Are you looking to rebuild or remodel your swine production facility? The prospect of taking on the rigorous endeavor can be daunting. Russell Gilliam, Alltech's U.S. swine business manager, has a list of areas that he feels are most important for rebuilding a facility to lower costs and increase comfort for workers and pigs. He asks questions that are important to consider and includes helpful tips from his 20 years of experience in the swine industry.

The following is a checklist with Gilliam’s suggestions, consolidated from his talk at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference 2017.

What are your goals?

What would you like to accomplish? What type of market are you going to sell to? What do you already have in your barns that will work?

Picture your ideal operation. What does it look like? What does it not look like? If you have an ideal operation in mind, you can proceed to making the more technical decisions that are going to produce the facility that will help you reach your goals.

Master checklist for remodeling/rebuilding swine production facilities

Pens

• Crates or pens

This may differ based on your farm location due to laws and regulations.

Questions to consider: How big are your pens? How many pigs per pen? How big are the pigs?

• Penning equipment

“Oftentimes, we select our penning equipment based on the animals in the barn, and we may forget about the opportunity to increase worker safety and comfort while replacing gates,” said Gilliam.

Questions to consider: Does this work for the animal and employees?

TIP: A walk-through gate might be easier for employees to use. Easier access means better animal care and improvements in animal performance.

Facility

• Monitoring equipment

Will the facility be strictly for production, or will there be research done as well?

• Fans

There are different demands based on location and climate. Match your selection to the air quality expectations in your area.

• Heaters

What kind of heater do you really need? Will it be used for small or young pigs, or is one required to heat the barn throughout the life cycle?

• Concrete slats

Check the width of the opening. Is it too wide? Sometimes hooves can get stuck in slats that are too wide, causing injury.

Check the thickness of the slats. Are they strong enough to hold the pigs?

Research the supplier. Do they have a good track record in the industry?

LED or inexpensive lighting

Inexpensive lighting can reduce costs upfront.

LED lighting can extend the day length for pigs, stimulate feed intake and put workers in a better mood.

Although it costs more, LED lights may help you save money in the long run. You will need fewer lights, and they tend to last longer than inexpensive lights. There are also energy grants available in the U.S. for reduced electricity costs.

TIP: “Pigs don’t see very well, so we need to make sure we have the lights placed where they eat and drink,” said Gilliam.

Feed

• Electronic or manual feeding

Electronic feeding allows producers to track the animals’ eating habits in real time: if they are eating, when they are eating and how much they consume. This information can be seen by the producer on his/her phone anywhere.

Manual feeding (hand-feeding or drop boxes) allows for changes or alterations to be made while walking through the barn. Additionally, it eliminates the worry of technology breakdowns.

• Bins

How many bins are needed? Will they run in tandem? How many phases will you feed?

TIP: If feeding in multiple phases, consider adding bins.

Feeding system

There are numerous feeding systems on the market. Match your choice to your expectations and to the volume of feed that will be going through your barn.

TIP: “Keep in mind how many times (the feeding system) will have to turn corners in your barns because some technology can turn around corners easier than others,” said Gilliam.

• Feeders

What type of genetics are you feeding? How do they eat? All day? Three times per day?

TIP: For pigs that eat a certain number of times per day, make sure that the feeder is larger and has more space to help reduce aggression.

Water

• Water meters

“I’m a big fan of water meters,” said Gilliam. “I really feel like they help us to make early production decisions based on the health of our pigs, and it tells us when they’re stressed.”

• Water medicators

Water medicators make it easier to have water interventions. Interventions can be done more quickly and can be monitored to ensure the desired response. There are different styles and types of medicators, and they should be matched to their usage purpose and rate.

• Drinkers

Who is drinking: sows, nursery or grow-finish pigs? Will the drinkers be hanging, swinging or mounted to the wall? Will you use pans, cups or nibble bars?

Consider looking at different types of nipple technology.

TIP: Avoid spraying. In addition to water waste, spraying can scare young pigs. “If we splash them in the face, they have a little bit of reluctance to go drink,” said Gilliam.

Final thoughts

Gilliam said the following three items are his non-negotiables: water medicators, water meters and LED lighting. The extra benefits, especially for the health and welfare of the pig, far outweigh the extra costs.

New technology, such as sensors, can also be beneficial to your operation. Sensors on sows allow convenience and efficiency in multiple areas. They can send a message to your phone when the sow is ready to farrow, prompting a heat lamp to automatically turn on just for that sow and not the entire barn. This greatly reduces energy cost and is better for the overall care of the pigs.

One of the most exciting innovations, however, is electronic barn monitoring. Gilliam calls it “the future of (the pig business).” It allows you to monitor the barn remotely, see problems in specific pens and then communicate it to all your farm workers.

“I can connect every single piece of my farm to my phone and then send it right out to the internet so that my farm managers can see it,” said Gilliam.

Rebuilding or remodeling can be nerve-wracking. However, knowing where to be frugal and where to invest your money will help you make decisions that work best for your operation and, as Gilliam said, “give your animals the opportunity to reach optimum performance.”

In this series, we have investigated the many ways Alltech has harnessed bioscience under the guidance of its ACE principle to reconcile producer profitability with agriculture’s impacts. All of this against a backdrop of a burgeoning global population and increasing concerns about our environmental stewardship. Part four concludes the series with an overview of ACE: where it came from, what it has inspired and how it is leading the company into the future.

Serendipity can happen in a sentence. Consider the origin of the Alltech ACE principle, the architecture of a corporate research and development framework that materialized in the mind of company founder Dr. Pearse Lyons while traveling the world nearly 30 years ago.

Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech

“We were talking about the things we were doing, the products we were developing and the move against antibiotics,” recalled Dr. Lyons. “Professor Archimede Mordenti, from the University of Bologna, who sadly passed away, was the chairman of a meeting in Italy. He said, ‘I don’t know if you realize it, but you are describing a company that will be friendly to animals, consumers and the environment.’ He could see where we were going, even before we could.”

