The threat of mycotoxins is nothing new to the companion animal industry. However, never before has it been so prevalent and public. Most recently, the reality of mycotoxins in pet food manifested in the death of more than 70 dogs and illness in 80 more in the U.S. due to aflatoxin poisoning. This led to a massive recall of pet food products after they were found to be the source of the issue (FDA, 2021).

Although pet food manufacturers have stringent quality and safety practices in place for choosing ingredients, even with strict testing procedures for mycotoxins in incoming materials and finished pet food, there can be challenges in knowing exactly what might be hiding in seemingly safe ingredients.

Grain processing, sampling error, analytical methods, synergistic interactions and storage conditions can all present challenges to the pet food manufacturer when trying to accurately detect mycotoxins. A disturbing event like this recent aflatoxin poisoning further emphasizes the need for grain and feed producers to know which mycotoxins they are most likely to encounter, what risks those mycotoxins bring to the table and how best to manage them.

What is aflatoxin?

Mycotoxins are substances that are produced by mold or fungus. Aflatoxin, specifically, is a metabolite produced by the greenish-yellow mold Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) and comes in four different strains: B1, B2, G1 and G2. The most toxic of those, aflatoxin B1, is a carcinogen that can adversely impact liver function and immune response.

Where does aflatoxin appear?

A. flavus can grow in a temperature range of 54–118° F, with optimum growth at 98.6° F. Its moisture requirements are low, meaning just 13–13.2% is optimal for growth.

Aflatoxin is usually seen in corn, cottonseed, peanuts, almonds and their associated byproducts. For this reason, corn is one of the ingredients in dog food that poses the greatest risk to companion animals.

All of these crops are typically grown in the southern U.S., where the temperature and moisture are optimal year after year. However, in 2020, the August 25 Drought Monitor showed that these optimal conditions spread far to the north and east, into corn-growing regions.

A recent report in the results of the Alltech Summer Harvest Survey showed that this change in weather patterns has created an unusual situation in which aflatoxin is being detected at higher than normal levels in corn samples outside of the normal high-risk areas. This now presents a new set of challenges for pet food manufacturers to consider when purchasing ingredients.

A. flavus can infest the corn plant through the silks at pollination, affecting the grain, and via stalks and leaves damaged by insects and weather events, such as high winds and hail. Infestation can be field-wide but is more often pocketed in areas of greater plant stress. This can make it challenging to identify aflatoxin in corn grain, as it may only be present in a few kernels in a truckload. Therefore, when testing incoming ingredients for mycotoxins, multiple pooled samples are required to accurately identify the potential risk.

Stored corn needs to be dried to less than 14% moisture and closely monitored for mold growth and insect damage. Screening the grain going into and/or out of storage is a good practice to remove the damaged and cracked kernels that can be a primary source of not only aflatoxin but other mycotoxins as well.

In addition to the risk attached to raw whole grains, feed producers should be aware of the higher risk of concentrated levels of mycotoxins that can be present in processed cereal by products like bran which is often used in pet food.

Fig 1. U.S Drought Monitor highlighting the drier than normal conditions in north and eastern regions (August 25, 2020)

Mycotoxin symptoms in dogs

While no pet owner wants to think about the risk of mycotoxins, it is important to know what to watch for to ensure early action can be taken where necessary to alleviate the problem. One of the primary signs of pets ingesting food contaminated with mycotoxins is liver damage, this can occur from either acute or chronic exposure. Other typical symptoms of mycotoxin contamination in dogs include:

• Vomiting and loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Lethargy
• Diarrhea
• A weakened immune system
• Respiratory illnesses
• Tremors
• Heart palpitations
• Jaundice

Aflatoxin is one of the most potent mycotoxins and a known carcinogenic, and long-term exposure can lead to death, causing devastation for pet owners and their families.

If your dog displays any of these clinical signs, it is important to visit the veterinarian as soon as possible. Take a picture of your dog food and the bag’s lot number for reference, as well.

What are the regulations regarding aflatoxin?

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) regulates aflatoxin in feedstuffs and feeds. The current regulatory limit for pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.) is 20 parts per billion (ppb).

In 2020, not only did aflatoxin’s geographic landscape grow — it also impacted the total corn yield. Decreased yield will necessitate moving greater amounts of corn around the country, further increasing the potential risk with corn in dog food.

Mitigating the threat of mycotoxins

To identify, manage and mitigate the mycotoxin challenge in feed production and to counteract the effects of mycotoxins before pets can encounter them, feed producers are advised to have a robust mycotoxin management plan in place, that can assess and manage risk at each step in the supply chain.  Modern, state-of-the-art testing, such as Alltech® 37+® and Alltech® RAPIREAD™,  can help to detect the mycotoxin risk and allow for the necessary control steps to be put in place.

For pet owners, where practical, it is encouraged to ask the manufacturer questions about their mycotoxin testing program and mitigation plan.

With a joined-up approach to mycotoxin management, the pet food industry can help to avoid a repeat of the recent feed recalls, and families can rest assured that they will not have to face up to the sad reality of losing a beloved pet.

For more information, please speak to your local Alltech representative or visit knowmycotoxins.com.  

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Your primary focus as a producer is providing your calves with what they need to grow into healthy adult animals. To do so, gut health is key. Good gut health allows the calf to efficiently utilize the nutrients in the feed, giving them a strong, stable and healthy start.

However, helping a calf meet its true genetic potential is often easier said than done when there’s a battle going on at the microscopic level inside the calf’s gut. Understanding gut health in cows and calves and how to be a more proactive producer regarding your herd’s health will impact the overall efficiency and success of your operation.

Understanding gut health in cows and young calves

“An animal’s gastrointestinal tract is made up of billions of bacteria,” said Dr. Shelby Roberts, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition. “This bacterial population is comprised of both some pathogenic bacteria and other bacteria that are beneficial to the animal. In a healthy gut, these bacteria keep each other in balance. Gut health problems start when this balance becomes offset and the bad bacteria start to outnumber the good bacteria.”

For bad bacteria to cause trouble, they must first attach to the gut, where they start to multiply. Antibiotics kill bad bacteria, but they can also kill good bacteria, so taking a different, more proactive approach when addressing calf gut health can be beneficial.

“Maintaining the good gut bacteria, while ridding the system of the bad bugs, is essential to promoting gut health,” Roberts said.

Good gut health benefits cattle in a few ways, including:

• The efficient utilization of feed
• Healthy weight gain
• Immunity
• Gut integrity

Taking a proactive approach to gut health

Traditionally, the gut has been thought of as just another part of the digestive system. However, we also know that it is an active component of the immune system.

Considering the dual function of the gut, one way to achieve optimum gut health in calves is to use a feed supplement created to promote good bacteria and support natural defenses. This preventative approach to animal health can help reduce the number of sick calves and, in turn, decrease the amount of antibiotic treatments as well. This can save producers valuable time and money during the busy calving season.

Over the last 20 years, Alltech has conducted research trials that have evaluated management practices that utilize nutritional technologies and the effects of those technologies on calf health and performance. Certain high-quality prebiotics, for example, have been proven to positively impact calf gut health. Prebiotics are indigestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of microbes in the gut. 

Establishing strong calf immunity starts with the dam

• At birth, calves are born with a naïve immune system due to maternal antibodies being unable to pass through the placenta, which leaves calves susceptible to disease.
• Colostrum, the first milk produced at calving, is one of the most important components of calf health. Colostrum is a calf’s initial source of the antibodies that are essential for protecting young calves until their immune systems are fully developed, which takes 1 to 2 months.
• Studies of perinatal mortality indicate that 4–12% of calves are born dead or die within 24 hours of birth. Numerous risk factors contribute to higher perinatal mortality rates, including failed antibody transfer from dam to calf, which only reinforces the importance of colostrum and early nutritional management for calves.
• There are numerous factors that can affect colostrum quality, including the dam’s age, breed and nutrition. Making sure that the dam’s nutritional requirements are being met prior to calving allows the dam to pass along quality stored colostrum to the calf.

Better health for improved performance

Producers spend a lot of time and money trying to improve the genetics of their herds. Calves that have both strong immune system development and a healthy gastrointestinal tract will be better able to utilize nutrients efficiently and reach their genetic potential.

“If we can make calves healthier and reduce the energy they spend keeping the bad bacteria in balance, it should result in better performance,” Roberts explained.

The principle of improved gut health for improved performance is best applied during periods of stress, such as weaning and feedlot arrival. These stressful times negatively impact animal health and growth due to exposure to new pathogens and periods of decreased feed intake. Improved performance resulting from increased efficiency can mean more money in the producer’s pocket. This can be achieved through:

• Improved animal growth (average daily gains)
• Reductions in calf treatments and morbidities

Trials have shown that, without a doubt, enhanced calf health and immunity translate to better growth and gains.

“Being proactive with the use of nutritional technologies and establishing a healthy gut could give a producer’s calves the leg up they need to reach their genetic potential,” Roberts said.

Bio-Mos 2^® promotes a healthy gut

Bio-Mos 2^® is a second-generation feed supplement formulated to feed the gastrointestinal tract in your cattle, optimizing average daily gains, aiding in calf immune system development and reinforcing a healthy gut microbiome without antibiotics at all stages of production. With a healthy gut, calves can better absorb the nutrients in colostrum, and as they transition to creep feed, they can maximize their potential to achieve big gains and maintain high performance.

Learn more about Bio-Mos 2 here.

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If you have ever been involved in breeding mares, then you already know how much work, time and energy is put into ensuring that each broodmare births a healthy foal.

In most cases, a substantial amount of money has been spent on breeding and stud fees, veterinary expenses and a quality nutrition program. Additionally, each mare is carefully monitored daily, as those involved patiently wait almost an entire year for the foal’s arrival.

If you and your mare have made it to the homestretch of the last trimester, congratulations! It is our sincere hope that you will soon welcome a healthy new foal. However, if this is not your first “rodeo,” you already know that the real work of breeding season is only just beginning.

The last few months leading up to foaling can be an intense time for your mare, as she moves into a breeding stall, adapts to increased feed requirements and deals with the stress associated with rapidly changing hormones. Now, more than ever, your mare is at a higher risk for health challenges like colic and ulcers.

So, how can you ensure that your mare — who has no doubt been treated like a queen for the last year — continues to stay happy and balanced so that she can raise a healthy foal?

1. Maintain the recommended vaccination and deworming schedules.

The newborn foal derives his immediate immunity from the mare’s colostrum, which means that keeping her up to date on vaccinations is imperative for the health of both mare and foal. You will already be vaccinating the mare throughout her pregnancy, but one month prior to foaling, the mare should receive additional vaccinations. Recommendations may vary by region, so be sure to discuss them with your vet ahead of time.

Likewise, you have already been following deworming protocols, but pregnant mares should also be dewormed again, both prior to and a few days after foaling to reduce the risk of parasite transmission. Speak to your veterinarian to establish a plan that is right for you and your breeding operation.

2. Prepare the foaling stall.

Move your mare into her foaling stall 4 to 6 weeks prior to her due date. If your broodmare has been living the high life out on pasture, give her plenty of time to adjust to her new environment to minimize stress. The foaling stall should be a minimum of 14’ x 14’ and should be clean and protected from inclement weather. The foaling stall should be bedded with straw 1 to 2 days prior to the due date (or when the mare is showing signs of impending foaling).

Straw is the ideal bedding choice for foaling since shavings are abrasive and can sometimes be sucked into the mare’s reproductive tract during birth, which may result in uterine infections and other problems. Once the birth process is complete, transitioning back to shavings is acceptable and is often beneficial for increased absorption of urine.

3. Focus on nutrition.

Not only do nutrient requirements increase during a mare’s third trimester, but they are also at their highest ever during lactation. To maintain the mare’s body condition and prepare her digestive tract for lactation, slowly and safely begin to increase her feed during the end of the second trimester or at the beginning of the third trimester. It is best to work with an equine nutritionist and veterinarian to ensure that your mare is receiving the appropriate levels of all required nutrients, including minerals and vitamins, which are vital for growing horses, too.

Additionally, during the last trimester and after foaling, the mare goes through more changes than usual. She is often moved to a new living situation, traveling to the vet, must give birth and is ultimately caring for a newborn foal. These changes are undoubtedly stressful and may negatively impact her gut microbiome.

Watch for any signs of colic in pregnant mares and consider supplementing with research-backed probiotics to protect your mare and mitigate any potential trouble.

4. Monitor the mare closely.

Once the mare has been moved into a foaling stall, hone your observation skills. While each mare is different, they often display signs prior to foaling, including:

• Waxing of the teats (1 to 4 days before foaling)
• The udder area filling with milk (2 to 4 weeks before foaling)
• Relaxation of the vulva and tailhead
• Restlessness or anxiousness
• Pacing
• Lying down and getting back up often or excessively

While there are always surprises, most mares will exhibit one or more of these signs. It is best to be present for the birth of the foal in case complications arise, so monitor as closely as possible. You may also consider investing in a foaling monitor to assist you. 

5. Ensure that the newborn foal receives the proper colostrum levels.

Once the foal is born, the first 24 hours of life are critically important to future health and wellness.

Foals are not born with a functioning immune system and require immediate immune assistance from the mare’s colostrum, or the first milk.

A foal’s digestive tract is only able to absorb the life-saving antibodies from colostrum for the first 8 to 12 hours after birth. If any issues arise with nursing, such as the mare not producing adequate colostrum or the foal being unable to nurse, contact your veterinarian as soon as possible, as failure of passive transfer can be fatal.

Luckily, most broodmares foal without complications, just as nature intended. However, these five safety precautions will help you support your mare and foal during these vulnerable stages of their lives. And remember, supporting your mare’s gut health can help prevent digestive complications associated with stress. That way, your mare can focus on her most important job at this time: raising a healthy foal.

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Ammonia concentration can have a direct effect on water quality, especially in ponds fed with high-protein aquafeed. Water quality management is one of the essential management tasks in aquaculture farming, and daily or routine water quality measurement and recording have become some of the critical success factors in ammonia control in aquaculture farming. When optimum water quality is being maintained,  the better the growth performance that the farmers will reap. Based on the water quality record, farmers can take necessary corrective actions to improve the pond water quality, including the application of some chemicals, probiotic or mechanical aerations or water exchange. The water quality parameters monitored depend primarily on the culture system and sensitivity of the aquatic animals to particular water quality parameters. Many parameters can directly affect ammonia’s toxicity.

Water quality parameters measured by most farms are:

• Dissolved oxygen (DO)
• pH
• Temperatures
• Total ammonia nitrogen
• Salinity

Effects of ammonia in pond aquaculture  

Among all the water quality parameters, ammonia is considered one of the toxic substances that requires more careful monitoring within the culture system, as it can cause stress and damage to gills and other tissues. Ammonia is a major waste product of aquatic animals, resulting from the breakdown of feed and other organic matter that is excreted into the water. Ammonia can occur in two forms: unionized form ammonia (UIA)(NH₃⁺) and ionized ammonia (NH₄). Unionized ammonia is toxic to fish and all aquatic animals, and its concentration can be elevated by increases in pH and temperature (Table 1). pH has a greater impact on ammonia toxicity compared to temperatures, so it is imperative to test pH while measuring the total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) level to understand the actual risk to aquatic animals.

Ammonia in water is dynamic during the day and throughout the whole culture period. Farmers seldom report cases of high mortality caused by high ammonia levels, but they cannot be ignored, as these hidden performance indicators could cause a severe financial loss. These consequences include:

• Reduced appetite
• Increased susceptibility to bacterial infections
• Reduced growth rate
• Poor feed conversion ratio (FCR)

Safe concentrations for long-term exposure are around 0.015–0.045 for coldwater species and about 0.05–0.15 for warm water and marine and shrimp. In the actual farming environment, aquatic animals are not usually exposed to extremely high ammonia levels for extended periods. Therefore, understanding and applying the safe concentration level for long-term exposure to ammonia would be the most practical approach for farmers. TAN must be kept low throughout the culture period to optimize the performance.

Table 1: LC50 concentration

(Bloyd 2018, reported the LC50 concentrations (concentrations required to kill 50% of test animals)

Managing ammonia in pond aquaculture

Using water testing kits is a well-established standard practice for measuring the TAN at farm level. This is a process completed once per week. However, common misunderstandings on the control of ammonia, and management practice requires further attention and clarification. Practically, measuring ammonia only once a week should be sufficient. But, bear in mind that where there is higher biomass (higher stocking density), or at the growing stage or near the harvest stage on the culture cycle where the feeding rate is high, there are possibilities of high nitrogen input into the system caused by uneaten feed and/or more feces from growing animals. Ideally, it is recommended to take a water sample and TAN test twice per week during the last phase of the growing stage or near the harvest stage. This helps in monitoring whether TAN is in the right range and managing the feeding rate accordingly. During the culture cycle, when the pond water plankton is not stable, allowing for a high fluctuation of pH in the pond water, the TAN testing should be applied to check the UIA level. UIA will increase along with the pH in pond water. It is essential to perform the TAN test along with a pH test for the most accurate results.  

There are several ways to rectify the high TAN in the waters:

• Water exchange is often the preferred choice if there is abundant clean and treated water available. However, high daily water exchange is not a sustainable practice, and it could lead to high-risk exposure to the pathogen, especially under the disease threat of surrounding farms.
• Increased aeration is believed to accelerate the diffusion of ammonia gas from pond water to the air. However, some research has shown that this can, in fact, increases ammonia concentration in intensive systems.
• Reduce feeding rate
• Routine application of probiotics in pond water could help. However, when there is an ammonia spike, this probiotic may not act rapidly enough to reduce the ammonia level.
• Zeolite (only applicable in freshwater).

How to reduce ammonia levels in fish ponds

In nature, the Yucca Schidigera plant grows in the desert. Its bioactive component can absorb or bind the ammonia found in water, reducing ammonia pollution (Figure 1). De-Odorase® from Alltech is a product containing yucca plant extract. Traditionally in agriculture, De-Odorase is added into animal feed to keep manure odor and ammonia at levels conducive to maintaining respiratory health. This creates a healthier environment, not only for the animal but also for the producer.

Figure 1: Yucca trees at Alltech Serdan, Mexico.

De-Odorase can be applied directly to the pond water in aquaculture to effectively reduce ammonia levels in the water with no adverse effect on the aquatic animal. This is widely accepted and considered as a safe product for aquaculture farmers, who can routinely apply it to the water to maintain safe ammonia levels. Local trials in Indonesia have demonstrated that De-Odorase to reduce the TAN in water within 1.5 hours, but also maintain this reduced level long-term (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Application of De-Odorase (0.3ppm) in Asian Seabass Hatchery

The correct dose and proper management practices are the essential elements in achieving lower TAN levels. The right dose of De-Odorase contains sufficient yucca extract to ensure the rapid binding of ammonia without delay. The correct application requires adding the right ratio of water with the Deodorase powder to create the correct volume of yucca solution to use in all areas of the pond. However, it is important to note that De-Odorase is not just a one-time solution for solving all issues relating to ammonia. It is equally crucial to improve management practices, such as reducing the feeding rate and turning on the aeration. If normal feeding is resumed before reaching a safe ammonia level, the levels will rise again. The uneaten feed, due to the reduced appetite of the aquatic animals induced by high ammonia levels, will contribute to bringing the ammonia back to the aqueous system.   

Prevention is always better than treatment, and this concept is applied to water quality management in aquaculture too. Maintaining a well-managed water quality maintenance program will ensure the ammonia levels are consistently at a safe level for the aquatic animals, while also providing a sustainable solution for long-term benefits. Optimal water quality parameters and their variations across the culture cycle should be understood, and a management action plan should be in place to achieve increased productivity.

To find out how to measure the ammonia levels on your farm, please email aquasolutions@alltech.com, and we will put you in touch with one of your local representatives.

While prebiotics and probiotics have been key additives in the pet food industry for several years now, the innovation of postbiotics seems to be a gut health game changer.

And while it may seem confusing to add a third gut health moderator to the mix, pet owners are more concerned with boosting their animals’ immune systems than ever before, warranting new technologies to improve pet gastrointestinal (GI) health.

As research grows in the field of postbiotics, it is safe to say that the newest member of the gut health family is here to stay, completing the holy trinity of the microbiome.

What are postbiotics?

Postbiotics are functional, metabolic by-products of gut fermentation. In other words, probiotics (i.e., the good bacteria in your gut) digest and utilize prebiotics (i.e., bacteria food), and the end result of that interaction is the release of postbiotics into the gut environment.

The name says it all: Postbiotics are “biotics” — a.k.a living organisms — that are produced “post,” or after, gut microbe interactions.

Postbiotics include compounds such as:

• Short-chain fatty acids
• Enzymes
• Vitamins
• Microbial cell fractions
• Organic acids

These compounds act in health-promoting ways, many of which have yet to be discovered.

In the pet digestive tract, the most notable postbiotics include acetate, propionate and butyrate. These three substances are classified as short-chain fatty acids, which are important sources of energy for the probiotic bacteria themselves, as well as for the epithelial cells that make up the gut lining.

Short-chain fatty acids are important because they work to optimize motility within the gastrointestinal tract and reduce inflammation, which is important for the prevention of any acute or chronic digestive condition. 

The pet gut microbiome

Research continues to find that the gut microbiome — in both humans and pets — is more complex than we originally thought.

Not only does the gastrointestinal tract play a role in virtually every function and system in the body, it also differs between individuals. The microbiome is dynamic and can change dramatically due to:

• Diet
• Stress level
• Age
• History of medication use

The gut microbiome is almost like an internal fingerprint, which means that digestive supplements will impact each animal in slightly varying ways.

That being said, research has found that the gut microbiomes of dogs and cats are very similar in composition and makeup — unless, of course, the animal is ill (Wernimont et al., 2020).

In dogs and cats with digestive disorders, such as chronic enteropathy and inflammatory bowel disease, the makeup of the gut microbiome has been shown to be significantly different in both its bacterial diversity and richness than the microbiomes of healthy pets (Minamoto et al., 2019; Garraway et al., 2018). 

For preventative reasons, probiotics are increasingly included in pet food ingredient lists and have been shown to assist in altering the populations of bacteria in the gut, shifting the GI tract from too many pathogenic bacteria to an abundance of good gut bacteria.

While probiotics are beneficial, their use can be controversial since probiotics are living organisms. This means that, from a technical standpoint, heat, food processing and storage limitations all pose significant challenges to the viability and stability of probiotics.

Prebiotics are selective ingredients that stimulate the growth of certain bacteria and, as a result, promote gut health. They are broad in scope, but the key here is that prebiotics are not alive, so they are less of a concern in terms of efficacy.

To put it more simply, pro- and prebiotics focus on altering the composition of the gut microbiome to prevent disease, while postbiotics are used for altering the function of the microbiome for overall good gut health.

Why use postbiotics in dog and cat food?

As research continues, what we know so far is that postbiotics positively affect signaling pathways within the GI tract. As metabolites, they interact with the bacteria in the gut, the gut itself and other body systems to trigger the immune system and promote whole body anti-inflammatory responses.

While the exact mechanisms through which postbiotics work have yet to be fully revealed, what is currently known about their wide range of immunomodulatory effects is good reason to include them in pet food (Wegh et al., 2019).

In summary

Postbiotics are heat-stable metabolites that deliver benefits straight to the GI tract.

All good things happen in threes! Protecting any dog’s or cat’s immune system and overall health is simple with the combination of research-backed probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics.

I want to learn more about pet nutrition.

'Tis the season to get pig barns ready for another cold winter. Another year is almost in the books, and there is no rest for pig farmers like you. Before more cold sets in and the snow piles up, there are many areas that need to be looked at to ensure that your pigs stay warm and your barn is ready for the winter.

In a recent webinar, swine experts Dr. Brett Ramirez, assistant professor at Iowa State University, and Dr. Leanne Brooks, swine nutritionist at Cape Fear Consulting, shared their tips and in-barn and in-feed strategies to help you prep your barn and pigs for the upcoming winter months.

How cold weather affects air quality and pig nutrition

The winter cold brings with it new sets of challenges both in your facilities and in the pigs themselves. One of the most common concerns as the weather gets colder is the potential spikes in diseases, such as PED and PRRS. Implementing sound biosecurity measures in your barn and adding feed intervention technologies are key to help reduce the risk of disease. However, barns closing for the winter also means that there needs to be a major emphasis on indoor air quality, as some of the main indoor pollutants, such as ammonia, can negatively impact your pigs and your barn employees. Cold stress in pigs increases the risk of reduced growth rates, health problems, poor reproductive performance and, overall, a diminished return for your animals. Making sure that these challenges don’t have the opportunity to peak during this season and ultimately affect your bottom line should be a major priority.

It is essential to look at different factors that affect air quality, including:

• Housing systems (individual vs. group)
• Ventilation and air exchange
• Season
• Stocking density
• Nutrition

Focusing on air quality and nutrition is key for getting barns ready for the winter. Some of the main pollutants in the barn are ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, methane, total and respirable dust, and airborne microorganisms. Together, these pollutants can have a negative impact on your animals, and major health and performance issues can arise if they are not mitigated.

How cold stress affects feed intake

One of the nutritional challenges that pigs face when experiencing cold stress is an increase in metabolic heat production, meaning they need more nutrients for maintenance, leaving less available nutrients for growth. To compensate for this, pigs increase their voluntary feed intake, which leads to poor feed conversion, greater input costs, diminished carcass quality and an overall negative effect on your bottom line.

Why does this happen? The thermoneutral zone for growing pigs is the zone where pigs are at their most comfortable and their most productive, making it easy for them to maintain their body temperature and perform at their optimal level (Figure 1). When the temperature decreases so much that it passes the pigs’ lower critical limit, pigs will experience cold stress. At temperatures under the lower critical limit, feed intake increases and average daily gain decreases.

(Iowa State University, Miller 2012)

What does ammonia have to do with it?

Ammonia is a dangerous gas produced during the breakdown of urea and is a major source of air contamination on swine farms that can negatively impact pig performance. Its harmful effects on pigs include:

• Reduced feed intake
• Decreased growth performance
• Increased risk of mortality
• Reduced sow reproductive performance

Ammonia is formed as excess nitrogen is excreted in urine and feces in the form of uric acid and urea. This becomes a major issue because cold stress affects the pig’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract and leads to poor nutrient intake and feed conversion. When a pig’s GI tract experiences stress, it cannot absorb nutrients properly, leading to vital nutrients being excreted in the waste.

In the webinar, Dr. Ramirez focused on ways to make sure your barn’s ventilation system is prepared for the cold weather and Dr. Brooks shared her nutritional strategies to combat cold stress in pigs. Below are some of their tips to help you prep your barn and your pigs for the winter.

7 tips to prep your barn for the winter

1. Check your ventilation system:

Static pressure is the driver of ventilation. Check the pressure difference between the inside of the room versus the outside, and make sure that your primary ventilation route (typically, your sidewall and ceiling inlets) are unrestricted. Remember that your doors should not be the primary inlet. Also, check for condensation and leakage, especially in older facilities. A leaky barn can’t be well ventilated in the winter. Adjust your ventilation system based on your environment and the animal feedback.

2. Not all fans are created equal:

It’s important to recognize that each fan should be treated differently — and a 24-inch fan in one barn might not have the same effect as a 24-inch fan in another barn. Different factors affect ventilation rates, so adjustments should be made accordingly. It’s also important to know what the maximum static pressure is in your facility. Also, as you start running your minimum ventilation fans more in the coming months, remember to consider your fan’s energy efficiency and the fan air-flow ratio.

3. Keep equipment clean: 

Severely cold temperatures make it extremely difficult to wash, clean and sanitize your equipment and facilities. Dirty shutters and restricted inlets can negatively impact flow rate, ventilation and air quality in the barn, which, in turn, leads to poor animal performance. Make sure to keep shutters, light traps, intakes and other items clean.

4. Fresh air distribution is critical:

Avoid dead zones or cold spots throughout the barn by making sure fresh air is distributed properly. The proper placement and operation of barn air inlets and the use of static pressure are key. Make sure to drive air through your designated inlets and not through cracks in the barn.

5. Insulate cold surfaces:

When possible, put material like insulated bubble wrap in front of cold curtains, unused hot weather fans, tunnel doors and other cold areas. This not only helps create a better seal, but it also provides insulating properties to keep cold surfaces that are not as well-insulated as a normal wall warmer for your pigs.

6. Make sure your barn is tightly sealed:

The importance of a tightly sealed barn cannot be stressed enough. If the barn is not tight, it will be difficult to ventilate. For example, if the barn has any leakage and/or cracks, fresh air will take the path of least resistance and will go through any major inlet available — and it’s usually not the inlet you intend or expect. The key is to take total control of how and where air enters your barn.

7. Make sure your controller settings are correct:

Remember to clean your temperature probes and ensure that they are positioned at the right spot (ex: not too close to the heater or an inlet, etc.). Ensure that you are measuring the right temperature at the right spot of your barn to help better control propane costs.

4 nutritional tips to reduce cold stress in pigs

1. Understand how the environment affects voluntary feed intake:

It is extremely important to understand how colder weather will affect feed intake in pigs. Adjusting the nutrient density of your pigs’ diet accordingly is key to making sure that the pigs are getting the nutrients they need for optimal performance as it gets colder. Keep in mind that a lot of your pigs’ diet requirements could be on a grams-per-day basis rather than just a percentage of the diet, so it’s important to know what they’re eating and what nutrients they’ll need as we move into colder weather.

2. Feed pigs ingredients with high heat increments:

Provide feed ingredients that, upon being digested by the pig, will result in more heat from the digestive process. This can be achieved by adjusting the amount of fiber in the diet. Fiber has a high increment of digestion, so feeding your pigs more fiber leads to pigs naturally producing more heat as they digest that fiber. However, be mindful of how fiber can impact carcass quality, as feeding high levels of fiber in finishing pigs can decrease carcass yield.

3. Reduce crude protein:

Reducing crude protein affects gases and the overall atmosphere in the barn, as the nitrogen that eventually causes ammonia comes from crude protein.

4. Reduce ammonia in pig barns through in-feed additives:

Yucca schigidera, which is the base of De-Odorase®, is a widely accepted additive that is scientifically proven to reduce ammonia and its harmful effects.

I would like to watch the webinar.

Newborn piglet care is a challenge on every farm. In the early stages of their lives, these young animals are more susceptible to health issues that would never affect older, more developed pigs. These challenges can come from all angles, as disease-causing organisms (such as bacteria, protozoa and viruses) are present in every part of the farm environment. From the sow to farm personnel, equipment, bedding and feed materials, there is no escape from these threats.

Even with the appropriate biosecurity measures in place, as piglets grow, they encounter other health-impacting sources. Changes in the diet, for example, can cause digestive disorders, manifested as diarrhea and failure to thrive and grow.

Due to the exposure to and consumption of external, potentially disease-bearing entities, such as water, feed and bedding, maintaining proper immunity is essential. Optimizing gut structures and microbial populations is vital for young animals, as it establishes the basis for their ongoing health and development. Piglets have very specific needs to establish good gut health and functions and to limit disease development. Providing the best gut health in young piglets can be achieved through various feeding interventions. Here are three crucial stages of developing good gut health in piglets to help put you on the right path.

