Farmscape for April 18, 2018

An Extension Swine Specialist with Kansa State University encourages pork producers to be continuously evaluating and revaluating the effectiveness of feed additives.
Feed additives are any ingredient added to the diet meant' to improve animal health and growth that do not directly meet the nutritional needs of the animal including such things as probiotics, prebiotics, phytogenics and others.
Dr. Joel DeRouchey, an Extension Swine Specialist with Kansa State University, says there is a broad range of classifications of feed additives available and the level of producer confidence in these products will vary, especially in cases where the data is mixed.

Clip-Dr. Joel DeRouchey-Kansa State University:
It's very important from the standpoint, any time we put something in the diet it costs money and we have to determine if we're going to get a return or not.
Really the way to do that is you have to have confidence in the product.
Many companies have their internal data, they often times have their own research facilities which is a very good way to help generate information but also then it's getting third party verification in different environments in different circumstances.
It's not that you don't trust the research that comes from the companies that are producing the product because they have a vested interest in providing quality data.
But not all feed additives may work in every situation so getting other universities, getting especially commercial validation becomes very important.
If the producer is large enough that they have multiple barns, some will do every other barn and rotate that type of feed additive for a minimum of 10 turns as an example to develop a good average over time and then make an educated decision based on information in their own facility.

Dr. DeRouchey says new products are continuously being developed to bring value and their use is driven by profitability
He says the bottom line for producers is to evaluate and revaluate every type of feed additive they use to ensure they are getting ongoing value for their investments.
For farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork