instance — can actually select for co-resistance; it’s a co-resistance mechanism that’s been selected for in this case, here.

                                        And the way in which that can be, I guess, easily described is that when you have those mobile genetic elements — and so, those smaller, easily transmissible pieces of DNA that carry antibiotic resistance markers — sometimes, they can have markers that encode resistance to metals, like zinc, like copper, like cadmium, for instance. And when you have a selective pressure — and what I mean by that is when you have a high level of zinc (or) a high level of copper in an animal’s diet, you can actually select for the expression or select for high-level resistance to occur to both the metal and both the antibiotic.

So, while there is a little bit of conflict in the literature about it, I think it is pretty clear, at this stage, that the use of high levels of zinc, zinc oxide, or high levels of copper have, in part, contributed to the development and contributed to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Tom Martin:                  What does the latest research tell us about the benefits of enhancing microbial diversity in the, in the gut?

Richard Murphy:          That’s an area that we’ve been working extensively on over the last number of years. And really, the realization here is that when we think about microbial diversity, really, what we’re talking about is the balance of bacteria and microbes within the GI tract.

                                        And I guess us humans, for our own diet, we’re interested in trying to improve the balance of bacteria within our guts. And the same is true for our production animals or for our livestock and for our poultry, that we want to take as much care with increasing the diversity of bacteria within their guts, increasing the balance of bacteria within their guts, in order to improve their health and, obviously, in order to improve the performance of our poultry and our livestock.

                                        So, certainly, when we think about microbial diversity, what we’re really trying to do is improve the balance of bacteria within the gut. And our own research has shown that by the use of yeast MRF, or by the addition of yeast MRF in diets, we can, in fact, improve the balance of bacteria within the GI tract — so we can get an improvement in the overall diversity, which we’ve definitely been able to link to an increased (protection) against pathogen colonization.

                                        So, we get increased — or, rather, we get decreased colonization with pathogens like Campylobacter, like E. coli, like Salmonella. And in many respects, I think that this is a really elegant part of the transition to antibiotic-free diets, is that by improving the balance within the GI tract, or the microbial balance within the GI tract, we actually allow the gut to begin to self-police itself. So, we enable the bacterial ecosystem within the gut to more effectively control and more effectively prevent pathogens from colonizing the GI tract.

                                        So, I really do think that microbial balance or microbial diversity within the gut is a critical part of any antibiotic-free program.

Tom Martin:                  Why is it important to understand the role of intestinal microbial communities in existing feed additives, as well as in the development of new additives?

Richard Murphy:          Again, that’s a great question. And I guess it comes back to trying to understand the factors that influence the diversity of bacteria within the gut or the factors that influence the balance of bacteria within the gut.

                                        So, it’s a multifactorial process, so everything, including management practices, hygiene in the facility, the diet that’s being used, whether we’re changing diets — so, going from starter to grower to finisher — whether we’re using nutritional additives, all of these factors together will influence the balance or influence the diversity of bacteria within the gut.

                                        So, when we make a subtle change within the diet, we may actually have an impact on that balance or an impact on that diversity. So, really, we need to think carefully about the impact that a change in the diet may have or the use of a new additive, what (impact) they may have for a production system.

                                        And really, for me, I think it’s — we can take it right back to trying to understand how diverse or how good the balance of bacteria within the gut is. Any factors that reduce that balance or reduce that diversity, they should be avoided. So, really, what we need to do is look at using additives or developing newer additives that solely are designed to improve the balance or improve the diversity of bacteria within the GI tract.

Tom Martin:                  Has the research made it possible to attribute cause and effect to the way nutrients affect changes in the gut microflora, which are ultimately responsible for digestion and metabolite production?

Richard Murphy:          Yes, absolutely, it has. And a lot of this, I guess, has its genesis, really, in our work which has looked at the diversity or looked at the balance of bacteria within the GI tract.

                                        If you think about it, within our guts, we have an ecosystem of microbes, and that ecosystem, I guess, it breaks down the nutrients that are in the diet, and they produce short-chain fatty acids, for instance. So, if we change the balance of bacteria within the GI tract, we can actually influence the way in which that bacteria functions or the way in which they produce VFAs or short-chain fatty acids.

                                        And that’s something that we’ve found with the use of MRF, that when you encourage the beneficial change of bacteria within the GI tract, when you improve the balance and improve the diversity of bacteria within the GI tract, you actually begin to change the way they act as an ecosystem. And that change typically is shown by improvements in butyrate production or improvements in propionate production.

                                        And that, to me, is a really good, I guess, proof of our ability to modulate or ability to change metabolite production, is that by influencing the bacterial balance, you actually change the metabolites they produce — and in some cases, what’s beginning to get really interesting for us is that the metabolites produced in certain regions of the GI tract actually have a profound influence on the colonization of that region of the GI tract with pathogens.

                                        A good example of that is our work in Campylobacter, where we’ve basically shown that by using yeast MRF in the diet, you change the balance of bacteria within the cecum. And by changing that balance of bacteria within the cecum, you change the way in which they function, and that function is often demonstrated by changes in butyrate production. And when you get those increased butyrate levels, you actually see a decreased Campylobacter load in the cecum.

                                        So, it’s quite an elegant way in which we can control Campylobacter: Change the balance of bacteria within the cecum. That changed balance then shifts the metabolite production towards more favorable metabolites, like butyrate, and those butyrate molecules then begin to control the Campylobacter or make it less hospitable of an environment for Campylobacter to grow.

Tom Martin:                 Okay. You touched on this briefly earlier in our conversation, but I wanted to come back to it: current trends in the world of antibiotic research and the work to identify safe alternatives. And I’m just wondering: Among those trends, what excites you most?

Richard Murphy:          Really, what’s beginning to get, I guess, particularly exciting but is also an area that really needs to be looked at are the strategies that we need to look at reducing the presence of resistant organisms.

                                        So, on the one hand, we do recognize that, you know, there is a need for newer antibiotics to be developed. So, we need to be consistently looking out for antibiotics to replace the ones that we have, which will safeguard us against the development of antimicrobial or antibiotic resistance.

                                        But at the same time, I think, from, I guess, from a production animal point of view, do we actually need to look at using antibiotics at all? Should we be looking more towards, I guess, transitioning to antibiotic-free diets? And that’s really, I guess, what’s of interest to me, is how we can enable that research — so, how we can not only move towards the ABF diets, so move towards antibiotic-free programs, but also, what benefits we can have in terms of — will that transition towards an ABF system, will that actually reduce the presence of resistant organisms that may be present, say, for instance, from — present in the environment that we’re growing our production animals in? And can we reduce, then, the overall impact of those on the animal?

Tom Martin:                  Well, tell us about the Alltech solution — its Seed, Feed, Weed program.

Richard Murphy:          This is a program that we’ve worked on for a number of years now, and again, it’s back to the comment I made earlier about there being no silver bullet. So, it can be quite difficult to develop programs whereby you remove antibiotics and replace them with a single compound or a single nutritional additive.

                                        Really, with the Seed, Feed, Weed program, it’s multifactorial. And so, at its heart, what we’re looking at is the “seeding,” if you like, of young animals’ guts with probiotic bacteria. So, that looks at enhancing the resistance of the young animal to colonization of their gut with pathogenic organisms.

                                        We have a “feeding” element, which is a low-pH element, whereby we use a fairly safe organic acid that reduces the pH within the GI tract — so it makes it less favorable for the growth of organisms like Salmonella, like Campylobacter.

                                        And then, lastly, we have the “weeding” element. So, we use yeast MRF prebiotics as a way in which we can control, further control and further restrict not just the colonization of the gut with pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella, but then, also, changing the metabolites that are produced within the gut, so that you get decreased campylobacter prevalence, for instance.

                                        So, the Seed, Feed, and Weed is a multifactorial program. Again, there is no silver bullet, I think, to complete antibiotic-free production systems. You need to look at multifactor programs such as this and then also look at management and hygiene practices as well.

Tom Martin:                  That’s Dr. Richard Murphy, research director at the Alltech European Bioscience Center in Dunboyne, Ireland.

                                        Thanks, Dr. Murphy.

Richard Murphy:          Thank you.

Tom Martin:                  I’m Tom Martin. Thank you for listening.

                                        This has been AgFuture, presented by Alltech. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to AgFuture wherever you listen to podcasts.

¿El alza de los costos de producción está afectando su rentabilidad?

A medida que los márgenes de ganancia se acortan, los productores se enfocan en reducir los costos de producción. Sin embargo, la inversión en la alimentación tienen un papel clave, pero igualmente algunos factores en la granja pueden incrementar los gastos de una manera imperceptible.

Causas del aumento de los costos en la producción porcina

Si considera que los costos de su producción son mayores de lo óptimo, entonces considere evaluar las siguientes posibles causas:

• Consumo y calidad del agua: ¿El agua que consumen sus cerdos podría tener un efecto adverso sobre su desempeño y aumentar así los costos de producción? El consumo y la calidad del agua están estrechamente relacionados con la ingesta de alimento –debido a que los cerdos que no toman suficiente agua no comen lo necesario–. Los cerdos suelen beber alrededor del 10% de su peso corporal por día, o aproximadamente el doble de la cantidad de alimento balanceado que consumen.
   
• Calidad de las raciones y eficiencia alimenticia: ¿Los ingredientes de las dietas de sus cerdos están afectando su crecimiento y desempeño? La calidad del alimento balanceado es clave porque tiene un papel importante para el consumo y la digestibilidad. Con los costos de la alimentación representando hasta el 70% de los costos totales de producción, los porcicultores deben tener como principal prioridad asegurar la calidad de las dietas y una óptima eficiencia alimenticia.
   
• Mortalidad de cerdas: ¿Sus cerdas tienen la nutrición que necesitan para una salud y un desempeño óptimos? En toda la industria se ha registrado un aumento en la producción de cerdas, pero a pesar de este incremento muchos de los niveles de los nutrientes se han mantenido iguales. La genética está desarrollándose a una velocidad tan rápida que la nutrición no se da abasto. Así, los patrones de consumo de las cerdas han cambiado.
   
• Lechones de calidad: ¿Sus cerdas están produciendo cerdos de baja calidad? Las cerdas hiperprolíficas modernas producen camadas más numerosas. Pero a medida que aumenta el tamaño de la camada, el peso al nacimiento de los lechones a menudo disminuye y la variabilidad dentro de la camada se incrementa.
   
• Mortalidad pre-destete: El bajo peso de los lechones al nacimiento es un factor que va a determinar una mayor mortalidad pre-destete. Y pesos bajos al destete a menudo provocan un crecimiento más lento y un menor rendimiento de la canal.

Consejos para ayudar a reducir los costos de producción

Promover el consumo y la calidad del agua:

• Recuerde revisar tuberías o conducciones de agua para evitar la formación de biofilms. E implemente un programa que controle y mantenga los niveles adecuados de estos 5 indicadores de la calidad del agua:
  • Recuento bacteriano total
  • pH
  • Dureza
  • Total de sólidos disueltos
  • Nitratos y nitritos

Mantener la calidad del alimento balanceado y la eficiencia alimenticia

• Calcule el promedio del consumo diario de alimento y de la ganancia de peso (esto puede indicar un bajo desempeño en un lote de cerdos).
• Reevalúe los requerimientos nutricionales de sus cerdos, en caso de que el promedio del consumo diario de alimento y la ganancia de peso no estén a la par.
• Un bajo desempeño también puede indicar otros problemas: como una contaminación por micotoxinas (especialmente por el rechazo a las dietas) o una baja digestibilidad –aspectos en los que influyen los ingredientes que se utilizan en las dietas–.
• Conozca los factores que afectan la calidad de las raciones y ponga en práctica un programa de control de calidad que ayude a asegurar que se esté ofreciendo la mejor nutrición a sus animales.

Reducir la mortalidad de las cerdas

• Enfóquese en ajustar el consumo de alimento de la cerda con el nivel de nutrientes requeridos para su perfil genético.
• Proporcióneles nutrientes esenciales en la forma más disponible posible; para que sean mejor absorbidos y fácilmente digeridos.

Mejorar la calidad del lechón

• Recuerde que mejorar la calidad de los lechones comienza con la cerda.
• Asegúrese de que sus cerdas estén teniendo una buena nutrición durante la gestación, el parto y la lactación.

Disminuir la mortalidad pre-destete

• No olvide que el lechón depende totalmente de la madre hasta el destete.
• • Asegúrese de que el programa de nutrición de la cerda le permite producir calostro y leche de buena calidad; para que pueda transferir nutrientes esenciales a su camada.

El Programa de Mentoría Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura se crea a partir de los resultados de una encuesta respaldada por Alltech sobre la equidad en el trabajo.

[Nicholasville, Kentucky] - A partir de las percepciones que fueron recopiladas en la última encuesta de la iniciativa Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura (WFA, por sus siglas en inglés), Alltech está convirtiendo estos datos en acciones al asociarse con WFA para conectar a las mujeres de toda la industria agropecuaria con mentoras; para así impulsar el éxito profesional. El Programa de Mentoría Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura fomentará discusiones valiosas y el desarrollo profesional, así como ofrecerá la experiencia única de acceder a una red contactos.

“Crecer en una empresa familiar significó que todos los días aprendiera una lección de liderazgo”, señaló el Dr. Mark Lyons, presidente y CEO de Alltech. “Los mentores, incluyendo a mi padre –el Dr. Pearse Lyons, fundador de la compañía– fueron un apoyo valioso para desafiar e impulsar mi desarrollo personal y profesional. Y aunque el poder de la mentoría es indiscutible e, incluso, el sector agropecuario y la industria alimentaria son cada vez más inclusivos; casi el 70% de las mujeres que trabajan en la agricultura, a nivel global, señala una ausencia de mentores(as). A través de este programa especial de mentoría en los agronegocios, las mujeres tendrán la oportunidad de crear contactos en la industria que impulsen su éxito”.

El proceso de aplicación para el Programa de Mentoría Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura está abierto a mentoras y aprendices hasta el 31 de enero de 2022. Las potenciales participantes podrán señalar sus preferencias como idioma, sector de la industria o ubicación regional. Además, ya que los líderes masculinos son actores valiosos en la promoción de la igualdad de género, ellos también están invitados a postular para ser mentores.

Después de esta etapa de aplicación, los organizadores establecerán las parejas mentora-aprendiz, quienes se reunirán de forma virtual durante una hora cada mes, a partir de marzo. Este compromiso con horarios manejables busca apoyar la flexibilidad y la accesibilidad para los participantes con responsabilidades. Con el respaldo de Alltech, este programa es gratuito.

“Estamos muy contentos de contar con el apoyo de Alltech para el Programa de Mentoría Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura”, comentó Ollie Theocharous, responsable de contenidos de WFA. “Esta alianza nos permitirá llevar el programa a un nivel más alto, mientras continuamos con nuestra misión de apoyar la diversidad en la industria”.

Alltech cree que la inclusión desarrolla la creatividad, impulsa la innovación y es fundamental para la visión de la compañía de trabajar juntos por un Planeta de Abundancia™. En 2019, Alltech seleccionó a la Igualdad de Género como uno de los nueve Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de las Naciones Unidas con los que la empresa se ha comprometido en fomentar.

Para elegir un camino que conduzca a un cambio significativo, Alltech empieza escuchando. En 2019 y 2020, la Encuesta Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura, apoyada por Alltech, recopiló datos reales sobre el entorno laboral actual y las perspectivas para el futuro. Los resultados de esta encuesta representan actualmente una importante herramienta de referencia para la industria agroalimentaria; que se esfuerza por ser más inclusiva y ofrecer soluciones concretas para los desafíos que enfrentan las mujeres en el sector agropecuario.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre el Programa de Mentoría Mujeres en la Alimentación y la Agricultura.

It is late winter, and the rodent problem in your barn is starting to get annoying, as the pests are breaking into feed bags and helping themselves to horse treats and cat food. You know that mice can carry diseases, some of which can be seriously harmful for humans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mice and rats can directly or indirectly transmit over 20 diseases worldwide. Several of these — such as leptospirosis and salmonellosis — are contagious to horses as well. And what about the summertime moles and gophers in your pasture, which make a mess of things with their tell-tale piles of dirt?

Rodent control is one of the toughest issues to deal with on horse properties. These animals are small and stealthy and are primarily active after dark, when we can’t see them. So, how do you go about reducing the rodent population without resorting to lethal trapping methods or using chemicals that are deadly to other animals in the ecosystem, including dogs and barn cats?

Using barn cats as the primary means of rodent control is often not effective and comes with its own set of challenges. For one, horse barns have much to offer to rodents in terms of food, water and shelter, and due to rodents’ small size and rapid cycle of reproduction, cats may not be able to control the rodent populations on their own. Additionally, while cats are worthy additions to the barn, they are at a much higher risk for developing infectious diseases or acquiring parasites and require more health and veterinary care than we often realize.

All of the reasons outlined above explain why rodent control in barns should involve more than just our feline friends.

Enter nature’s mousetrap: the barn owl!

Barn owls are perfectly suited for horse properties, as they hunt in open meadows and grasslands. These creatures of the night have excellent low-light vision; they fly silently; they are equipped with sharp beaks and powerful talons; and their hearing is extraordinary — all of which makes them death on wings for gophers, rats and mice. A family of barn owls will consume about 2,000 mice and/or other rodents in just a few months. The good news for you is that all this method of rodent control requires on your end is the installation of a simple barn owl nest box — and creating the right habitat for their prey.

Barn owls need rough grassland to thrive, because that’s where voles, shews, field mice and other small rodents live. An overgrazed pasture, a lawn or even monoculture croplands won’t provide the diverse habitat that rodents like. Rodents — and, therefore, barn owls — favor well-established, tall grasslands (think prairies or meadows), perhaps with brush piles or hedgerows nearby.

Barn owls are secondary cavity dwellers, which means they live in holes that somebody else has already created — for example, a hole pecked by a woodpecker in an old tree or the dark rafters inside a quiet barn. We can take advantage of this habitat preference, as it means that these creatures will adapt well to barn owl nest boxes, which can be purchased or made.

Place your barn owl nest box in a quiet location, preferably 10 to 20 feet off the ground. Position the opening away from direct sunlight and prevailing winds. Nest boxes can be hung inside unused barns, on the outside of farm buildings or in trees. If the boxes are mounted on a wooden pole, consider utilizing a baffle, which will help keep cats, raccoons or other predators from reaching it. Many barn owls will reuse the same nest box year after year. It is best to hang nest boxes by January or February, as barn owls begin nesting in late February.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an easier rodent control method than the nest box. Once you install your barn owl nest box, nature will do the rest. Additionally, barn owls are not likely to be aggressive toward people, nor will they attack pets or livestock.

Barn owls are common on every continent in the world (except for Antarctica), so no matter where you are, your horse property can benefit from having a barn owl working to your advantage. And not only will the presence of barn owls make a dent in your rodent population, but their tawny colors are beautiful to see at dusk, and their bone-chilling, screechy cry is thrilling to hear at night.

In addition to setting up barn owl habitats, consider implementing these other natural rodent control methods:

• Keep your barn clean, well-lit and dry.
• Store feed in tightly sealed metal trash bins.
• Store blankets, wraps and saddle pads in completely sealed rooms to minimize access to nesting materials.

Remember: Rodent control is a year-long management practice. Follow these steps to help ensure that your barn remains rodent-free through every season.  

I want to learn more about nutrition for my horses.

The MechFiber300+ is specifically designed for farms with buildings offering limited access for a conventional sized diet feeder. It is precision engineered with greater manoeuvrability and employs the revolutionary new three-point chassis system.

Smaller mixer but larger capacity

The MechFiber300+ gives greater capacity in a compact machine. It maintains the unique twin chamber design, separated by the well proven guillotine door assembly to facilitate rapid feed-out.

Lower power, torque and fuel requirements

A loaded MechFiber300+ can be easily towed with an 80 HP tractor. When loaded the diet feeder generally requires approximately half this power, resulting in a dramatic saving on overall fuel consumption by the tractor compared with other mixers, despite a larger capacity and faster discharge rate.

Two-chain drive system

The tough two chain drive line on the MechFiber300+ is KEENAN’s time-tested design utilising an independent idler shaft to reduce any stress within the discharge auger drive sprockets, while allowing it to be driven at the required speed for fast feed-out rates.

Automatic oiling system

An automatic oiling system can be fitted and is operated by the hydraulic rams opening and closing the guillotine door. This delivers ‘pulses’ of oil to the drive chains, lubricating them to the optimum levels for safety and improved chain life.

Other key benefits include:

• Fresh new look with specially moulded black pin seal matt finish front covers.
• Rear ladder made of sleek tubular steel – user-friendly, collapsible and less prone to damage.
• Mixing chamber containing 6-paddle reel with new style paddle castellations ­– improved mix quality, less horsepower required, less machine wear.
• The paddles gently lift & tumble the added materials across the blades ensuring feedstuff is cut to an optimal length without destroying the quality of the fibre. This is to create a mix with the correct chop length & structure for optimum rumen health – improved herd health and productivity.
• Option to add lights over feed-out door and increase the length of the feed-out door – easy to see when ambient lighting is low and quicker feed-out.
• 4th Generation KEENAN Controller, feed management App and InTouch platform for full oversight of the mixing process and all farm data – see ingredient list and order, monitor costs, refusals etc.
• Option of key telematics on Controller – oil sensors, chain tension sensor etc. – helps to maintain machine in good working order

La création d'Alltech en 1980 n'était que le début d'une vision pour les fondateurs d'Alltech, le Dr Pearse et Mme Deirdre Lyons. Ils souhaitaient créer une entreprise, mais ils voulaient également s'assurer que cette entreprise aurait un impact sur notre planète dans un avenir lointain. En 1989, le Dr Lyons est monté sur scène lors de notre symposium et a fait part de l'engagement de notre entreprise envers un principe directeur ACE, soulignant l'importance de procurer des avantages aux animaux, aux consommateurs et à l'environnement. Aujourd'hui, notre vision de planète d’abondance propulse notre principe fondateur ACE vers l'avenir et vers un nouveau monde de possibilités. Nous envisageons un monde d'abondance, rendu possible grâce aux nouvelles technologies et pratiques de gestion, et à la ressource infinie la plus précieuse au monde : l'ingéniosité humaine.

Pacte mondial des Nations unies et objectifs de développement durable

Alltech a fait un pas important vers ses objectifs de développement durable lorsque le Dr Mark Lyons, président et CEO d'Alltech, et Mme Deirdre Lyons, co-fondatrice d'Alltech, ont signé une lettre adressée au secrétaire général des Nations Unies engageant Alltech à adhérer au Pacte mondial des Nations Unies, qui se concentre sur les avancées positives en matière de droits de l'homme, de travail, d'environnement et de lutte contre la corruption.

En outre, nous nous concentrons sur l'avancement de neuf des 17 objectifs de développement durable (ODD) des Nations unies, qui sont particulièrement pertinents pour notre activité. En 2015, tous les États membres des Nations unies ont adopté les ODD, qui constituent un appel urgent à l'action de tous les pays. Chaque ODD est assorti de cibles spécifiques et exploitables qui contribuent à l'objectif global.

Le Pacte mondial de l'ONU, la plus grande initiative de durabilité des entreprises au monde, permet à l'ONU de travailler avec les entreprises pour faire avancer les ODD. Les entreprises qui adhèrent au Pacte mondial sont invitées à sélectionner les objectifs qui leur semblent les plus proches de leurs activités principales et qui sont donc réalisables par l'entreprise.

"Nous sommes convaincus qu'en adoptant de nouvelles technologies, en améliorant les pratiques commerciales et en adoptant l'innovation, le secteur agroalimentaire peut soutenir une planète d'abondance"

a déclaré le Dr Mark Lyons, qui était accompagné de Mme Deirdre Lyons, cofondatrice d'Alltech, et de ses collègues au siège mondial de l'entreprise. "Aujourd'hui, nous rejoignons le nombre croissant d'organisations dans le monde entier unies par un engagement passionné pour construire un avenir plus durable." Nous avons choisi neuf ODD qui s'alignent directement sur notre activité principale et notre vision d'une planète d'abondance : L'engagement d'Alltech a été accepté dans le Pacte mondial des Nations unies, et la société a officiellement rejoint un réseau de plus de 9 500 entreprises et 3 000 participants non commerciaux engagés dans la construction d'un avenir durable.

Initiative Science Based Targets

En outre, nous nous sommes engagés dans l'initiative Science Based Targets (SBTi). Ces objectifs sont conçus pour aider les entreprises à réduire leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) et à partager leurs progrès par le biais d'une documentation et de rapports transparents.

"Il s'agit d'un engagement assez important pour une entreprise", a déclaré David Butler, responsable de la durabilité chez Alltech. "Il faut beaucoup de temps pour rassembler ces données, les analyser et déterminer où une entreprise peut réduire ses émissions. Il faut toute une équipe pour le faire."

Tout d'abord, une entreprise doit établir des paramètres de base. Ensuite, elle élaborera des objectifs de réduction de ses émissions de GES pour atteindre les objectifs de l'Accord de Paris. Une fois ces objectifs soumis et acceptés par le SBTi, chaque entreprise est censée investir les ressources nécessaires pour réduire ses émissions de GES.

À ce jour, 645 entreprises ont rejoint l'initiative Science Based Targets, qui est également soutenue par le CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), le World Resources Institute, le Fonds mondial pour la nature et le Pacte mondial des Nations unies.