“ACE” has since become firmly embedded in the Alltech DNA, a guiding reminder that the company’s product lines, programs and concepts must benefit the animal, the consumer and the environment.

That’s a tall order, and it has taken time for the agriculture industry’s priorities to shift in the direction of this more holistic philosophy.

“ACE was not popular amongst animal farmers when first proposed at the Alltech Symposium in 1989 by professor Mordenti,” said Aidan Connolly, Alltech's chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts. “Most believed that animal production should only focus on food availability, affordability and safety. How far our industry has come.”

Aidan Connolly, vice president and chief innovation officer

This vision was indeed somewhat radical at a time when the application of chemicals and antibiotics dominated agriculture’s approach to issues impeding productivity.

“Dr. Lyons decided from the beginning that it was not going to be a chemical or antibiotic-based approach to food animal nutrition,” added Dr. Kate Jacques, Alltech nutrition director. “They were going to dump money into research to find new ways around it. Thirty years ago, that was a very radical idea. It was one we had to drag into the light.”

“We went against the stream,” remembered Dr. Lyons. “Indeed, on a couple of occasions, when we made awards to people who had made breakthroughs, the industry reacted against us and we lost customers. However, we stuck to our guns, and the fact now is that we have literally billions of chickens and pigs around the world on the Alltech Antibiotic-Free program.”

Scientific to the core

Science in support of sustainability is the foundation of ACE. But in the early days of the company, industry resistance to this idea was not the only obstacle the company had to overcome.

“We were starting a business in Kentucky, and we did not have the people with the specific knowledge in the areas that we were to be working,” noted Dr. Lyons. “So, we had to effectively develop our own team. Therefore, we developed the people through our Ph.D. and master’s degree programs.

“We are very proud of the fact that we have had over 260 people do their master’s degree and Ph.D.s with us,” he continued. “We pay two-thirds of the cost, and they pay one-third. When they finish their program, we pay them the one-third of the cost, plus another one-third. It is by reinvesting in education that we have been able to build our business.”

An architecture for ideas

Creating such career-advancing educational opportunities has attracted dedicated, highly educated professionals to work within the ACE structure. Their innovations have positioned Alltech to offer an array of sustainable alternatives to the use of chemicals and antibiotics in farming.

Among the earliest products in the company portfolio is Sel-Plex®, Alltech's proprietary organic form of selenium yeast. Manufactured to mimic Mother Nature, this organic form is better absorbed, stored and utilized by the animal than inorganic selenium.

“We pioneered the fact that you could use one-third the level of minerals if you put it into the biologically appropriate form,” said Dr. Lyons. “As a matter of fact, you will see a two-thirds reduction in pollution and, indeed, improvement in animal and human performance.”

A turning point was reached 10 years ago in Alltech’s work in nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction of nutrition and genes, especially in regard to the prevention or treatment of disease: humans may also see a direct benefit from Alltech’s mineral technology.

The research has indicated that when fed to animals, Sel-Plex favorably altered the activity of certain biological pathways associated with several serious human illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease prominent among them.

“Out of this work came the observation by the late professor Bill Markesbery of the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging that there was an opportunity on the human side for Alzheimer’s patients,” said Dr. Lyons. “From his observation, we launched a research program to find the active ingredients. Here we are today with our AT-001 (Sel-Plex) now in Phase II of the FDA’s clinical studies for Alzheimer’s.”

The paradigm shifts

In recent years, the agriculture industry has been turning to these rapidly emerging, often revolutionary technologies to support production and profitability while sustaining a healthy environment and serving an increasingly aware and demanding consumer.

“The ACE principle has long served as the primary driving force and standard for developing all new research, product lines and applications,” said Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech’s chief scientific officer. “It is truly part of our research culture at Alltech. Our approach has always been to use the most recent biotechnologies to investigate, develop and apply natural solutions to many of the problems that limit the efficiencies of agricultural production.”

These have included the science of nutrigenomics, as well as some of the most advanced tools in molecular and analytical chemistry, and trend-setting fermentation technologies.

Going bananas in Costa Rica

Alltech Crop Science provides an example with its non-chemical solution to black sigatoka, also known as “black leaf streak," a fungal blight plaguing the banana groves of Costa Rica.

Kyle McKinney examines banana leaves for signs of black sigatoka.

“From a consumer standpoint and part of ACE, the consumer is driving down inputs on crops,” noted Dr. Kyle McKinney, Alltech Crop Science development manager for Central America and the Caribbean. “They want healthier foods for their families to eat. That’s the big reason we started the project in Costa Rica, but that’s really the overall spectrum of Alltech Crop Science.”

Deploying Alltech’s soil-microbiome stimulating Soil-Set® and plant nutrition supplement Agro-Mos®, McKinney and his team have developed a consumer- and environment-friendly alternative to the practice of weekly aerial sprayings of chemical fungicides.

In the interest of ethical productivity

Animal health and welfare have always been a key component of Alltech research and product development strategies.

“The well-being of animals is not only important to our view of the ethical treatment of livestock, but also results in more productive agricultural practices,” said Dawson. “This has resulted in the development of feed supplementation strategies that use natural ingredients and fermentation products to improve health and improve nutrition.”

Alltech animal nutrition strategies are designed to benefit the spectrum of species, from ruminants and swine to poultry and fish, to horses and pets.

“Apart from strictly reducing the amount of a pollutant like methane that comes from an animal, we also look at the efficiency with which these animals produce food for humans, said Alltech research project manager Amanda Gehman. “If we can have an efficient animal, that animal is by nature a more environmentally sustainable animal.”

An Alltech facility in Winchester, Kentucky, acquired in 2010, has since become one of the world’s largest commercial algae production sites. Work taking place there addresses the pressure on wild fisheries to provide fish oil and fish meal to the world’s expanding aquaculture operations. As a consequence of overfishing, many wild fisheries have been teetering on collapse.

“We believe we have a real solution in our algae that will reduce reliance on fish oil while increasing the amount of DHA available to farmed fish and, ultimately, to consumers,” said Dr. Jorge Arias, Alltech’s global director for aquaculture.

The new Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre in the Netherlands is working to deliver new technologies, including algae, aimed at achieving greater efficiency and sustainability.

Since joining Alltech in 2016, Coppens International, an aquatic feed solutions company in the Netherlands, has collaborated with Alltech’s research teams to introduce several new algae-based products containing innovative technologies such as ForPlus®, a sustainable algae-derived fish oil replacer that delivers very high levels of DHA..

Concern for the consumer

Why would an animal feed company have interest in ensuring high levels of DHA?

Western diets are seriously deficient in this omega-3 fatty acid that is a primary structural component of the human brain, cerebral cortex, skin and retina. Yet, vertebrates do not manufacture DHA, so it must be consumed in our foods.

“What we’re doing with our DHA enrichment program is making omega-3 fatty acids more accessible to the consumer by adding them to food products that they already enjoy eating, that they already buy, that they already know how to prepare, that are fairly inexpensive and are convenient,” explained Nikki Putnam, registered dietitian nutritionist and a nutrition solutions specialist at Alltech. “So, chicken, eggs, dairy products, beef, bacon — we can put DHA in all of those food products.”

Where all of this is going

Alltech continues to invest in natural-based approaches to agricultural production. Over the last decade, guided by its ACE “North Star,” the company has embraced many new scientific technologies that can be used as tools to improve understanding of feeds and feed management.

As Alltech’s chief scientist, Dawson envisions the development of ways to naturally improve disease resistance, reproductive health and the overall comfort of livestock using new feeds, ingredients and more precise nutrient management practices.

Connolly, ever mindful of connecting the dots between farm and table, anticipates increasing consumer demand for products that are clean, in keeping with their values, aspirations, ethics and expectations.

“In fact, this fits with the ACE principle,” he noted. “Alltech’s development of new strategies to allow farmers to remove hormones from beef production, antibiotics of all types from the feed of poultry or pigs, to help reduce viral diseases or avoid parasitic challenges such as sea lice, all of these are animal-friendly, consumer-acceptable and don’t negatively affect the environment.”

Read our entire ACE series:

The Animal

The Consumer

The Environment

Piglets should be weaned at an appropriate age and body weight to ensure that they continue their desired growth curve. Poor growth, immaturity and high variability within the litter can lead to variation in performance as the piglets progress through the grower and finisher phases, causing increases in costs at slaughter. This may negate the “all-in/all-out” (AIAO) strategy used on many farms, in which pigs reach age when they have reached finished weight.

All piglets should be checked at weaning

Monitoring weight gain immediately before weaning is important to make sure that there are no growth issues in the first seven days after weaning. Several strategies can be implemented to avoid problems with subsequent performance.

All piglets should be checked at weaning to ensure target and uniform weights are attained. The manager can either group piglets by litters or by body weight; both groups have pros and cons, so the choice should be consistent across litters.

During the first four days after weaning, specific attention to the housing environment is essential to eliminate cold spots and draughts. Solid boards, rather than slatted floors, should be used.

All weaned piglets must have free access to clean water

They should also be provided with highly digestible feed that they find palatable. The feed should be soaked with water for the first two days to encourage intake.

Feed should be offered in enough open dishes to allow free access for all the animals during the first three days post-weaning. Troughs should be large enough to supply feed to all piglets after this date. Poor access to feed can lead to smaller animals being excluded from feeding.

Use a highly digestible and palatable diet

Diets should include proven enzyme supplementation to enhance digestion, as well as products such as Actigen®, which will balance microflora and contribute to good gut health at this important time. Specialist ingredients, such as nucleotides, can be used to promote the development of the digestive tract. Creep feed should be available little and often throughout the day — perhaps four or five times — and any refusals or stale feed should be discarded.

Group the pigs by weight

Seven days or so after weaning, any small piglets should be removed and placed together in a separate pen within the same house. They should be maintained on the creep diet for longer to allow their body weight to catch up with their siblings. Any in-feed medication prescribed by a veterinarian should be administered during the first 10 days after weaning.

Use different diets according to body weight and age

As the piglets progress in age and weight, diets must be adjusted to match their changing requirements. The environment needs to be controlled and changed accordingly (e.g., temperature). This will prevent the development of respiratory and other diseases as well as help maintain optimal conditions for growth and health.

Feeding age-and weight-appropriate diets with proven zootechnical ingredients to promote digestive function and the ideal gut environment are crucial to the development and efficiency of the intestinal tract. Without the appropriate diet, or if the pigs are exposed to gut pathogens, the villi that line the gut may be damaged. This may lead to atrophy and poor endogenous enzyme secretions, poor mucous protection and reduced nutrient absorption. Because only minimal amounts of feed are consumed during the pre-weaning period, attention to detail during this stage is important for the health and productivity of the animals until slaughter age.

Key factors dictate the degree of villus atrophy

Several factors affect the chances of the piglet developing atrophied villi after weaning. The age and weight at weaning is important, as this is a measure of the animal’s maturity and ability to cope with weaning stresses. Environmental factors within the house are also important; if not controlled correctly, it can add further stress to the piglet and make it more susceptible to disease.

Feed should be palatable and highly digestible to ensure that it is digested in the upper ileum and does not bypass enzyme breakdown, which can result in the feed flowing into the hind gut, where it will act as a substrate for non-beneficial bacteria. This can lead to the development of gastrointestinal disease. Certainly, protein is important in this respect, as bypassed protein can be utilized by toxic bacteria such as Clostridia spp. Feed and water hygiene will help reduce the introduction of many pathogens into the piglets, and whilst feed is often monitored, water troughs and water quality may not always be. Many pathogens are transmitted via dirty water systems.

To arrange a complimentary Alltech Pig ASSIST audit for your herd, please contact us at pig@alltech.com.

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.

“Having me on staff, a registered dietitian, working at an animal nutrition and crop science company is really unheard of.”

In one sentence, nutrition specialist Nikki Putnam spoke volumes about what distinguishes Alltech in the world of agriculture.

Yes, it’s an animal nutrition and crop science company, but it’s actually much more. And the reason for that is the three-decade guidance of its ACE principle: Alltech’s belief that new technologies and their adoption throughout the food chain will contribute to a more sustainable world. The principle mandates that any such technologies “must improve the health and welfare of Animals, satisfy Consumer demands and protect the Environment.”

This installment of our ACE series highlights Alltech’s quest to address the rise of the socially conscious consumer and their demand for healthy, safe and sustainably produced food.

Following through to the end of the food chain

We begin at the end. The end of the food chain, that is, and Putnam’s dot-connecting role at Alltech.

“It’s very rare in this industry to have someone who is solely focused on human nutrition helping to bridge the gap between what we’re doing in crop science research and production, what we’re doing with animal nutrition and animal science, and bringing that around to ‘How is this applicable to human health, nutrition and increasing well-being?’” said Putnam.

Accommodating the expectations of an evolving consumer culture presents its challenges.

“That culture has been changing a lot in the last five years, and we’re well-adapted to address it because we can say, ‘This is an organic product that is traceable through an organic production system. This is a product that is non-GMO; this is an antibiotic-free product,’” said Dr. Karl Dawson, vice president and chief scientific officer at Alltech.

“These types of products are arriving on grocery shelves now and in the restaurant,” he said. “Even fast food chains are using these terms. We try to build our sales and research programs around that.”

In fact, Alltech has partnered with the leading third-party audit for Whole Foods, Where Food Comes From, to become the flagship company for their Feed Verified program. This verification is important to Alltech because it provides clear, traceable assurance for claims, such as antibiotic-free, so consumers can trust and understand how their food was raised.

Listening to the consumer

Dr. Steven Borst, general manager of Alltech’s crop science division, would have enough on his plate focusing on the myriad issues associated with growing plants, but he also keeps in mind the needs and desires of the ultimate consumers of crops: humans.

“Consumers want to know that what they’re picking up in the supermarket is completely safe, is being grown in a manner that would be sustainable,” he said. “Consumers are demanding more accountability and more and more traceability. We’ve helped strengthen the ability for the consumer to know that.”

Alltech Crop Science is focused on providing natural inputs as viable alternatives to the synthetic chemicals that inspire consumer concerns and resistance.

“We’re improving our soil, increasing the nutrient availability by allowing the plant to uptake more nutrients,” said Dr. Kyle McKinney, Alltech Crop Science development manager for Central America and the Caribbean.

Agriculture is undergoing a mindset change

Borst finds farmers and producers increasingly sensitive to how their products are received in the marketplace. They are gravitating to a new, more expansive way of thinking.

“The mindset that says, ‘I need to spray X to kill Y in order to achieve excess yields,’ that silver bullet mentality has completely shifted,” he said. “Farmers are looking not just at boosting yields, but for ways to mitigate, say, a weed problem, and how does that impact the entire holistic system? That’s a major shift that we’ve started to see. It’s driven by farmers wanting to take better care of their land and come up with alternative ways to maximize profits, as well as the potential of their croplands and systems.”

No one, Borst said, cares more about the land and the environment than the farmer.

“There’s no more of a scientist than a farmer,” he explained. “We’re seeing continual management program and thought-process changes. That’s a relatively new phenomenon that’s occurred over the past 10 years. I would argue that when we started Alltech Crop Science, we were 30 years ahead of the curve in regard to this mentality. Now it’s starting to catch up.”

Banana growers are listening

Banana production in Costa Rica offers a clear example of how Alltech technology is replacing unsustainable practices.

The banana plantations of Costa Rica have been plagued by black sigatoka, also known as “black leaf streak,” a disease spread by the fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis. For plantation owners, battling this disease has been a choice between frequent application of chemical fungicides or losing their crops.

“Producers want to reduce this (dependency on chemicals),” said McKinney, who is currently stationed in Costa Rica, working on solutions. “Consumers are demanding it and buyers are demanding it, so they’re looking for alternatives.”

The focus of McKinney’s current work is on two products from the Alltech Crop Science portfolio: Soil-Set® and Agro-Mos®.

Trials of the products transitioned early this year to commercial application.

“Starting in January of 2017, we went from zero hectares to over 3,000 hectares in one month,” said McKinney. “Producers saw and believed in the results and took the steps to reduce their chemical usage because here’s something that allows them to do it naturally, and they can feel good about it.”

Going to the source of a dietary imbalance

Consuming omega-3 fatty acids, mostly by eating fish, is associated with the prevention or reduction in severity of a multitude of ailments, from heart and kidney diseases and diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease and osteoarthritis, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

But in the Western world in particular, consumption of foods that deliver adequate levels of omega-3 is woefully low.

Human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids of approximately 1:1. But, in Western diets, the ratio is 15:1, according to the NCBI.

Numerous diseases are linked to this imbalance and a resulting serious deficiency of DHA, a compound contained in omega-3 fatty acids that, while essential to human health, is not produced by vertebrates.

“We’re trying to increase the amount of omega-3s that consumers are eating because when that ratio is out of whack, we see a lot of inflammation in the body,” said Putnam. "Inflammation is the root cause of all chronic disease — heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, etc.”

But, there’s a catch.

Omega-3 historically has been obtained from fish oil. Increasing demand, however, has pushed the world’s fisheries to or beyond capacity, with many of these ecosystems at risk of collapse.

The alternative to overfishing in the ocean is aquaculture. The fish farming industry’s own demand for fish oil and meal to feed its stocks, however, has only added to the pressure on ocean fisheries.

Alltech researchers have found a solution in Aurantiochytrium limacinum, one among the tens of thousands of named species of algae.

“We’re growing our own algae — the same algae that those fatty fish are consuming through their diets in the ocean,” said Putnam. “That’s what gives them their DHA and total omega-3 content in their tissues.

“So, instead of relying on those fatty fish in the ocean to provide us that fish oil or those omega-3 fatty acids, we’re growing that same strain ourselves,” she continued. “That way we can preserve the fish for protein sources and use our algae as the omega-3 or DHA source in aquaculture and livestock diets.”

These algal-based products are being produced at the Alltech Algae plant in Winchester, Kentucky, USA, one of the largest commercial algae production sites in the world.

Dr. Sasha Tozzi, the facility’s technical manager, said studies have found that balancing the omega-6/omega-3 ratio is associated with decreased mortality and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer and inflammation among rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

The benefits of the balance don’t stop there.

“It’s good for pregnant women and the early development of children to have a high-DHA diet because what mommy eats is what the baby eats,” said Tozzi. “You improve hand-eye coordination, visual acuity, motor skills, attention spans, verbal and social skills. And there are a lot of studies that show how different concentrations of intake of DHA at different ages really improves cognitive ability and behavior in children.”

Alltech’s growing portfolio of algae-derived products and applications are being marketed worldwide. The products are currently undergoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration registration and trials required for sales in the United States.

Reducing antibiotics in the food chain

The use of antibiotics in livestock has become a hot-button issue for consumers concerned about the effects to human health as well as the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“Consumers are looking for alternatives,” noted Dr. Kristen Brennan, a research project manager at the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville, Kentucky. “Some don’t want antibiotics to have been given to the animal proteins they buy. With our work, we can provide not just alternatives to antibiotics, but more viable alternatives.”

And, in a nod to the ACE principle, the goal has been to develop solutions that are beneficial to the animal, the producer and the consumer, said Brennan.

Simply eliminating antibiotics from production animals will not in and of itself solve the problem of antimicrobial resistance.

“We have created the problem over the past 70 years, and we can’t expect to resolve it overnight,” said Dawson. “We must turn the tables and address eliminating antibiotic resistance from the environment.”

In Dawson’s view, that means being forward-thinking by developing and implementing practices that keep production animals healthy, which reduces a need for antibiotics. This can be as basic as improved farm hygiene and more biosecure animal housing, bearing in mind that even the cleanest operations can still experience disease.

Strategic nutritional management programs are an important component as well. Among the alternatives to antibiotics are direct-fed microbials, prebiotics and plant extracts. Alltech is ahead of the curve, having pioneered antibiotic-free technologies since the company was founded in 1980. This has led to new innovations backed by 733 published trials, resulting in multiple developments in the area of antibiotic-free production.

The Alltech® Antibiotic-Free program starts by supporting the animal’s immune and digestive system and allows for periods of adjustment. As the producer advances to the next level, the program helps provide a gut health management approach. This includes seeding the gut with favorable gut microflora, feeding the beneficial bacteria and maintaining a proper intestinal environment, and weeding out unfavorable microorganisms to support immune defense.

The next step is the full Alltech Antibiotic-Free program, which provides a complete approach to animal well-being, including management, nutrition and technical support. The program supports animals with maximum health benefits through Alltech’s full range of technologies, allowing them to reach their genetic potential and helping producers to attain a sustainable and profitable future.

“Our goal is to make sure producers have the right tools and resources necessary to make this transition as safely and profitably as possible while still getting the consumer the quality product they want for themselves and their families,” said Aidan Connolly, Alltech vice president and chief innovation officer.

Environmentally friendly livestock

Today’s consumers also express worries about the environmental impacts of livestock.

“We look at the efficiency with which these animals produce food for humans,” said Alltech research project manager Dr. Amanda Gehman. “If we can have an efficient animal, that animal is by nature a more environmentally sustainable animal.”

Dawson agrees.

“The environmental impact follows,” he noted. “If you are putting less feed into an animal and having less waste material, then you’re talking about an immediate environmental impact, whether that’s the manure that is spread on the land or the methane that escapes from the cow or the pig.”

This attention to sustainability in livestock production matters not only to grocery store shoppers, but also to many restaurant executive chefs, including Jonathan Searle of the Louisville, Kentucky-based boutique hotel chain 21C Museum Hotels.

“Along with looking for the highest quality locally sourced beef, we’re actively looking for a provider that is environmentally aware and taking steps to lower their carbon footprint,” he said.

Alltech has harnessed the innovative power of biotechnology to offer a variety of solutions to many of the farm-level issues becoming of interest to consumers. Examples include:

• Alltech E-CO2 provides environmental assessment services to livestock producers, enabling them to closely monitor the carbon footprints of their operations.

• Optigen® is Alltech's non-protein nitrogen source for ruminants. It concentrates the nitrogen fraction of the diet, creating dry matter space for more fiber and energy. Optigen has become a solution to feed and environmental problems.

• Allzyme® SSF is based on an ancient process called solid state fermentation (SSF). A selected strain of (non-GMO) is used to work in synergy with the animal’s digestive system in breaking down layers of the feed that were previously inaccessible through digestion. With the increasing global population and need for food, it is essential that producers get optimal performance from their animals and their diets.

• Alltech® In Vitro Fermentation Model (IFM) is a diagnostic tool that simulates rumen fermentation and evaluates the nutritive value of total mixed rations in terms of digestibility and end-products formation. IFM can help nutritionists determine if protein supply may be limiting microbial protein production and help make recommendations to address that issue. In addition, IFM researchers can identify opportunities in the ration to take advantage of reformulation.

• Total Replacement Technology™ provides organic forms of trace minerals (zinc, copper, manganese and selenium) that are more bioavailable to the animal, reducing waste and heavy metal pollution.

• The BioBarrel®, an edible feed supplement container manufactured by Alltech’s Ridley Block Operations, is providing producers with an effective land management tool that can be used to regulate the movement of herds and prevent overgrazing.

• KEENAN, the Alltech-owned manufacturer of diet feeders, is increasing farm efficiency by producing an advanced optimal physical mix of feed that improves yield, quality and returns. The company’s InTouch service provides producers with live support from skilled nutritionists who offer key advice for better data-driven decision-making.

• Yea-Sacc® is a yeast culture based on a proprietary strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast strain specifically selected for its influence on animal performance. Yea-Sacc helps stabilize the rumen environment for improved feed efficiency and is ideal for beef, dairy, calf and equine feeds.

Helping producers ACE the consumer connection

Today’s farmers are looking for technologies and products that help them provide consumers with quality meats, eggs, milk, fruit and vegetables, as well as information about the origins of foods and how it was produced.

Alltech, with a corporate culture that considers the entire food chain, from seed to steak and salad, is enabling the integration of innovative technologies with on-farm practices.

In our fourth and final installment, we will take a look at how ACE has evolved since its inception some 30 years ago and how it might be expected to carry the company and its customers forward into the future.

Take a look back at our ACE-ing sustainability series

“A” is for animal

“E” is for the environment

Americans sure do love their pets. With 68 percent of U.S. households owning a pet, we collectively spent $66.75 billion on our best friends in 2016. It goes without saying how much we care about them, and our concerns certainly include their health and the health of our family members who interact with them on a daily basis.

Because we have made our pets a part of our family, we want them to have the best we can offer in food and nutrition, always considering the source of the food, its ingredients and its quality. But the actual safety of their food goes beyond these important considerations.

When we think of pet food safety, there are two sides to this issue: the potential that the food could cause harm to our pets, and the possibility that the food could cause harm to family members who interact with them and their food.

If we consider food safety for the pet, then we could certainly mention the melamine scare of 2007. In that instance, pet foods were produced with vegetable protein tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical not approved as an ingredient in animal or human food in the United States. The tainted food led to renal failure in many cats and dogs, with some unfortunately dying from their illness. More information about this incident can be found at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.

Another example of contaminants that may sicken our best friends is mycotoxins. These are naturally occurring toxins produced by molds. Mycotoxins can be associated with many plant products as a result of toxigenic molds growing on them. Even though the FDA has regulations and guidelines related to maximum allowed levels for some of these toxins in pet food, once in a while we have issues related to these compounds. One example would be from 2005, when aflatoxin-contaminated dog food was shipped to 22 different states and at least 29 different countries. Nineteen different types of pet foods had to be recalled.

The other aspect related to pet food safety is the safety of family members who interact with pets. In more than one instance, human illnesses have been associated with the handling of contaminated pet food. In one of these situations, in 2012, 49 individuals were infected with Salmonella infantis, and investigations found the source of the bacteria was the dry dog food offered by those individuals to their pets. This outbreak also triggered a recall of 17 product brands, representing more than 30,000 tons of dry dog food.

Lessons learned for better safety

All these incidents have served as painful lessons for the pet food industry, government and pet owners. Much has changed in regard to the implementation of pet food safety management systems by the industry: pet owners have become aware of the potential hazards associated with their pet’s food and guidelines have been promoted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help prevent outbreaks associated with Salmonella. In an effort to further increase the safety of foods for humans and animals, the FDA has also recently implemented a series of rules, known as the Food Safety Modernization Act, related to the processing of foods that will certainly contribute to reducing the occurrence of these incidents in the U.S.

If you would like to learn more about the hazards associated with pet foods, the tools used by the pet food industry to control them, new regulations that will support efforts to produce wholesome and safe pet foods, as well as some guidelines to keep your family safe while feeding your pets, be sure to check back on this blog. Future entries will be dedicated to each of these topics.

I want to learn more about pet nutrition.

What does it mean to “support the good guys” in relation to eggshell quality?

Dr. Kayla Price, poultry technical manager for Alltech Canada, discussed how eggshell quality is directly impacted by gut health and balancing our good microbes and potentially bad bacteria.

In the webinar “Egg-cellent shell quality: Learn the basics,” Price explained the essentials for a premium egg and the many different factors affecting eggshell quality. According to Price, producers must start thinking about egg development and quality as soon as the birds are in the pullet barn, where the skeleton, immune and digestive systems are developed. Proper development of these key systems creates a consistent growth pattern, maximizing the production from the layer.

Calcium: 94% of the eggshell

Price discussed the importance of calcium for a hen that is expected to lay almost an egg a day. Different feeding programs will have different calcium particle sizes, which directly affect how well calcium is absorbed. To get good performance out of the bird, we have to make sure we are maintaining the health of the gut to allow for proper calcium absorption. To do this, producers must supplement enough calcium in the feed for the bird to maintain her own health and produce an egg a day.

What about the minerals?

Price discussed how minerals contribute to the different stages of egg synthesis. Selenium protects the cells and integrity of the reproductive tract. Copper is important for eggshell development, pigments and collagen formation. Manganese aids the formation of the bone and organic matrix of eggshells and is a co-factor in glycoprotein enzyme for shell formation. And, finally, zinc helps bone and eggshell calcification, keratin shell membrane formation and eggshell carbonate production.

What else affects eggshell quality?

Click here to view the entire webinar and learn how nutrition, management, health, age, environment and genetics play a role.

Key takeaways from the webinar:

• How an egg is made and the role gut health plays in the creation of an egg
• The factors that influence a quality egg
• Programs to enhance eggshell quality

I would like a FREE Egg Shell Quality poster.

Tom:                            Kentucky native — Lexington native, in fact — Brian Lawless is the business development manager for Alltech in North America. His passion is discovering and delivering solutions for the sustainable nutrition of plants, animals and people. His topic at this year’s ONE17 conference has to do with people in general and what’s been happening to the way we dine in particular. We thank you for joining us, Brian.

Brian:                          Glad to be here.

Tom:                            Let’s begin with a broad question: What’s the role of food in culture?

Brian:                          We ask the question, “How should we think about food? What should we look at in regards to food?” Alltech is an animal health and nutrition company. So, the basic answer is to say, “Oh, it’s nutrition. That’s where it is.” But if you look at the Latin word for “nutrition,” it also means “to nurture.” The question I ask is, “Is the way we produce food actually nurturing society, nurturing culture in such a way that we can grow?” That’s been fun for me to look at.

Tom:                            The shared family meal used to be a given. It was an ideal. Breakfast and lunch have always been a little “iffy” because of daily schedules, but suppertime has, for generations, been a family’s chance to sit down and break bread together while catching up on the day. What happened to that tradition?

Brian:                          It’s not going so well. For the last 20 years, we’ve seen a 33 percent decline in family meals. I have often heard people say, “I have sports to get to,” if they have kids, or, “I have a job.” You may have both parents working. You have all these situations where food then becomes an afterthought. Then we go back to the question of if we’re nurturing. If we’re eating, we may be eating in the car, and that’s probably the culture we see right now. We’ve gone from being a very communal food culture to very much an individual food culture. I think that’s a challenge because that isolates and separates the way we eat. I don’t think that’s the intent — it’s not the way we were supposed to eat.

Tom:                            As we move away from nightly gatherings around the table, what’s been the social impact on kids?

Brian:                          For kids, it’s big. From a timing standpoint, if we dial back 60 years, a meal took 90 minutes. You’d get there. You’d set the table. You’d sit down with your family. Today, the average time spent on meals is about seven to 11 minutes. I think the biggest thing we’re missing is the ability to connect. There are obvious effects, for example — and data supports this — that kids who get a meal with their parents three or more times a week are 40 percent more likely to do well in school. They’re likely to eat more vegetables, drink less soda, have a more balanced diet in terms of sodium and fat, and are less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors like drugs or tobacco. So, all this science is saying that, while eating with your family is not a direct connection to these factors, it has a significant impact overall.

Tom:                            Even when we’re together these days, smart devices have a way of interfering.

Brian:                          They do. I would say you need to be conscious of what’s going on. I’m a millennial. I use technology. I engage with it, but I think we need to make that choice to say, “Hey, not during a meal.” When you’re with a friend getting a meal — whether at home or out at a restaurant — either leave the phone in the car, set the phone face down or do something so technology is not in the way. I really think there’s a power in actually connecting, telling stories and actually engaging with what’s going on. You can’t get that with social media. You can’t get that with a phone or a TV.

Tom:                            I think you just touched on this a couple of minutes ago, but let’s drill down into it. Are we eating alone more frequently, and what are the consequences of that?

Brian:                          We absolutely are. Forty-six percent of all adult meals are eaten alone. I think we’re a part of what I would call a “metanarrative” in our food industry. The food industry is telling us that food needs to be convenient — it needs to be available anywhere, anytime. The way we think about food is in terms of efficiency: How quickly can I go from a state of being hungry to a state of being full? Then, during that time, how can I be entertained? Can I watch TV? Can I look at my phone?

                                    All that because we live “busy lives.” And, frankly, I don’t like that. I think that’s where the narrative is trying to drive us. The thoughts I’ve had lately are about how we engage with that narrative and engage with it in a different way — rewrite that narrative because I believe we have a choice.

                                    This convenience has actually left us with more options. When food is convenient, it means other things are convenient. When things are efficient, it means you can then choose to engage with other things in a different way. I’ve really been trying to process this: Okay, what does that look like? I think there are both unintended consequences and unexpected opportunities that come when you actually engage with food in a way that is nurturing as opposed to just nutritious.

Tom:                            How about the meal-bundling concept? I’m thinking of Blue Apron or HelloFresh, which have brought back the possibility of being able to work a full day and come home tired but make a meal conducive to bringing everybody around the table. Have those options made a big difference?

Brian:                          They have. I think it’s a great step. It’s probably not the ideal compared to the pinnacle of going to the store, picking something and taking it home. But if that’s not a reality, I think something like Blue Apron is a great alternative because it allows you to get home. It uses technology. It uses convenience, now in a way that’s advantageous and allows you to connect with someone.

                                    I think that goes back to that communal language of saying, “Look, I’ve cooked this. I’ve prepared it.” There’s another unexpected opportunity that comes with services like Blue Apron: Say you get this great marinated chicken and you completely burn it. That’s not good. All of a sudden, as you serve it, you have a story to tell. You say, “Hey, sorry, I’m going to learn how to cook this better next time.” I think those are those are human moments. That sometimes gets lost when we isolate ourselves and just get fast food.  

Tom:                            As you also mentioned earlier, we know that the fundamental purpose of food is sustenance, but we have made much more of it. Haven’t we? In light of that, does it appear that we’ve lost the point of food altogether?

Brian:                          How we’re structuring our food culture and the way we’re producing food essentially takes people out of the equation. And what I mean by that is, the way that we’re feeding our animals, we’re applying those same principles to people. I think we spend so much time and care in producing animals. I met a beef producer just over the weekend — Tim White. He’s a producer here in Central Kentucky with his own cow/calf operation. He says, “For a year, I look after these animals and I give them my best care and I ship them off, they go to their feed yards, then get processed and end up in hamburgers.” To me, I was hearing that he takes so much care of the animals and the food that is processed — let’s not just stumble right before the finish line when we eat it. In other words: It gets processed, then packed, then shipped to the grocery store. What do we do from there? There’s a moment in that final phase before eating when I think we need to focus on how we get that right.

Tom:                            That brings to mind a pretty prevalent Native American tradition of honoring the meal that you’re about to consume for that reason.

Brian:                          Yes. That was always a big deal for me because of my family. I’m from Central Kentucky, but my mom’s side of the family is from Rhode Island. When we would visit them — they’re French Canadian — we would eat meat pies. For me, that wasn’t part of my particular food culture in Kentucky. It was my mom’s. It was my family’s. It was our family’s culture and tradition. I learned something: It wasn’t about the food itself, but it was about our culture, our family. It’s what brought us around the table. To me, more than anything, it signified that we’re family when we ate that. Again, when we go from this communal to individual culture, that’s lost.

Tom:                            What would you say is the upside to being honest with ourselves and recognizing current trends, which have taken us away from the family dinner table? Being honest about recognizing it, what shall we do about it?

Brian:                          Someone once told me that when you talk to people, you also learn how to talk to yourself. I think there’s a weird process that happens. When you go to the kitchen table, you can’t hide anymore. You’re sitting down. There’s no leaving. And I think that allows us to learn how to engage with tension, even within the current political structure and current social structure. I think sometimes we pin ourselves in these sides on social media. We hide behind the “walls” of our screens. But when we bring it to a table, all of a sudden, the tension and the ability to connect — all these things that are both difficult and good become opportunities. I think that’s what sometimes gets lost, and I think that’s the opportunity that we can recapture with food and we can bring it together.

Tom:                            If you had to pin it down, what would you say about this work you most enjoy?

Brian:                          When I think about food, I think about kitchen tables. When I think about kitchen tables, I think about the people around kitchen tables. And for me, I’m passionate about people. My grandfather raised beef cattle just outside of Danville and Hustonville, Kentucky. Working with Alltech, being able to say, “Hey, it’s funny — my life took me in a different direction.” I studied business and economics. But I’m still engaging in the world of agriculture. I feel like in some ways I’m back in the family business, and I’m really proud of that.

                                    I love my family and I get to engage in something that my family has done forever. It makes me passionate. It makes me excited about it. It makes me want to do a better job. When I see these technologies and opportunities, I know that we can make changes for the better. I love seeing the ability to use technology in a way that allows better food to be put on the table, that allows people to connect around that table. And for me, that’s amazing.

Tom:                            Brian Lawless is business development manager for Alltech North America. Thank you so much.

Brian:                          Awesome. Thank you.

[GUELPH, Ontario] – From green pastures and blue skies to rolling hills and vast prairies, from newborn calves to hardworking farm dogs, life in agriculture can be a thing of breathtaking beauty, rich in picturesque moments rarely experienced by an increasingly urban population. Alltech wants to celebrate these moments in farm life and is calling all Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers to submit and share their farm photos for the opportunity to win a trip to ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE18) held in Lexington, Kentucky, May 20–23, 2018. 

Photos must be submitted online by Dec. 15, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. EST. Alltech Canada will select ten photos as finalists, and those photos will be published on Alltech’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/AlltechNaturally) for public voting.  

Voting will open to the public on Dec. 15 at 3:00 p.m. ET and will close on Dec. 29 at 9:00 a.m. EST. Use the hashtag #CDNPicMeONE18Contest to find the photos, or visit the Facebook album to vote. The entrant with the photo that receives the highest number of Facebook likes and correctly answers a mathematical skill-testing question, will be declared the winner.

The winner and a guest will receive free registration to ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, flights to and from Lexington, Kentucky, and four nights’ accommodation. To enter a photo and read the full contest details, including the rules and regulations, visit https://go.alltech.com/picmeone18contest/canada.

Registration is now open for ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, held in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, from May 20–23, 2018. The annual international conference draws 4,000 attendees from nearly 80 countries to network and discuss world-changing ideas. For more information or to register, visit one.alltech.com. Join the conversation online with #ONE18.

Last year’s participants generated more than $50 million in new qualified sales leads across 28 international markets

[DUNBOYNE, Ireland] – Following a highly successful first year, Alltech will select another cohort from across the world to participate in The Pearse Lyons Accelerator, a unique global accelerator backed by Irish entrepreneur Dr. Pearse Lyons. The three-month program will be hosted at Ireland’s leading startup hub, Dogpatch Labs, and will conclude on the main stage at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, where startups will have the unique opportunity to present to more than 4,000 attendees and some of the premier thought leaders in the world.

Last year’s startups collectively added $50 million in new qualified sales leads across 28 international markets by the end of the accelerator. Last month, seven of the 10 startups were featured by CB Insights* in “Agtech: 100+ Technology Companies Changing The Farm,” illustrating the quality of the startups involved. The accelerator was described as “by far streets ahead of any ag-tech accelerator out there,” according to Gary Wickham, CEO of MagGrow, one of the participants in the 2017 accelerator. Since completing the accelerator last year, Hargol FoodTech won WeWork’s The Creator Award, six international innovation competitions as well as closing a $2.5M round of funding.

Activity in ag-tech continues to grow, with startups raising more than $4.4 billion in the first half of 2017 alone, according to the AgFunder AgriFood Tech Investing Report, in no small part due to an ever-increasing global population. The latest forecast from the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs predicts that between now and the close of the century, our global population will increase from 7.6 billion to more than 11 billion people. The question of where our food comes from and how we produce it is becoming more and more pressing.

“Alltech’s roots are in entrepreneurial innovation, and as a global industry leader, we are well-positioned to open doors for the next generation of industry disruptors,” said Dr. Lyons. “It is essential to empower the next generation of ag-tech entrepreneurs who are pioneering for a sustainable future.”

In its first year, The Pearse Lyons Accelerator received 183 applications from 38 countries across six continents, and the startups selected for the 2017 cohort hailed from eight different countries with an average funding of $3.5 million each and $35 million collectively.

The startups had direct access to the founder and management of Alltech as well as the ability to drive business development through Alltech’s global network. The program culminated at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, where the startups pitched to leading agri-business leaders, high-profile investors and the press. The startups shared the stage with thought leaders such as Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University, and George Blankenship, former executive at Tesla Motors, Apple Computer and GAP Inc.

A clear route to market remains a challenge in the industry, and this programme seeks to accelerate startups’ access to this global market, with a comprehensive package of support to help them navigate the challenge of scaling their operations to service large corporate customers.

“Last year saw some amazing outcomes for the participating startups,” said Patrick Walsh, managing director of Dogpatch Labs. “We’re excited to welcome a new cohort from across the world. This program focuses on a unique environment for the accelerator applicants to drive sales and secure investment as well as mentoring and resources for founders through our connection to the startup ecosystem.”

The deadline for applications to The Pearse Lyons Accelerator program will close on Dec. 22, 2017.