1. Optimize colostrum from the sow

While in the womb, pigs benefit from the fully developed immune system of the sow. However, once born, piglets do not take any of these immunities along with them, essentially starting from scratch. To help encourage good gut health, the producer's task is to ensure that the newborn piglets have a good supply of immunoglobulins (Igs). These act as the first line of defense for young piglets, helping them to build their immune system to fight off the challenges they face in their environment. The best source of Igs is the colostrum supplied by the piglet’s mother, making it a crucial first step in optimizing gut health in piglets.

After the initial colostrum intake, piglet immunity status tends to diminish, making them more vulnerable to disease, which commonly manifests as:

• Diarrhea
• Dehydration
• Poor milk consumption

In addition, the switch from a milk-based diet to a grain-based diet at weaning means that their gut structures and microbial populations need to adapt quickly. This difficult period is referred to as the “weaning gap” in terms of health and immunity and occurs somewhere between 14–21 days of age.

To ensure that piglets continue to get the support they need and have a strong base to help them through the diet transition, the expression of Igs in the sow’s colostrum must be optimized. This can be achieved by including prebiotics and mannan-rich fractions (MRF) in sow gestation diets. Feeding trials (Spring et al., 2006) have shown that doing so increases the levels of all Igs in the colostrum and in the blood of the subsequent piglets that receive it.

2. Promote good gut health directly

As well as using them to optimize the mother’s colostrum, pre- and probiotics can be administered orally to piglets, promoting the development of the correct bacterial balances within the gut, establishing the best basis for future disease prevention, and maximizing health and growth.

Long-established research studying MRF has shown that it binds to the projections on the surface of disease-causing microbes, preventing them from attaching to the gut wall, which they need to do to reproduce, leading to harmless removal in feces. In addition, this binding activity interacts with the immune system in the gut, promoting faster responses to any disease threat. Multiple trials have shown that this activity of promoting better gut health increases feed intake, digestion and growth and improves feed conversion.

3. Use high-quality creep feeds

When piglets reach the age to begin weaning, creep feeding is introduced to prepare their digestive systems for the change in diet. This is another opportunity for the producer to bolster the young animal’s gut health by formulating creep feed with the best-quality raw materials, processed to maximize digestion and supplemented with proven feed ingredients. These can include:

• Nucleotides to facilitate gut tissue development
• Enzymes for maximum digestion
• Chelated minerals to ensure the best uptake and establish tissue mineral reserves during times of stress

These types of diets will ease the difficult period during weaning and will not compromise the gut environment, keeping disease at bay. Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and are essential for young animal development. They have been shown to significantly increase the growth of gut tissues and are important for repairing and preventing damage to the gut wall. A more robust gut structure is necessary to withstand the change from milk to grain-based feeds at weaning, when the erosion of essential structures (villi) for nutrient absorption can occur.

Seed, Feed, Weed

Over the last 40 years, Alltech has conducted extensive research studying gut health and has designed several gut health management programs that focus on supporting animal performance from birth by promoting favorable bacteria communities, building natural defenses and maximizing growth. The Seed, Feed, Weed (SFW) concept is one such program that is designed to modify the gut microbial population to establish favorable and more diverse microbial populations after birth. This program utilizes the advice above to help establish and maintain a beneficial and diverse gut microbiome in piglets. The SWF program supports gut health in piglets by:

• Seeding the gut with favorable organisms: It is vital to “seed” the intestine with the correct bacteria as soon as possible after birth. The first organisms to colonize the gut will determine the composition of the flora by creating the micro-environment necessary to establish a complex microbial community and optimal architectural development. With the right intestinal microflora now in place, piglets show improved early growth, feed conversion, uniformity and livability.  
• Feeding the favorable organisms: In addition to “seeding” the gut with the correct pioneer species, it is crucial to enhance the capacity of favorable organisms to colonize and rapidly dominate the microbial community in the small intestine. Once a beneficial microbial community and intestinal ecology is established, the villi will flourish. This step is critical for piglet health and feed efficiency because the healthier a piglet’s villi, the more efficiently nutrients will be absorbed.
• Weeding out the unfavorable microorganisms: The gut can also contain harmful pathogenic microbes (e.g., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli), which can damage the intestinal villi. It is, therefore, important to “weed them out” before they can attach to the gut lining and replicate enough to cause disease. By blocking the attachment mechanisms of unfavorable organisms with a type-1 fimbria blocker, their capacity to compete with the favorable organisms (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus) in the gut is reduced. Minimizing the gut’s exposure to these harmful microbes will help to improve the animal’s natural defenses and shorten its recovery time from disease.

Figure 1. The Seed, Feed, Weed concept is designed to modify the microbial population in the gut to establish favorable and more diverse microbial communities after birth.

Providing solutions for each step of the Seed, Feed, Weed process, Alltech offers a range of products for both the sow and their young that help to optimize piglet nutrition and support gut health and development. These include:

• Actigen^®
• NuPro^®
• Allsyme SSF^®
• Bioplex^®
• Sel-Plex^®
• Viligen™

As they start life, baby pigs are extremely vulnerable. Any change in their environment potentially exposes them to a whole new group of pathogens, which can limit their performance. Furthermore, as they mature over the weaning period, they are typically moved into new environments and exposed to other equipment, animals and people. Ensuring that the best gut health is established as early as possible is key to limiting disease, increasing health and welfare and maximizing growth. This is essential for the young piglet and helps to ensure optimal lifetime performance and profitability for producers in a sustainable manner. The use of gut health management programs will also play a pivotal role in helping producers work toward antibiotic- and ZnO-free production.

I'd like to learn more about pig nutrition.

Have you ever felt like your barn smelled worse than it reasonably should? We are not talking about normal animal smells — I mean, who doesn’t love the smell of sawdust and fresh hay?

No, we are talking about the notorious stench of dirty stalls, specifically from excess horse urine and ammonia. In some cases, this strong odor can stick around even after you have thoroughly cleaned your horse’s stall. I think it is safe to say that every horse owner has experienced what I am referring to at some point in their life.

But did you know that ammonia is more than just an unpleasant smell? Exposure to ammonia, depending on the level of severity, can have serious health consequences for both you and your horse, making horse stall management a critical part of any overall barn management plan.

What is ammonia?

Protein is an essential component of any equine diet, but when protein is overfed, the horse’s body expels it through feces or urine in the form of urea. The natural bacteria in the environment feed on this urea, which results in the production of ammonia gas.

Although ammonia is not visible to the human eye, it can be readily detected by more than just the human nose. Ammonia is a noxious gas that can cause burning sensations in the eyes, lungs and throat. It has also been known to make people feel nauseous and dizzy and can induce vomiting and increase mucus production and fluid levels in the lungs.

Overall, ammonia is classified as a highly hazardous gas and is something that should be taken seriously for both human and equine health.

How does ammonia affect my horse? 

If your eyes start to water after spending just 10 minutes cleaning a horse stall, you can bet that the ammonia gas is also affecting the stall resident. Ammonia is a caustic gas and can cause damage by burning the eyes and respiratory tissues. It may also be a contributing factor to inflammatory airway disease and, eventually, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Although the complete effects of ammonia are not yet known, it has even been linked to a negative effect on metabolic and reproductive hormones. 

Overall, high levels of ammonia negatively affect horses’ performance through its impact on the respiratory and immune systems.

What can I do to control ammonia levels? 

Luckily, you and your horse do not have to be victims to ammonia. The steps outlined below will help control odor in your barn and support better horse and human health:

1. Muck out horse stalls on a regular basis.

Remove any wet or soiled shavings, manure and urine piles at least once every day. If possible, muck stalls twice per day.

2. Ensure proper ventilation.

It is a good barn management practice to give each stall time to dry and “air out” without the horse present. Open any doors and windows, and do your best to enhance cross-ventilation with ceiling and aisle fans.

3. Design horse stalls for optimal drainage.

You may not have built your own barn, but even so, do your best to avoid letting urine pool or seep. Stall mats with gaps are perfect examples of places that urine — and, by default, ammonia — can hide. Invest in seamless stall mats and choose concrete floors, if possible, as wood and dirt stall floors are more likely to absorb urine. It is also wise to use more absorbent bedding to line the stall. Your bedding options will vary by region and location, but in general, straw is the least absorbent and should be avoided unless it is being used for a specific purpose, such as in a foaling stall. 

