Issues Latest content from FeedMagazine/Kraftfutter

The conditions in the compound feed mill, transport vesel and feed trough can be very stressful for additives. Temperature, pressure, humidity, vibration and other influences are involved when an additive does not have the effect it should have. This has to be taken into account in development and formulation if the compound feed producer and the livestock farmer are to be satisfied with a product and the return on investment makes it economical to use.

Once again, a year tends to come to an end. A special year of pandemic, event cancellations, accelerated changes in nutritional behaviour, the appearance of ASF in Germany and a decline in European compound feed production. For the coming year, the main hope lies in the end of the pandemic and its negative consequences but also in an improved environment for the feed industry. But some trends are likely to remain irreversible.

Research and development is driven by many small and big ideas. Not holding on to what has been achieved, but searching for and going new ways brings marketable innovations. The results from the R+D departments presented in this issue focus on healthy animals with high performance. A lot of hard work is put into the conservation of resources by adapting them to the conditions in the digestive tract, which often relieves the strain on the metabolism and reduces the burden of nutrition.

Special feeds often require special techniques. Both are given special consideration in this issue. Encapsulation, carry-over control and special additives allow the production of special mineral feeds, feeds with immunity-enhancing properties and the supply of trace elements. Here a close interlocking of nutritional knowledge and technology is required.

Special feeds often require special techniques. Both are given special consideration in this issue. Encapsulation, carry-over control and special additives allow the production of special mineral feeds, feeds with immunity-enhancing properties and the supply of trace elements. Here a close interlocking of nutritional knowledge and technology is required.

Especially in times of crisis, it becomes clear that extensive economic activity is not automatically sustainable. Particularly in feeding, it is clear that the path to greater sustainability is closely linked to increased efficiency. High productivity with low resource use is not a requirement that is only economically necessary.

With regard to the future direction of the feed industry, we dare to take a look at the technical equipment of the plants despite current constraints. Special emphasis is placed on the structure of the feed, which can be used to achieve significant progress in animal nutrition. As many industry events have been and will be cancelled or postponed, we won‘t published the usual list of planned events in this issue.

The tasks for which feed additives are used are changing and increasing. It is long ago since additives were only meant to improve livestock yield and performance. Safeguarding animal health is the basis and additional benefit here. But further tasks can and should be covered too. It is possible to influence animal behaviour so that cannibalism can be restricted. Reducing boar taint is another extended application.

What will it bring for the industry? Not only climate change and declining livestock numbers give us food for thought. Nutrient reduction and other measures to reduce emissions show ways of maintaining animal stocks. The threat of an outbreak of African Swine Fever continues and is even higher than it was before. This will probably bring the export markets for pork to a standstill.

The tasks to be performed by feed are becoming ever more extensive. They have long since involved more than simply satisfying the animal needs for supplies of the basic nutrients – carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Instead, aspects such as nutrient reduction without forfeiting any performance or health capacities and, animal welfare effects (tail-biting, feather-pecking) are expected and satisfied.

The tasks of feed have changed in the course of time. Starting with satiation of the livestock, coupled with support for the animal’s growth or performance, this was soon joined by a further essential task – use of substances that cannot be used for human diets. More recent tasks added to the agenda are health maintenance, reduction of excretions and support for animal-friendly husbandry systems – using raw materials from sustainable sources.

From the 12th to the 14th of June the Victam in Cologne shows innovations in the technology for compound feed production. Not only is the composition of feeds subject to considerable innovation pressure, but also the technical processing of raw materials and additives requires constant adaptation.

This year, the European compound feed industry association, Fefac, celebrates its 60th anniversary. Over the past 60 years, the compound feed industry has had to endure many crises, always supported by its strong representation in Brussels. And Fefac is able to withstand the trials of the time, recognizable by the Fefac Vision 2030 at the latest, in which problem areas to be identified are named at an early stage and solutions are pointed out and demanded.

The feed industry is an extremely innovative sector. Its innovative capacity grows with the challenges it faces. The current challenges are to promote the health status of high-performing animals and to reduce the nutrient elimination from intensive animal husbandry. Special solutions are also being developed for animal welfare. The industry may not rest on its laurels if animal production in Europe is to have a lasting future.

In November, the German Agricultural Society (DLG) again organized a successful trade fair with international weight, the EuroTier in Hanover, which was able to provide orientation for investment decisions not only to animal owners but also to upstream and downstream sectors. While livestock owners are keen to invest in the future, consumers are increasingly unsettled.

And the direction is right – as EuroTier will demonstrate in November. Animal welfare, sustainability and efficiency are the current buzzwords that keep on flaring up in animal housing construction and feeding. This not only responds to demands made by society, but also secures the future of the farms as well as upstream and downstream sectors.

Just as it is no longer possible to think of agriculture and food production without the feed industry, it takes a great deal of imagination to think of a feed industry without a strong association to represent it. The demands made by policy-makers, public authorities, quality control, the food retail trade, agricultural trade and consumers that all have to be taken into account in feed production are too complex. This is where 100 years of experience in the Feed Association are a strong asset.

Statutory requirements in the feed sector create on the one hand a fixed framework within which producers and developers can move. However, on the other hand they also restrict innovation when the limits are set too tightly. Especially in the case of feedstuffs for particular nutritional purposes (PNPs), balanced and sensitive regulation is important.

The feed industry is facing great expectations when it comes to keeping livestock healthy, farming in a way that conserves resources and preserves the environment, and makes possible efficient production of food of animal origin. These are issues which have preoccupied the compound feed industry for some time. Even so, the sector is more likely to be associated with problems in public perception than – more accurately – recognised as a problem solver.