In general, there is plenty of cooperation between livestock farmers and animal feed manufacturers; both aiming for healthier animals. But there are also many secrets between agribusiness traders and feed manufacturers.
Much of this confidentiality revolves around raw materials, with many animal feed producers looking for competitive advantage from secret ingredients. As an industry which has seen a move from guano (as a source of phosphate) to mining rock phosphate, knows a thing or two about the power of information when it comes to sourcing raw materials.
The development of monocalcium phosphate as an animal feed additive, or the use of insect meal as a more sustainable protein source than fishmeal have all been (or likely will be) feed industry game-changers.
With this in mind, it is worthwhile for animal feed suppliers to stay up-to-date with the raw material research. Here therefore, are two of the latest ideas being trialled and tested in the (sometimes) crazy word of animal feed R&D.
Hemp as an Animal Feed Additive
While America’s legislators are busy removing prohibitions on the smoking of cannabis, some are also trialling the use of hemp as a raw material for animal feed.
At least this is the case in Colorado, where Governor John Hickenlooper recently signed a law to allow for a feasibility study for the use of hemp in feed products. At present, while hemp can be used as a raw material for human food, the US FDA prohibits its use in animal feed, seeing it as an ‘adulterating substance’.
As the industry journal WattAgNet reports, “The group that will lead the feasibility study will include a hemp producer, a hemp processor, a legal expert, a person from an institution of higher education who has studied hemp policy, a veterinarian and a livestock producer. The group is expected to reach its conclusions and make its recommendations by the end of 2017.”
In an interview, Hollis Glenn, technical services section chief for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, explained how, “The hemp industry understands the complexities of putting hemp into the food chain,” adding that, “[The study will] provide a resource to industry and consumers to understand the complexity of this issue.”
While agreeably the issue is complex, there are many who see the natural benefits of using a plant as a feed additive. Many ‘free the weed’ campaigners fought for the decriminalisation of cannabis based on numerous advantages, but not many would have suspected at the time that it would also lower animal feed prices.
Skittles as an Animal Feed Additive
The next secret ingredient for animal feed could be the fruity, coloured sweet Skittles; a registered trademark of Wrigley. Whilst the nutritional value of the sugary snack is uncertain, it seems that some farmers have already been feeding them to their livestock.
As the Independent newspaper reports, “The discovery was made public after a truck deposited hundreds of thousands of Skittles onto a rural road. All of them were in one colour and without the trademark ‘S’ on them.”
Following an investigation, the police found out that farmers had been feeding the Skittles to their livestock to avoid high corn prices.
As the report states, “Unknown to many, the practice has been going on for years, according to experts. Not only are Skittles cheaper than corn – especially when bought for a lower price because they are defective – they could even provide other benefits over traditional feed.”
While there was some outrage online at the unusual practice, feed experts have since come forward in defence of the feed raw material.
Joseph Watson, owner of United Livestock Commodities, told LiveScience in 2012 that feeding cows sweets “actually has a higher ratio of fat [than] actually feeding them straight corn”, and that it has “all the right nutrition”.
Similarly, John Waller, a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Tennessee, told the site that it was likely to be more environmentally friendly because it keeps “fat material” from simply going into landfill.
The practice of buying in defective or unneeded food to feed to animals goes back for decades. But it is thought to have picked up around 2012, when corn prices rocketed up and farmers needed a cheaper way of feeding their animals. But whether or not the practice will continue, when corn prices return to normal, remains to be seen.