4. Dial-in nutrition.

As mentioned above, ammonia is a byproduct of protein. You want to feed your horse the correct amount of protein, but do not assume that more is better, as unused protein will result in increased ammonia production. An equine nutritionist or veterinarian will be able to help you determine your horse’s specific nutrient requirements.

5. Increase turnout time.

Horses need turnout for various reasons — and fresh air is a big one! Housing horses outside with adequate shelter permanently, or even for just part of the day, is a great management practice to increase overall health.

6. Look into unique solutions.

One of the most effective and cutting-edge solutions to your horse barn’s ammonia problems comes straight from the desert!

What does the desert have to do with my horse’s health?

De-Odorase^® is a completely sustainable product produced in Serdan, Mexico, from the native Yucca schidigera plant. This unique product contains compounds that have been proven to control odor from ammonia across several species.

De-Odorase^® can work on your farm in multiple ways:

1. When fed to the animal, it promotes protein digestion and metabolism, leading to less excreted urea in the waste.

2. When sprayed as a liquid in stalls before re-bedding, onto bedding already on stall floors or even into the air, De-Odorase^® binds ammonia, preventing noxious odors and related health problems.

You may not have guessed that the Mexican desert could play such a large role in your horse’s health, but De-Odorase^® — especially when combined with the management tips outlined above — can have a big impact.

Have a question or comment?

“A digitalized reality, where data is fed into the production cycle on a systematic basis, provides an opportunity to take a leading role in promoting efficiency and productivity,” said Dr. Ioannis Nengas, designation research director at Hellenic Center for Marine Research, during the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience, where he shared his insights on digital farming for the aquaculture industry growth.

Dr. Nengas opened his presentation with an interesting fact: “Aquaculture is currently the world's fastest-growing food industry and now accounts for the over 50% of the total global seafood supply.”

The global aquaculture industry is challenged with the responsibility of feeding a rapidly growing global population. As with other food production industries, aquaculture is finding ways to ensure food security by producing efficiently and sustainably.

Digital agriculture innovations — like drones, satellite images and sensor technology — have allowed new concepts to emerge, such as precision farming, smart farming and digital farming. These terms, despite often being used interchangeably, have different meanings:

• Precision agriculture is a technology-enabled approach to farming management that observes, measures, analyzes and optimizes the need of individual fields and crops.
• Smart farming is the application of information and communication technologies to optimize complex farm systems.
• Digital farming is creating value from data.

“Digital farming means to go beyond the mere presence and availability of data and create actionable intelligence and meaningful added value from such data,” explained Dr. Nengas. “Artificial intelligence is an example of this. Digital farming integrates both concepts: precision farming and smart farming.”

Dr. Nengas outlined seven digital farming technologies that will impact the present and future of the global aquaculture market, from Europe to Asia-Pacific to the Americas.

1. Digital feeding

CageEye, a decision-making tool, is using advanced hydroacoustic technology to monitor fish movement and environmental data with advanced machine learning algorithms. This is achieved by measuring fish density, speed and acceleration during feeding throughout the gates and visualizing this with real-time echogram images. Correlated with feeding patterns, these parameters offer unique insights into fish appetites.

“By understanding fish appetites, farmers can feed according to the fish nutritional needs,” said Dr. Nengas. “This results in more efficient feeding, increased fish growth and, ultimately, increased sustainable production, addressing the demand for more seafood directly.”

With this technology, CageEye claims to save up to 20% of feeding costs by reducing over-feeding.

2. Artificial intelligence

Using an artificial intelligence (AI) approach, Observed technologies also identifies behavioral changes in the fish during feeding. The system learns by using cameras to observe fish movements and to measure speed, acceleration and dispersion in the cage, tank or pond. It decides when to stop feeding or change the feeding rate according to fish appetites, ensuring optimal growth and feed utilization.

“Changes of behavior are not only related to feeding and appetite but also to diseases and injuries in fish,” noted Dr. Nengas.

The system can also detect early disease symptoms, which leads to a reduction in mortalities and antibiotic use, environmental protection and an overall improvement in farm management.

3. Computer vision

“The development of computer vision and deep learning promises to help reduce the human element while helping farmers enhance monitoring, adopt more efficient growth methods, increase yields and, ultimately, increase profit,” said Dr. Nengas.

To illustrate, he gave two examples:

• Stingray is a company that uses stereo camera vision, advanced software and targeted lasers for lice removal without causing any damage to the fish or the environment.
• Cermaq’s iFarm is using image recognition devices to bring fish health and welfare to a new level, as fish are individually monitored for growth, sea lice, disease, lesions and other issues.

“Overall, moving from mass to individual monitoring of the performance of fish will bring about multiple benefits by optimizing management, increasing growth rate and fish utilization, minimizing mortalities, and protecting the environment and profitability for the farmer,” said Dr. Nengas.

4. Smart sensing

Data from sensing technologies and underwater cameras can be uploaded to an online software tool, which the farm operator can view from their operation room, PC, tablet or smartphone.

“It allows operators to have a full view of the nutrition, health and environment of the species in the farm, enabling them to be proactive and take action before a situation becomes critical,” said Dr. Nengas.

aquaManager is an example of the kind of commercial analytics software used in aquaculture to centralize multiple sources of data on a single cloud-based platform. This mobile data application synchronizes with a live farm operations dashboard to provide real-time insights and predictive analytics.

5. Underwater drone data collectors

“Today, visual inspections conducted below the surface and the seabed are normally carried out by fixed-camera systems, divers or heavy ROVs,” explained Dr. Nengas. “While utilizing divers is expensive and represents significant risks, ROVs have traditionally been very costly and require extensive training to manage. On the other hand, fixed cameras have natural limitations when it comes to reach and flexibility. With the underwater drone, you have a mobile underwater camera, which allows you to carry out your own inspections whenever and wherever you want.”

Underwater drones help monitor off-surface farms and track environmental parameters such as pH, salinity, oxygen levels, turbidity and pollutants. Farm operators can check for mortalities in the cage, monitor feeding and inspect underwater cages for damage or net holes through the drones. Specialized drones can even repair nets.

6. Augmented reality

“Imagine a tool similar to Google Glass, where the farm manager can have all the information off its cage, pond or tank visually,” said Dr. Nengas as he explained how the U.S. Navy uses Divers Augmented Vision Display — a high-resolution sonar image superimposed onto a diver's visuals — and its significant implications for the ability to increase agriculture productivity.

For example, CSIRO, an Australian technology company, has developed a tool using augmented reality (AR) for shrimp farming management. The farmer will practically be able to visit the farm by looking at information related to the shrimp, like quantity, size, mortalities, feed quantities, FCR, health and real-time environmental parameters.

“The system would be an important tool for on-the-spot decision-making and management actions,” added Dr. Nengas.

7. Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) is being used by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to increase the next generation's interest in aquaculture and to train new employees in the industry. NTNU has developed an aquaculture simulator that uses VR for interested parties to virtually visit a fish farm. For example, the trainee can observe the sea cage, go underwater to understand fish behavior in certain culture conditions, feed the stock and see how fish behave when feeding.

The driving force of smart farming is the Internet of Things, also known as IoT.

“In the aquaculture industry, imagine an interconnected network of devices, sensors, computers, tanks, grading equipment, fish counters, pumps within a state-of-the-art fish farm communicating with each other, sending and uploading critical data to a central command station, providing the operator a complete view of the entire facility,” said Dr. Nengas. “This is the potential for IoT in fish farming.”

IoT enables the generation of a huge amount of data, which can be:

• Streamed to and stored safely in the cloud
• Analyzed and manipulated using big data tools
• Used in combination with science tools to detect and predict production parameters
• Referred to during important decision-making

“Sustainability through optimization is a benefit that we’re going to obtain with the use of these technologies,” concluded Dr. Nengas. “I do believe strongly that digital technologies will make the difference.”

I want to learn more about aquaculture nutrition and innovations.

In a recent study, the American Institute of Stress reported that 75% of today's employees believe that they have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. This stress has been amplified within the past year, especially for those in agriculture, as they have worked hard to maintain the global food supply chain. Padraic Gilligan of Gilligan’s Farm in Roscommon County, Ireland, joins us on the podcast to discuss some specific solutions he has implemented on his farm to de-stress his operation.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Padraic Gilligan hosted by Brian Lawless. Click below to hear the full audio.

Brian:           Welcome to AgFuture, presented by Alltech. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the global food supply chain and speak with experts working to support a Planet of Plenty.

                     Do you feel stress? Are there certain activities, either at work or at home, that bring up specific fears or concerns? In a recent study, the American Institute of Stress reported that 75% of today's employees believe that they have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. This may be from a multitude of sources, but it begs the question: How do we reduce stress at work, especially as work continues from one generation to the next?

                     Well, today, we have an extremely helpful episode of the Ag Future podcast. I'm Brian Lawless, North American brand manager at Alltech, and I'm joined by Padraic Gilligan of Gilligan's Farm. Gilligan's Farm is an award-winning lamb and beef operation in Ireland with its own farm store and many customers throughout Dublin and the world. But like many of us, they feel stress both personally and in their business — yet within their family business, they’ve found multiple ways to reduce stress, and it's making a big difference. The question is: How, specifically, can Padraic and Gilligan's Farm work to de-stress their operation? What has this meant for their business? How can we take these lessons and apply them to de-stress our own lives and work? Padraic, welcome to the AgFuture Podcast.

Padraic:        Thanks for having me. It's a great opportunity. Thanks very much.

Brian:           I'm excited to have you. Before we dive into the topic of stress, which we'll get to, you've built a really fascinating business. Can you tell us a bit of the history of Gilligan's Farm and your role within the business?

Padraic:        Yeah, I suppose. Gilligan's (has been) in operation for over a hundred years. My father started it back in 1911, and (it) has proceeded on over the years with stops and starts, good and bad. I reared animals on the farm. We have a great love for animals. When I sold animals, whether it be in a mart or factory, I always felt like — I like to sell myself to the public, to have a product that you could feel proud of. That's how I started the farm.

                     The stress part of it, it's been very stressful for the last six or seven months, especially with the COVID. It's very depressing for our farmers, especially here in Ireland — people who have been living on their own. The pubs are closed. We can't go for pints, and that has a big bearing on how people live and how they live their lives. People need to have fun along with work.

Brian:           Yeah. Obviously, not being able to have a bite with some friends is no fun. Talking about your farm, what changes has Gilligan's Farm implemented to manage some of these new stresses with COVID-19? What's changed for you guys?

Padraic:        What has changed? Lots of things have changed. With stress, animals are no different than humans. They get stressed. Our philosophy in that is to play music to the animals and to see them as well. With people, people have to have an outlet, have a bit of fun, try to lessen the stress factor of everyday living and just get them down. You have to open the drawer and deal with it and just close it and move on to the next drawer. That's how we are dealing with it — or my way of dealing with it.

Brian:           Yeah. I do want to touch on the music for animals here in a bit. I guess you started talking about the business that you had. Your father started the farm. You've taken it over, and we're now moving on to the third generation, which would be your son, Alan. It seems like the first way you've looked to de-stress your business is just to have a proper succession plan. I guess, maybe, give us a little insight (into) how you've been preparing or maybe removing the stress for your son, Alan, to take over the business, or as he's been taking over the business.

Padraic:        Well, I suppose it's funny. Look, if you're in business, it's stress-related. In the succession plan that I have to hand it all over to my son, which is — he's running the business and he has full control of it now. I'm taking a backseat. It's stressful for him because I have been in the business over the years, and of course, business has moved on. You have to be on top of it at all times to deal with it. He's probably saying sometimes, "Why would you let yourself in for all this huge workload?" In running a business — we have 22 people employed, and it takes management to do that. It is stressful, but you have to deal with it and not bring it home with you. Customers can be demanding. Ninety percent of them are very easy to deal with, and you've got the 10% that would be very finicky, and you have to deal with them as well. Do you know what I mean?

Brian:           Yeah. I feel like you've touched on two really important things. It seems like you've actively taken a transition in your own job responsibilities, where you're now saying, "Hey, I was the one managing the farm. Now, I'm actively the one taking the backseat." I would assume, for Alan, that's made a world of difference, that it's not now having two people in charge. There's been a transition of responsibilities within the business. Then the second thing that I think you touched on was, in some ways, not taking what you do in your family life during the day, during business hours, and taking it home with you. I feel that that can just add to stress, when you have the same people that you could be dealing with at work that you're then at home with, and you're taking that stress from one place to the next.

Padraic:        Absolutely. When you go home in the evening, you need to be chilled out. There's nothing better than listening to music or having a chat with the wife. All that is very important.

Brian:           Yeah, sometimes it is. It's just those simple things. Maybe moving on, to the second way of de-stressing a business, really focusing on this concept of educating your customers in a very clear way. Some consumers are conscious about where their food comes from, but many aren't. I think that even applies to cuts of meat and to the opportunities that could be available to chefs. Gilligan's Farm prides itself on top-quality meat. If I understand correctly, you are a supplier to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, and I read that you literally brought a lamb to him and showed him and his team the cuts. Now, I envision you walking into the restaurant with this entire lamb strapped to your back, but I'm guessing that's not the case. How did that relationship begin, and how did you educate Jamie and his team?

Padraic:        He's one of the guys that we deal with that's running a restaurant in Dublin. He's one of those people that is a perfectionist and really loves the products that we give him, and it's direct off the farm. He has a big thing about that. He said to me one day, "Would it be possible to take a lamb in here just to show the staff where all the cuts come from? We'd cook it and test it and we'll invite people in." I was meant to do it. Yeah, I thought it was a great idea. I brought the lamb and the saw and the knife and went to the restaurant. We had good fun. They found it very interesting. The staff then could relate to the customer of the lamb, where it came from, all the different cuts of the lamb, from the best to the worst. It's good education for people — especially people (who) live in the cities, (who) don’t understand animals.

Brian:           It seems like, within your business, there's this element of trust with the consumer. How important is consumer trust? How do you build that reputation and relationship with customers?

Padraic:        Well, it's funny you should say that. I find that fascinating, because when I deal with someone in a restaurant that's a Michelin-star restaurant, the first thing I'd say to them (is), "This is a marriage. This is going to be a marriage. You have trust in me, and I have trust in you." We take it from there, but I suppose you can bring in ten pieces of meat (that are) absolutely mouthwatering, and if you bring in the eleventh bit that's not as good, you're breaking the trust.

                     It's a matter of consistency in your product. You're not 100%, or there's nobody that's 100%, but you definitely have to be over 95% consistent with the product. That builds the trust. As the customer, when you have a meal or have a steak and you say, "Yeah, that was a lovely steak. Where did that come from?" All of that builds a relationship, and that's what you should be looking for.

                     To produce such a high-quality product is vital. I suppose Pearse Lyons was very fond of — when he'd come to Ireland, he'd always buy our meat for his conferences. That's how I got to know Alltech. Alltech has done huge work for us here on the farm. They are always at the end of the phone and would advise on different ways to treat animals, the feed for animals and all that. All that's important. All that is the link in the chain to the end customer. Does that make sense?

Brian:           Yeah. Speaking about links in the chain, I know Dr. Lyons was famous for wanting to (be able to) cut steaks with a spoon. Were you the man behind wanting to cut steaks with a spoon?

Padraic:        Yes, I am. To be truthful about it, there was a video here on the farm going back a number of years ago. They wanted me to cook a steak at seven o'clock in the morning. I said, “Yeah, we better cook it in the house.” I got my wife up anyway. My wife said she's not taking any part in cooking the steak, but I proceeded to cook it anyway. I was thinking to myself, “Well, how can I make this different?” I just got the brainwave: “Would it be possible to cut a steak with a spoon?” I tried it and it worked. I said, “Yeah, let's go for it.” It's on the video, cutting a steak with a spoon. That is, I suppose, a reflection on the product that we have. Tender and tasty, I suppose, is the slogan that we always used.

Brian:           Yeah, and Dr. Lyons was famous — he took that back to the U.S., and the late Dr. Pearse Lyons would show the quality of the steak by cutting it with a spoon. That's amazing.

                     Let's move into the third way to de-stress your business. You kind of touched on this a little bit when you talked about the animals and the music and just this theme of keeping your business fun and productive at the same time. I guess maybe my first question is — so, it's true that you constantly play music around the farm, and it's for the animals?

Padraic:        Yeah. We have a system in the farm to play the music. I suppose it goes back to animals being stressed. Animals can get spooked or stressed very easily. It's all about not stressing animals, and this is why I started playing music to them. My mother, when she'd be milking the cows years ago, when I was a kid, she'd milk the cows by hand, and she'd always sing to the cows, and they'd always give more milk, so I said, “Why not play music to the animals?” We started playing music to animals, I suppose, maybe 15 years ago.

                     There are particular songs that we play to them. Percy French was the greatest Roscommon man, a great Irishman, and he wrote lots of songs. Some of them would be "The Mountains of Mourne" and "McBreen's Heifer," all those. The lyrics in all those songs are absolutely class and really becoming of playing music to the animals. If you Google "Percy French," Brendan O'Dowda sang his songs. He has a lovely, soft voice, and animals really love it. It's amazing. We use it here in the abattoir when the animals are being slaughtered. We play the same music to them in the abattoir here, which is adjacent to the farm. The abattoir is on the farm. We have full facilities on the farm to do from slaughter to dispatch in whatever form the customer wants it. It really adds to, I suppose, the stress levels in the meat.

Brian:           Yeah. I peeked on the music charts in Ireland and there was one artist, Dermot Kennedy, that was very popular. There are also a bunch of global stars, like Justin Bieber, that are on the Irish charts right now. Have you found any music that the cows and the lambs do not like?

Padraic:        I suppose we just have this Brendan O'Dowda, Percy French's songs with Brendan O'Dowda, and it just continuously plays. There are about maybe 20 songs in the list, and they just keep playing. I suppose the animals get familiar with the sounds and the different — the voice is the same with Brendan O'Dowda. I wouldn't like to be changing to different artists because their voices can be sharp or different. I feel that the animals wouldn't get as attached to it, if you know what I mean. It's a particular type of music.

                     Now, young people might say, "You're silly. This is not for real," but it is actually. It is. We had RT on the farm here and we were slaughtering the animals, and they couldn't get over the animals, how relaxed they were in the abattoir just before they were killed. There was no stress. It's completely different. It's amazing. Over a period of months, they're familiar with it and it's not spooking them.

Brian:           Yeah, and it seems like this is something that has bled all the way into your relationships with the consumers and your customers, that there needs to be consistency of the final quality of the product and there needs to be consistency in the music or the rhythms for the animals themselves, to keep that going from beginning to end.

Padraic:        Absolutely. If I brought in different music, like rock music or whatever, it would spook the animals. It wouldn't be common for them.

Brian:           Yeah. Moving on to the fourth way to de-stress your business, it really revolves around taking care of your environment and, really, the whole supply chain. We know customers would like to be conscious of where their food comes from and not only how the animals are treated but the environment and how it can impact them. That's going to be a big challenge, and it's going to continue to be a big challenge, but I understand that Gilligan's Farm aims to be carbon neutral within ten years. Can you tell us a little bit about the plan? And probably just more importantly, why does this matter to you?

Padraic:        Well, it matters. I have grandchildren, and I'd love to see them in (the) environments where I grew up, going back 70 years ago, where things on farms were very simple. For instance, if you go out and plough the land, you can see the worms. They're there visually. You can see them in the ground. I feel, over the years, that was lost with different ways of getting rid of slurry and all that, spreading those in the wrong times of the year, when the worms are, I suppose, coming up in the springtime of the year now.

                     I remember, going back years and years ago, when slurry was a new thing, and when you spread it, you'd see seagulls in the field the following morning. My God, it's an awful sight to see, because you have worms killed by the thousands, which is frightening, really. I suppose, over the years, we always used straw bedding for animals. We're bringing that back out on the land, and it's actually good for the nutrients and it's good for the clay and to bring the worms back. If we plough a field now, we see hundreds of worms in a small area. It's very rewarding when you see that.

                     I suppose, going back to your point, the environment has to be minded, especially now, because with the climate, it has really changed in Ireland. We're getting periods of really dry weather and periods of really wet weather, and that is very stressful — especially on farmers with crops, saving crops and all that. So, we have to respect the environment. We have a program now where we grow trees, hectares and hectares of trees, to enhance the carbon.

Brian:           Yeah, so looking at the concept of how do we make sure we have nutrients in the soil, how do we make sure that we have even the basics, like worms in the soil, but then how do we look at things like planting trees and revitalizing or keeping carbon at the forefront of what's going on.

I really like what you said previously, though, because I think it wraps into this concept of succession that you're thinking of — "Hey, when I have my grandkids and my great-grandkids, I want to make sure the land works well for them." That's almost the first step in a succession plan where you're helping out your son, Alan, in his taking over of the business.

Padraic:        The land will always be there to feed the people, and to have it in good shape, I think, is very important.

Brian:           Yup. Finally, bringing this all to a close, I've been on your website. It's a beautiful website, by the way. The meat looks delicious. I saw just some of the cuts on there. It looks amazing. What website do people need to get to to buy the meat? How do they get access to this?

Padraic:        We have a click-and-collect. We also do a door-to-door delivery in Dublin. We started this about six months ago, when the lockdown came. People in Dublin would be ringing and wondering could they get meat, so we started this online shop. It's actually very successful. Our biggest problem is deliveries. I'd be a stickler on doing the job ourselves, so we deliver ourselves. I know it's time-consuming, but when people order meat and they pay for it online, we deliver to them, and we make sure that they get it when they're supposed to get it.

Brian:           Yeah. That's fantastic. Well, the website, I see here, is gilligansfarm.ie. You guys do deliver. You accept payment online. You do have an in-person store, but yeah, the challenge of delivery. COVID, in some ways, has really challenged us to be innovative, and it sounds like you guys are quickly adapting to the times and finding it challenging.

Padraic:        You just have to change with the times. People like Jamie Oliver in Dublin — we supply Chapter One, all those places where people would be going there to eat, (and) all those restaurants were closed. Suddenly, those people that love our meat were ringing, wondering: where could they get it? This is how that started.

Brian:           If there's an additional point of ways to de-stress, it certainly would be (to) change with the times. Be flexible. To sum up some of the things I've heard, I've heard, really, four specific ways to de-stress your business. The first would be have a succession plan, eliminating the fears of, "Does this all depend on me? What happens after I leave the business?" And you've put in that place with Alan, currently. The second thing seems to be (to) educate your customers clearly. If that means bringing the product to them, making sure they understand the value of it and how to handle it — particularly chefs and cooks — that's very important.

                     From the music end of things, the third way I heard to de-stress the business was keep your business fun and productive. It eliminates the concern of burnout. It keeps the animals consistent every day and keeps that consistent all the way from the farm to the fork, at the forefront of what's being done. Last but not least, de-stressing the business by taking care of your environment in the supply chain. You're just addressing concerns of, "Will there be enough resources? Can I look for my grandkids and great-grandkids to still have a good environment?" And just being part of the solution and not the problem.

Padraic:        Yeah, that's it. Just play your part as you go along. That's it.

Brian:           Padraic, you've given us a ton to think through. Really, I've been fascinated to talk to you and hear more about your business. Padraic, thank you for being on the AgFuture podcast.

Padraic:        Thank you very much, and thank you for having us. It's a pleasure.

Brian:           This has been Ag Future, presented by Alltech. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to Ag Future wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode.