Caesar & Jones Ltd joins as Anco FIT distributor for Nigeria

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ANCO is expanding its business to Nigeria with the company Caesar & Jones as distributor for Anco FIT products.

Dr Jones Okoye, Managing director at Caesar & Jones Ltd comments: “I look forward to introducing the Anco FIT product range to Nigeria. The products are based on an exciting new concept and we feel it will help to support competitive animal production in Nigeria.”

About Caesar & Jones Ltd

Caesar & Jones is a consultancy and distribution firm focusing on animal farming services and marketing of animal feed additives to feed manufacturers in Nigeria.

www.caesarjones.com

About Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the largest livestock-raising countries in Africa. The country’s cattle herds are estimated at over 16 million head. Cattle raising in Nigeria is largely supplemented by short-cycle livestock operations, estimated at 33.8 million head of sheep and 175 million poultry birds.
The strong rise in demand for animal products is due not only to the high rate of urbanisation (60% of Nigerians are city dwellers), but also to consumers’ greater purchasing power and the emergence of a new middle class.

At the same time, more and more consumers in Nigeria want healthier meat from regulated slaughterhouses. Some industrial meat companies are now segmenting the market, selling frozen meat packaged in individual portions. Some instances of value chain integration are developing as the sector evolves, with a few companies processing meat in their own slaughterhouses supplied by their own networks of producers. Although this last segment is growing, it still accounts for less than 10% of the overall meat product market.

One additional incentive for proper silage management

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There are many factors mentioned in textbooks, which you can control to maximize the quality of your corn silage with proper silage management. The timing and conditions at harvesting corn silage as well as minimizing the exposure of silage to oxygen during storage to avoid spoilage are crucial to for the nutritional value of the silage to the dairy cow.

What the textbooks don’t tell you is that a lot of those factors can also contribute to the formation of mycotoxins if not practiced properly. Mycotoxins are produced under favourable conditions by certain types of moulds. However, the hidden danger can be that mycotoxins are present without clear visual signs of mould in the silage.

Quality of 2017 corn silage

Read about what you should know about 2017 corn silage here.

Symptoms for a mycotoxin challenge

Typical symptoms of a mycotoxin challenge in a dairy herd are:
• decreased feed intake,
• reduced milk and milk component yields,
• increase in somatic cell counts
• reduced reproductive performance, including decreased conception rates, increase in irregular heats and ovarian cysts.
• increased incidences of metabolic disorders such as ketosis, retained placentas, displaced abomasum

Providing those symptoms cannot be explained by other nutritional or management short-comings on the farm, the cause are most likely mycotoxins in the feed ration.

Economic impact

Subclinical mycotoxicoses decrease profitability by lowering milk production and quality while increasing expenses from inappropriate veterinary therapies.

So, the risk of mycotoxins is one more incentive for best practice at harvesting and storing corn silage.

Mycotoxins produced in corn silage

Mycotoxins can already accumulate in the crop prior to silage making during growth of the corn on the field and often will not be visible. This level of toxin can then continue to increase during poor harvest conditions and on into storage. The primary toxin producing fungi on corn in the field includes Fusarium.

Several mycotoxins of concern are produced by Fusarium and include:

deoxynivalenol (DON),

zearalenone

and T-2 toxin.

Zearalenone is a mycotoxin, which can cause fertility problems after its ingestion due to its structure being very similar to the hormone oestrogen. DON can have a negative impact on rumen efficiency and hence on milk solid yields. Read more about DON in dairy cows in the following link  How cows can adapt to DON

Frost increases risk of mycotoxins in silage

Corn silage harvested after frost is at even greater risk of toxin contamination. When the corn is chopped and placed in a silo, the frosted and now drier silage is difficult to pack properly. The oxygen level in the silo takes longer to deplete during tilling and the fungus can continue to grow and produce toxin for several days.

Mycotoxins in grass silage

Mycotoxins, such as zearalenone, have also been found in grass silage, however the levels are generally much lower than on corn silage (Driehus et al 2009)

 

Managing the risk of mycotoxins in silage

Pre-harvest events

While silage-making practices impact fungi and mycotoxin levels, environmental conditions likely have the largest impact Environmental conditions, such as excessive moisture, temperature extremes, drought conditions, insect damage, crop systems and some agronomic practices, can cause stress and predispose plants in the field to mould and determine the severity of mycotoxin contamination.

Despite progress made in prevention through breeding of resistant varieties and improvement in agronomic practices hazardous concentrations of mycotoxins may occur as a result of annual weather fluctuations.

Post-harvest management

Excellent silage management can reduce the incidence of mycotoxins. Prevention of mycotoxins in silage includes following accepted silage making practices aimed at preventing deterioration, primarily by quickly reducing pH and the elimination of oxygen (Figure 1 below). This decreases the growth of moulds and mycotoxin contamination.

Figure 1 The 3 major events that make good silage and factors that can affect silage fermentation
(Kung 2000, Tangni et al 2013)

silage management - anco

DM content

DM content of the forage can have major effects on the ensiling process via a number of different mechanisms.
1) Drier silages do not pack well and thus it is difficult to exclude all of the oxygen from the forage mass during the confection of the silo.

2) As the DM content increases, growth of lactic acid bacteria is inhibited and the rate and extent of fermentation is reduced.

3) If the forage is too moist and pH decline is not sufficient, clostridia, which ferment lactic to butyric acid and amino acids to ammonia, might become active. This process results in increases in pH and losses of silage DM content.

Rapid feed-out

When the silo is opened for feeding, oxygen becomes available to the front of the mass and the activity of the yeasts and molds, as a result of survival of fungal spores or a re-colonization of these microorganisms, could reduce aerobic stability of ensiled mass, thus favoring potentially toxigenic fungi development. Silo size should be matched to herd size to ensure daily removal of silage at a rate faster than deterioration. In warm weather, it is best to remove a foot of silage daily from the feeding face. The feeding face of silos should be cleanly cut and disturbed as little as possible to prevent aeration into the silage mass. Silage (or other wet feeds) should be fed immediately after removal from storage. Spoilage should not be fed and feed bunks should be cleaned regularly.

Silage Inoculants

As part of the best ensiling practices the use of an appropriate silage inoculant, depending on various conditions, should be considered.

Regular monitoring
Monitoring the forage quality during the preservation process is the only real way to assess the given situation.

 

References

Cheli et al 2013. Fungal populations and mycotoxins in silages: From occurrence to analysis 

Driehuis et al 2009. Occurrence of mycotoxins in maize, grass and wheat silage for dairy cattle in the 

Gallo et al 2015. Review on Mycotoxin Issues in Ruminants: Occurrence in Forages, Effects of Mycotoxin Ingestion on Health Status and Animal Performance and Practical Strategies to Counteract Their Negative Effects

Tangni E. K., Pussemier L. and Van Hove F. 2013, Mycotoxin Contaminating Maize and Grass Silages for Dairy Cattle Feeding: Current State and Challenges, J Anim Sci Adv 2013, 3(10): 492-511

 

Get more milk solids per day and start boosting your 2018 profits now

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Milk solid levels, such as protein and fat, are important factors in dairy herd management. Studies have indicated that many herds are producing milk solids below average for their market and their breed, which presents an opportunity to improve milk component production and income from milk sales.

There are many factors that can affect milk fat and protein, which can be manipulated for higher levels of milk components. Management of nutrition and feeding practices are most likely to quickly and dramatically alter production of milk fat and protein.

Nutritional strategies for high milk solid levels

Nutrition and feeding management are considered the best solutions to a milk fat or protein problem other than genetics. Milk fat depression can be alleviated within 7 to 21 days by changing the diet. Milk protein changes take at least 3 weeks or longer.

Any diet or management factors that affect rumen fermentation can change milk fat and protein levels. Reduction in rumen microbial protein production from nutrition or feeding management imbalances will reduce milk protein by way of less microbial protein for the cow to digest and depress fat by limiting volatile fatty acid (VFA) production in the rumen.

Benefits of feeding Anco FIT to dairy cows

Supplementing dairy rations with Anco FIT has been proven in research and field trials to increase milk protein and milk fat yields in dairy cows and thus increase profitability including the cost of the product in the dairy ration.

Figure 1 below shows the average improvement in milk fat and protein yields in 8 different dairy trials in 4 different countries (Austria, Germany, USA and Czech Republic). Breeds in the studied herds included Holstein, Simmental, Montbeliarde and Brown Swiss.

Increase in milk solid levels

average improvement in milk solid levels (%) with Anco FIT across 8 trials was

milk fat level (%): +4.55% increase
milk protein level (%): +2.43% increase

Increase in milk solid yields (Figure 1)

average improvement in milk solid yields with Anco FIT across 8 trials was
daily milk fat yield (kg): + 6.61 % increase with Anco FIT
daily milk protein yield (kg): +4.18% increase with Anco FIT

Economic benefit – $0.60/cow/day

With current prices (status USDA, 4th January 2018) for milk fat (2.49 $/lb) and milk protein (2.04 $/lb) for US dairy production this improvement in milk components when feeding Anco FIT would mean an increase of $0.60/cow/day in income from milk solids using average performance data of the dairy herds in the 8 trials featured below.

About Anco FIT

Anco FIT is a gut agility activator designed to empower dairy cows to cope with nutritional stress factors in a more efficient way and improve rumen fermentation, resulting in better milk quality and milk component yields

Find out more about Anco FIT in the following link: What is Anco FIT? 

More points to consider for 2018 profits on dairy farms

Milk Components: Understanding milk fat and protein variation in your dairy herd    learn more

Simple spreadsheet to calculate gross milk price for various milk solid levels   calculate milk prices

One additional incentive to proper silage management  learn more

3 things you should know about 2017 Corn silage learn more

 

Figure 1 Improvement in milk solid yields in response to Anco FIT in dairy cows

anco fit - dairy trials- milk solid yield

 

 

 

 

New scientific data for Anco FIT Poultry at IPPE 2018

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Anco FIT Poultry is a Gut Agility  activator and designed for competitive poultry production for antibiotic reduction in poultry diets. The unique gut agility concept in Anco FIT empowers animals to adapt to nutritional stress factors efficiently.

As part of a series of scientific product evaluation trials, Anco FIT Poultry was tested for its efficacy and some of the underlying mechanisms for mode of action at the University of Athens in Greece.

Dr. Kostas Mountzouris, Associate Professor of Animal Nutritional Biotechnology Agricultural University of Athens in Greece, will be presenting the latest scientific findings with Anco FIT Poultry at the IPPE scientific forum in his paper: “Effects of dietary inclusion level of a phytogenic premix on broiler growth performance, nutrient digestibility, total antioxidant capacity and gene expression of antioxidant enzymes”.

The oral presentation of the scientific data will take place in the METABOLISM & NUTRITION – FEED ADDITIVES session on Tuesday 1/30/2018 9:45 AM in B314 of the Georgia World Congress Center.

Find out how Anco FIT Poultry can benefit profitable and safe poultry production. Take the next step towards a more agile operation to maintain a competitive edge.

Anco booth at IPPE: C3305 interactive floorplan

Read more about the Anco booth at IPPE here.

About Anco

Anco Animal Nutrition Competence GmbH is a feed additive business acting globally to support competitive animal production with cost-effective feed solutions, including solutions for antibiotic-free feeding.