Calving season is gametime for a cow herd, and producers want to make sure that their cows are in peak condition prior to kick-off. The best way to measure the condition of your cow herd is by utilizing body condition scores (BCS). As the name suggests, a BCS is an estimate of a cow’s condition or the amount of fat they are carrying.

The amount of fat — and its placement — determines BCS.

Body condition scoring is an easy and effective tool for producers to use, but a familiarity with the fat deposition and skeletal structure of cattle is required to properly determine BCS. The key areas used to evaluate the degree of body fat on cattle are the ribs, brisket, hooks, pins and tailhead. Typically, for beef cattle, a scale of 1 to 9 is used to indicate BCS, with 1 being emaciated, with all of the cow’s ribs and bones easily visible, and 9 being obese.

• Thin cows have a BCS of 1 to 3
• Moderate-condition cows have a BCS of 4 to 6
• Fat cows have a BCS of 7 to 9

The ideal BCS for mature range beef cows at calving is a score of 5, and for calving heifers, an ideal BCS would be a 6. This difference in BCS at calving is because heifers are still growing and have a higher nutrient requirement for growth compared to mature cows.

Evaluate BCS prior to calving and breeding.

Timing is important when evaluating body condition scores. Producers should aim to evaluate BCS prior to the calving and breeding seasons. Suggested evaluation timepoints include 90 days prior to calving, breeding and the start of the winter season. This will give the producer enough time to try to improve BCS if cows aren’t hitting their target prior to breeding and late gestation.

Body condition scores can be used as a nutritional management tool. For instance, depending on a producer’s facilities, cows can be sorted into groups using BCS. Cows that meet or have above-target BCS scores need no special nutritional intervention and can maintain condition on quality range pasture. Cows with low body condition scores or replacement heifers could be supplemented with additional nutrients to improve or maintain their body condition during calving and breeding.

Another good time to evaluate BCS is heading into winter grazing. Cows that are thin at the start of winter grazing will require supplemental feed just to maintain their body condition, as energy requirements increase up to 40% during the winter. Additionally, trying to improve BCS during the winter is going to cost 20–30% more than during the fall.

 A poor BCS can negatively affect a cow’s calf.

The productivity of a cow herd depends on keeping them within the producer’s ideal BCS. It is well-established that a poor BCS can have detrimental effects on a cow’s reproduction. Thin cows take longer to come into heat and, therefore, only have one chance at rebreeding. Over-conditioned or fat cows can also negatively impact reproduction rates. However, a poor BCS can also affect the overall health and performance of a dam’s calf.

The relationship between cow BCS and calf performance is based on the energy requirements of the cow. To maintain an ideal BCS, cows must have enough energy to support all of their bodily energy requirements. When a cow’s energy requirements are not met by her diet, then she must use the energy stored in her body as fat. The more stored energy she uses, the further she moves down the BCS scale.

There is a priority use for energy for bodily functions, as outlined below:   

Priority energy use by cows (adapted from Short et al., 1990)

1. Basal metabolism
2. Grazing and other physical activities
3. Growth
4. Supporting basic energy reserves
5. Maintaining an existing pregnancy
6. Milk production
7. Adding to energy reserves
8. Estrous cycling and initiating pregnancy
9. Storing excess energy (i.e., fat deposition)

This hierarchy shows that maintaining pregnancy (i.e., gestation), milk production and reproduction are all lower on the list of energy-use priorities. This illustrates the importance of cows consuming enough energy from their diet to meet their maintenance requirements before energy can be used for pregnancy and milk production.

A cow’s BCS affects her reproductive ability, too.

Evaluating BCS at 90 days prior to calving — when cows are about to enter late gestation — is critical, as this is a moment in time that could impact the future growth and performance of her calf. Seventy- five percent of calf growth occurs during the last 60 days of gestation, meaning that the cow’s energy requirements are going to be higher for the last 60 days of her pregnancy. If cows are thin going into the third trimester of pregnancy, then there could be reduced calf growth due to a lack of energy available for supporting the pregnancy.

Smaller calves are more prone to sickness after birth. Weaning weights have also been shown to be lighter when cows have a poor body condition. Until weaning, milk is the major energy and nutrient source for calves. If cows are in poor body condition, they lack the energy necessary to produce the quality milk needed for calf growth.

Research has shown that herds that maintain cows with the ideal BCS ranges (5–7) have better calving and weaning percentages, which are a measure of the herd’s overall reproductive and production efficiency. Thin cows are going to have a harder time maintaining pregnancies and growing calves. A poor BCS leads to fewer pregnancies, fewer calves weaned and calves weaned at a lower weight, which leads to lower overall returns.  

Body condition scoring helps evaluate the nutritional status of the cow herd.

Producers should routinely check the body condition scores of their herds to continually monitor the condition and nutritional status of the cows. If a large portion of the cow herd has a low body condition score, the herd nutrition should be evaluated to make sure that their energy and protein requirements are being met. A prolonged poor BCS can have a harmful impact on production outcomes, which can also negatively impact the economic returns of an operation. Evaluating BCS to determine not only the herd’s reproduction readiness scores but also its nutritional status is an opportunity to positively impact calf performance.

Short, R. E., R. A. Bellows, R. B. Staigmiller, J. G. Berardinelli, and E. E. Custer. 1990. Physiological mechanisms controlling anestrus and infertility in postpartum beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 68:799-816.

I want to learn more about nutrition for my beef cattle.

People interpret sustainability in different ways. Hence the uncertainty and divisiveness the topic can create in discussions. In contrast with other industries, the agri-food sector has the unique position of being a solution provider when it comes to mitigating emissions and supporting biodiversity in our local environments. Animal feed is integral to profitable and efficient dairy and beef farming. Therefore, feed production has a crucial role in how we lower the environmental impact associated with the food system.

Strengthening the links in our chain

COVID-19 has emphasized the need for such resilient food systems. Feed production capacity is directly correlated to the amount of food available for human consumption and, indeed, general food security. Alltech’s experience across 128 countries finds that sustainable and efficient feed supply chains are relevant to small-scale livestock production all the way up to some of the world’s largest integrators. A growing challenge for the feed industry is competition with humans for similar feed sources. This challenges the feed additive inclusion to improve rumen efficiency and exploration of bespoke feed ingredients that only ruminants can utilize. Sustainable animal feeding has and is being practiced. Through Alltech’s unique network of eight Alltech IFM™ (in vitro fermentation model) labs around the world, we can verify in greater detail diet efficiency and where scope exists to lower emissions and improve producer profitability. 

Can you verify that?

It is no longer sufficient to simply claim a low carbon footprint for your livestock production system or animal feed. This needs to be supported by repeatable, measurable and verifiable evidence. Alltech E-CO₂ has developed the Feeds EA™ model to help feed manufacturers and producers globally measure and lower the carbon footprint of their feed. Feeds EA measures the environmental impact of feed production at the feed mill level by assessing the effects of existing compounds or blends. This is determined by calculating greenhouse gas emissions from production, cultivation, processing, energy utilization and transportation in feed manufacturing. Feeds EA™ can calculate emissions from a database of more than 300 ingredients, including raw materials, soya products, byproducts and additives.  

In reducing food waste through circular agriculture-type initiatives, we can be confident about the resilience of our food production systems to embrace more efficient resource utilization. This is exemplified in initiatives such as supplementation of byproducts to ruminants and closing nutrient loops. By lowering food loss and waste in our livestock production systems in a verifiable way, we can continue to make a strong case for the sustainable solutions our industry offers in slowing the pace of climate change.

Mitigating waste

Precision agriculture and the application to animal nutrition has been proven in recent Alltech meta-analyses on dairy (Salami et al., 2021) and beef research (Salami et al., 2020) to lower environmental impact through improved nitrogen utilization in ruminant systems. Optigen® supplementation through dairy diets was shown to:

• Improve nitrogen utilization efficiency in dairy cattle by 4%, thanks to better nitrogen capture in the rumen.
• Reduce manure nitrogen excretion by 12–13 g of nitrogen/cow/day.

This data suggests, for example, that the use of Optigen could reduce the annual manure nitrogen excretion from the U.S. dairy sector by an average of 51,509 metric tons of nitrogen based on the annual milk output.

Simply put, this approach is trying to provide ‘the right amount of nitrogen, at the right time, in the right place’ to help in reducing waste on farms. Results from the meta-analysis also showed that the use of Optigen in dairy diets resulted in a carbon saving of around 54 g of CO₂e per kg of milk. When extrapolated to the annual milk output of the German dairy sector, for example, this would be equivalent to a carbon emission reduction of 1.8 million metric tons of CO₂e. Such a carbon saving represents 16% of the entire reduction target for German agriculture by 2030.

A simulation analysis based on the results of the meta-analysis indicated that feeding Optigen to 1,000 dairy cows would:

• Increase income over feed costs by $18,000.
• Reduce the carbon footprint of the herd by 647 metric tons of CO2e. That carbon reduction is the same as taking 424 cars off the road or 436 houses’ use of electricity.

The meta-analysis on beef research highlighted how the partial replacement of vegetable protein with Optigen exhibited a consistent improvement in the liveweight gain and feed efficiency of beef cattle. The many positive effects included an average higher liveweight gain (by 8%) and better feed efficiency (by 8%), with the inclusion of corn silage enhancing the effects of Optigen.

A simulation analysis based on these benefits indicated that feeding Optigen to gain 440 lbs. in 1,000 cattle would:

• Reduce the time to slaughter by 9 days.
• Reduce feed costs by $18,000.
• Support a reduction in the carbon footprint of the beef unit by 111 tons of CO₂e. That carbon saving is the same as taking 73 cars off the road or 75 houses’ use of electricity.

Sustainability does not have to come at a cost

Lowering the environmental impact from animal feed does not imply lowering revenues for food system stakeholders. From large dairy farms in the U.S. to the 300 million dairy cows predominantly spread across small farms in India, Alltech has firsthand experience of how sustainable solutions have become the non-negotiable in animal nutrition. Profitable farming understandably leads this agenda. With animal feed typically representing the most significant variable cost in producing animal products, there is a business responsibility to ensure we minimize food loss and waste.

Animal feed production has humbly underpinned the food system that has enabled global population growth over the last 150 years. It is now time to recognize this unique contribution and how it also serves in discovering and implementing technologies that lower the environmental impact of animal products and support the circular economy.

Considering sustainability efforts need to make both environmental and economic sense, don’t miss our related blog 6 tips to stretch protein supplies and lower your feed costs.

I want to learn more about ruminant production.

We all know that 2020 proved to be a roller-coaster year for commodity markets, and as we have seen over the past number of weeks, 2021 appears to be following a similar track. Grain markets rallied through the end of last year, and due to the poor availability of supplies globally, prices are continuing to skyrocket. This is happening against a backdrop of a macro-environment impacted by a weakening U.S. dollar and China ramping up its soybean imports. Considering these factors, how do we address the key challenges of mitigating risk and remaining financially and environmentally sustainable while optimizing cattle performance?

Overcoming the protein challenge

To sustain profitability, dairy and beef producers need to examine their feed management and nutritional applications. By using good-quality forage, supporting rumen health and using a tailored ration formulation, producers can cut back on their losses and keep their operations running more efficiently — thereby resulting in potential cost savings. This organizational agility is of paramount importance to overcoming the protein challenge.

Forage quality

With the continual rise of corn and soybean prices, producers should make the most of cheaper high-fiber feeds, especially forages. Plan to make the highest-quality forage possible, since this is a major component of the slowly digestible part of ruminant diets. Forage is the most variable feed ingredient in terms of its digestibility and nutrient composition, and it comprises a greater proportion of the ration than any other feedstuff. High-quality forage is more digestible, so you will be able to feed more of it. Rumen health and productivity will improve with the use of high-quality forages, and as such, forages can influence feed efficiency in dairy and beef cattle through the maintenance of a desirable rumen environment.

Support the rumen

There are several elements to increasing feed efficiency in ruminants, but one of the most important is to use the rumen to its full potential by supporting the activity and growth of rumen microflora. This enables dietary nutrients to be extracted from the diet as efficiently as possible. The nutrients provided to the rumen microflora must be well-balanced in terms of their fermentable energy and protein supply. Fermentable protein nutrition must be specifically adapted to maximize rumen microbial population activity and growth, as different populations have different requirements in term of how nitrogen is supplied.

Wasted energy means wasted profits

For years, nutritionists have overfed crude protein to meet the amino acid requirements for their desired milk yield or daily liveweight gains. Besides the significant increase in input costs, this also results in poor nitrogen efficiency and, subsequently, higher nitrogen excretion, which is detrimental to both the environment and the producer’s profits. The dairy cow inherently suffers as a result of poor nitrogen efficiency, since excessive nitrogen is converted first into ammonia and then into urea — which is partially recycled, but the vast majority is excreted. Ultimately, there is an energy loss associated with this process due to the detoxification of ammonia into urea. This energy cost comes at the expense of productivity and biological functions. The energy required to excrete excess nitrogen in a dairy cow is equivalent to up to 2 kg (4.4 lbs.) of milk and can lead to:

• Body condition loss
• Increased blood and milk urea levels
• Issues with reproductive performance

Lower protein doesn’t have to mean lower performance

With the tightening of global protein supplies, producers may face a shortage later this year and will need to stretch their existing stocks. But what if lower-protein diets could be fed while still maintaining performance? The possibility to increase nitrogen efficiency using Optigen®, a non-protein nitrogen technology from Alltech®, pushes the boundaries of protein nutrition.

Nitrogen from Optigen is more efficiently captured by rumen bacteria and is transformed into additional microbial biomass — so, why couldn’t the total dietary nitrogen supply be reduced? Researchers from Penn State University1 have looked at dairy cattle ration formulation and decreasing the crude protein supply from 16.5% to 15.5% while increasing the forage quantity fed to cows through the introduction of Optigen.

In this study, Optigen partially replaced heat-treated soybean meal and canola meal. This resulted in:

• Better nitrogen efficiency (from 28.8% to 30.8%, respectively, in the control and Optigen groups)
• Greater milk production in the Optigen group (41.6 vs. 40.5 kg/day)

This resulted in an elevated income over feed cost of $0.16/cow/day.

When it comes to beef cattle feed rations, a recent meta-analysis2 highlighted how the partial replacement of vegetable protein with Optigen exhibited a consistent improvement in the liveweight gain and feed efficiency of beef cattle. The many positive effects included an average higher liveweight gain (by 8%) and better feed efficiency (by 8%), with the inclusion of corn silage enhancing the effects of Optigen. A simulation analysis based on these benefits indicated that feeding Optigen to gain 440 lbs. in 1,000 cattle would:

• Reduce the time to slaughter by 9 days
• Reduce feed costs by $18,000
• Support a reduction in the carbon footprint of the beef unit by 111 tons of CO2 equivalents

These studies clearly demonstrate how innovations like Optigen can make improved animal performance, reduced environmental impact and financial gains not only possible but compatible.

Optigen delivers consistency when you need it most

In a world of quickly evolving change and disruption, consistency can seem idealistic. However, for a high-producing dairy cow or feedlot animal, consistency in how we feed and manage them is crucial for them to reach their optimal performance and profitability. At Alltech, we have identified “the 7 Ps of consistency” that we associate with Optigen. Over the last 15 years, these “Ps” have evolved, and several of them have been reinforced during the global pandemic — for example, the importance of securing a robust supply chain for proteins and the ability to continue supplying producers and feed companies around the world in the face of adverse conditions. There was also a question: Would Covid-19 diminish the sense of urgency around climate-friendly food production? Recent policy announcements around the world reiterated the point that food systems cannot be resilient to crises such as the current global pandemic if they are not sustainable.

With radical increases in vegetable protein costs, global attention will focus on the inherent nutrient variability between consignment and place of origin. Optigen is a solution that provides consistency when we need it most — from helping producers reduce their reliance on protein sources that fluctuate in price or that simply aren’t in supply to ensuring consistent animal performance and overall production profitability.

In summary, there are ways to lower feed costs and sustain the profitability of your dairy or beef enterprise during the current protein challenge and beyond.

Here are six tips to help you:

1. Increasing prices and demand for proteins mean that close attention should be paid to the nutritional composition of vegetable protein stocks, which could vary in their consignment and place of origin and, as a result, put animal performance at risk.
2. Make the most of cheaper high-fiber feeds, especially forages, but ensure that those forages are high-quality.
3. Support the rumen and ensure that it is being used to its full potential. This will enable nutrients to be extracted from the diet as efficiently as possible.
4. Consider feeding balanced, lower-protein diets to stretch your protein supplies, which may be necessary in case of a shortage later this year.
5. Include Optigen in your dairy and beef cattle rations as a nutritional solution for lowering your dietary protein while increasing efficiency. The partial replacement of bulky vegetable protein sources with Optigen, a concentrated nitrogen source, also creates more space in the diet to increase the inclusion of cheaper home-grown forages.
6. Take this opportunity to look at how environmentally friendly the feedstuffs you use are, as protein sources can carry a high carbon burden if they are not sourced from responsible production, ultimately impacting the long-term sustainability of the operation.

References

1. Varga et al. (2009). Effects of Optigen® on milk production, N balance and diet cost in high producing cows. Unpublished, Department of Dairy and Animal Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
2. Salami, S.A.; Moran, C.A.; Warren, H.E.; Taylor-Pickard, J. A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Slow-Release Urea Supplementation on the Performance of Beef Cattle. Animals 2020, 10, 657.

I want to learn more about how I can overcome the current protein challenge and sustain profitability on my dairy or beef operation.

The quality and stability of animal-derived food products, including pet foods, will depend on the management, diet and genetics of that animal. What an animal is fed can directly impact their antioxidant defense system. Incorporating dietary antioxidants and other functional feed ingredients can minimize oxidative damage, which will impact the end product (and pet food ingredient): meat.

When we are talking about food, whether for people or pets, oxidative deterioration will impact palatability. Oxidative damage to lipids and proteins produces rancid off-flavors and off-odors and decreases textural characteristics. But even more importantly, when proteins are oxidized, there is a loss of important amino acids, which are necessary for pets’ growth, development and overall health.

More to minerals

Minerals are necessary for proper biological function and good health. They are especially important in maintaining the antioxidant and oxidant balance within humans, livestock and pets. Some key players involved in maintaining this balance are antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase. But, minerals are a double-edged sword. They can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the quantity fed and the form used.

Going full circle

Making sure pets get the right nutrition for optimal health means we need to look at what livestock animals are fed.

Organically complexed minerals are more bioavailable than their inorganic counterparts, which means we don’t need to add as many minerals to the diet of livestock. By replacing and reducing the amount of minerals in the diet, we can restore the oxidative balance in the animal and, in turn, the meat ingredient in pet food. Research has shown that feeding organically complexed forms of selenium, iron, zinc and copper can increase antioxidant enzyme activity in skeletal muscle. Also, by including fat-soluble antioxidants, such as vitamin E and/or carotenoids, we can inhibit lipid oxidation and subsequently protein oxidation in muscle. This will translate to more nutritious, delicious and better-quality ingredients being fed to pets.

I want to learn more about pet nutrition.

Today’s high-quality pet foods include a number of functional ingredients to improve the overall health of our beloved pets. Some of these ingredients claim improved digestive health and better stool quality, which is especially important to on-the-go urban pet parents living in small spaces — less mess to pick up.

Today’s pet food choices are quite extensive, from specific breeds, sizes, life stages and activity levels to allergies and sensitivities. The choice overload can make the purchasing decision an intimidating task for some pet parents, especially for first-timers.

How can we make choosing what to feed Fido easier? Let’s take a closer look at functional ingredients and why you might want to consider finding a food that contains them.

Functional ingredients in pet nutrition

Functional ingredients are ingredients that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition, such as prebiotic fibers, beneficial probiotic bacteria, omega-3 fatty acids (DHA/EPA) and enriched selenium yeast.

Why should I look for functional ingredients in a pet food label?

Functional ingredients can provide health benefits when part of a complete and balanced diet. Prebiotics and probiotics have been reported to positively influence and maintain normal digestive health.

The food you choose could cut time poop scooping

The amount of pet waste correlates to the amount of indigestible content in the food. A healthy stool is moist and firm and has a mild smell. Prebiotics and probiotics in your pet’s food would help maintain normal digestion, minimizing issues that could create messy and smelly stools.

What is that smell?

Your pet’s waste is just residues from digestion. Bacteria decomposition and ammonia production occurs inside the intestine and then is released with the feces. Smell can be a challenge, particularly in confined spaces with poor ventilation.

Yucca schidigera: The secret of the desert

Yucca schidigera is a plant that grows in the southwestern deserts of the United States and Mexico. It has mainly been used for ammonia and odor control in livestock production, but it has application in pet foods that have high meat content because of its efficacy in helping metabolize protein and nitrogen.

How do I know if my pet food contains functional ingredients?

Ingredients are listed by the name required by the regulatory authorities. Here is an example of how some functional ingredients may be listed on the label:

• Beneficial probiotic bacteria (e.g.,Lactobacillus strains)

• Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA/EPA): Marine sources are best, such as fish oil and algae.

• Selenium (e.g., selenium yeast)

Everything in moderation is healthy. Although this is often used in the context of human nutrition, I think it may be relevant for pets as we see novel ingredients and new superfoods coming into the food chain.

There is so much information out there about the next best food for you and/or for your pet — what you should add — or not — to your pet’s food and even how to make your own pet food. With Google at hand, you can become an instant nutrition expert.

For those adventurous enough to make their own pet food, you must consider that the food needs to be in complete balance, or sola dosis facit venenum — the dose makes the poison. The complete balance of nutrients is important, as is the total amount. An excessive nutrient can cause toxicity, or its deficiency can cause serious health issues.

Take zinc, for example. Zinc deficiency results in what is known as zinc responsive dermatosis, which causes symptoms such as hair loss and scaling and crusting of the skin around the face, head and legs. On the other hand, over-supplementation of zinc can result in interference of absorption of other nutrients and minerals like calcium, copper and iron.

What are superfoods, and what makes them so special?

They are typically of plant origin but can include some fish and dairy. They are called “superfoods” because they are thought to be packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, healthy fats, etc.

Some of these superfoods have found their way into pet foods, like blueberries, turmeric and coconut oil, to mention a few. Their inclusion rate is low and in moderation, and they are listed by the The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO, the pet food regulatory body). Other superfoods, like acai berry or garcinia cambogia, will not be seen in pet foods yet, because we do not know how they would affect your pet and, therefore, are not approved ingredients to be used in pet food.

As I work with pet food companies from all over the world, one thing I notice is the use of food to support well-being. It is a trend that just keeps growing and growing. Pet food companies know that the best way to keep our best friends happy and healthy is through using quality ingredients, the proper balance of nutrients, adequate amounts of vitamins, the proper ratio of fatty acids, the use of proteinated minerals, and sources of probiotics and prebiotics for digestive health.

Proteinated minerals have proven to provide shinier hair coats, and prebiotics and probiotics help to keep the bad bacteria out of the body. The result is a healthy digestive tract that is able to absorb all the nutrients that come flying past the intestinal villi, and take them right up into the body where they are needed.

Trends come and go, but choosing a pet food based on pet health rather than cost is something that will never go out of style. If only there was a magic ingredient, like the spring water in “Tuck Everlasting,” then I could dream about walking my dog down to his favorite spot by the river for the next 150 years…

To listen to our entire conversation with Dror, click on the player.

Tom:                Selected from more than 180 applicants, Hargol FoodTech is among the 10innovative food and agriculture ventures around the world brought to Lexington to make its case for investment. Co-founder and CEO Dror Tamir is among presenters in The Pearse Lyons Accelerator program — his latest stop in what has been an enormously successful whirlwind world quest.  Hargol … is in the grasshopper business. Dror, thank you for joining us.

Dror:                You're welcome. Happy to be here.

Tom:                We're pleased you're here, especially given all the traveling that you've been doing. We'll get into that in just a moment because it's very interesting. But first, I have to ask, edible grasshoppers. Do tell.

Dror:                Yes. Well, I can start with the story about the expected increase in global demand of protein. It is expected to double by 2050. And we all know that existing protein sources have their limitations. So the demand for alternative, high-quality protein will skyrocket. That's one story.

                        The other story is grasshoppers are the most widely eaten insect in the world, by about 2 billion people worldwide, mainly in regions where there is a lack of protein in people's diet. Today, they just collect them in the wild, and it means that they have a very limited season of four to six weeks. We will enable them to farm them year-round and reduce their cost significantly.

Tom:                I understand that you have developed a way to lengthen the normally short breeding season of edible grasshoppers. Is that correct?

Dror:                A little bit different. What we did was shorten the eggs' incubation period. In the wild, it takes about 40 weeks for the eggs to hatch, which means they can have one cycle a year. And what we did, we incubate in an incubator the eggs and we reduce the period to two weeks, meaning that we can have 10 cycles per year.

Tom:                And how did you come up on this idea? What instigated it?

Dror:                The funny story is, I'm an accountant. So accountants have very strange ideas. But the real story is, my previous startup, Plate My Meal, is dealing with obesity prevention and, while working about that startup, I learned about malnutrition and the lack of protein in people's diet. So as an entrepreneur, when you see a big problem, you start looking for a solution, and I came up with grasshoppers.

Tom:                When we think of grasshoppers, of course, especially in this country, we think of a bug. However, there are other parts of the world where it's nothing at all to have a handful of grasshoppers. What is the end product like? Is it a powder? Or is it a grasshopper?

Dror:                Both.

Tom:                Both?

Dror:                Yes. Just south of the U.S., you have Mexico, and the local grasshoppers called chapulines are a national dish. You have tens of millions of Mexicans in the U.S., and the demand for grasshoppers is high, and there is no supply of them. So when we look at the market potential and the opportunities, we look at two different products. One is, we mill the grasshoppers into a protein powder. We sell it to food manufacturers that produce healthy foods based on it. And we also sell to restaurants in Southern U.S. And that's about 35 percent of the demand that we see from the market.

What does a grasshopper taste like?

Tom:                I have to ask, what does a grasshopper taste like? Not chicken, I'm sure.

Dror:                I'm using that answer, usually. The thing is this: The grasshopper is almost neutral in taste and flavor, so the actual taste depends on the way you cook it. So you can get a taste that feels like shrimps or small fish, a nutty taste, or even a wheaty taste.

Tom:                Tell me about the company's former name and why you changed it to its current name.

Dror:                Oh, that's a good question. Former name was Steak TzarTzar, and, actually, everything started as a joke because steak tartare, we all know what it is. And tzartzar in Hebrew means crickets. So it started like that. And the name really caught, and people really liked it until we had our first investor from the U.S., and said we cannot pronounce tzartzar, you have to change the name. So we came up with Hargol, and that's the name of the kosher grasshopper from the Bible.

Winning global competitions with grasshopper genius

Tom:                Now, as we mentioned earlier, you've been experiencing quite a whirlwind of excitement in recent weeks. How is this interest in your product influencing your plans for the future?

Dror:                That's a complicated question to answer. What happened in recent weeks, we got a lot of attention and attraction from all over the world, and it means that it's hard for us to maintain the focus we had. Our focus is on the U.S. market. We want to produce an ingredient to food manufacturers. Keep it simple with a single product to a specific market. And the attraction from all over the world, from Europe, from Africa, from Asia, means that there's very high demand for whole grasshoppers frozen, freeze-dried, roasted, for powders of all kinds of species of grasshoppers, and we have to maintain focus on what our plans are and keep all these new opportunities to a later stage of the company.

Tom:                You have a great deal of momentum going for you right now, and you are in the midst of some pretty serious globetrotting. Can you describe for me what the past week or so has been like for you in your travels?

Dror:                The past actually three weeks, since we finished the Alltech Accelerator in Dublin. We've been working hard with their team, with (the) Dogpatch team and Alltech, to perfect our pitch. And the moment we finished that demo day, three weeks ago, we applied to several competitions, startup pitching competitions, five of them, actually, and we won all five. Some of them are international. The largest one, just two days ago in Singapore, with over 10,000 startups from over 100 countries, and it's unbelievable for us to imagine that grasshoppers could beat all these amazing technologies. I can only tell that this is the hard work of Alltech and Dogpatch with us to get the pitch to that level.

Could grasshoppers be the next sushi?

Tom:                How do you envision your concept — and I should interject here that I understand that you're targeting two different markets, the grasshoppers themselves and also the protein supplement, I suppose. How do you envision these concepts affecting the average consumer's diet or the dinner table?

Dror:                Well, as we see it, the new protein sources, it will take them a long time to replace existing protein sources. It's hard to change our behavior, our habits. So it's the same as it was with sushi. In the '80s, no one would ever try raw fish in the U.S., and now it's common food you can find everywhere and it's really cheap. And we believe that it will be like that. It will be only insects or only grasshoppers. You will have a variety of new protein sources: plant-based, algae-based, cultured meat maybe, and many, many other sources. And eventually, they will become part of our diet. And we will have, because of that, many new food applications that we will be able to find in the market, and we also see it getting into the pet food industry and feed industry as well.

Grasshoppers…on Mars?

Tom:            There's a lot of lore around this insect, many stories, and I know that you have plenty of them. Can you give us a few?

Dror:                Sure. Let's do some amazing facts about grasshoppers and insects.

                        First, grasshoppers have been around on Earth before the dinosaurs. They're an ancient, very efficient creature.

                        Second thing, grasshoppers are the only kosher and halal insect in the world. They are mentioned on Leviticus as kosher. Actually, that's the name of the company, Hargol.

                        And the last thing is that's our vision in Hargol FoodTech and it will be that missions to Mars will have insects as part of the closed system to support humans on this long and challenging trip.

Tom:                And why is that?

Dror:                Because insects first are really efficient, and they provide zero-waste farming, meaning they can use any waste generated by humans and plants and generate with that protein and fat for the uses of both humans and plants.

Tom:                What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Dror:                It's fun. We're having so much fun. We're having so much laugh about it, so many jokes. The joke I like the most is that our CTO Chanan Aviv, for over 30 years, has been growing, breeding and eating a wide variety of insects, and this is why he is the only guy with hair on his head on our team.

Tom:                Dror Tamir with Hargol, which is among the 10 companies chosen for The Pearse Lyons Accelerator program. Thank you for being with us.

Dror:                Thank you very much.

Dror Tamir presented at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17) as part of a special pitch fest by the top 10 agri-tech startups selected for the Pearse Lyons Accelerator program. To hear more talks from the conference, sign up for the Alltech Idea Lab. For access, click on the button below.