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Abstract:

Title: Increasing feed prices on the cost of production, what can you do?

Between August of 2006 and August of 2007 grain prices doubled in the EU.

Prices for corn, wheat, barley, triticale, soybean have jumped from an average price of around €120 per tonne during the summer 2006 to 200 €/tonne a year 2007, which represents an increase of almost 70% and more in some country s.

What can we expect for prices in 2008? The price of feed has rocketed from £150 a ton a few months ago to £235 today.

One of the possibilities is to reduce feed consumption but keep animal performance at an optimum. BIOMIN’s Natural Growth Promoters (NGPsTM) help to achieve these results. Acidifiers, phytogenics, probiotics, prebiotics and immune stimulants belong to the NGPsTM group. BIOMIN’s acidifier Biotronic® SE forte will demonstrate how improved diet utilization (better FCR) influences the cost savings. Several Natural Growth Promoters (NGP), including organic acids, probiotics, prebiotics, feed enzymes, phytogenics and immune-stimulating substances, have been evaluated for their potential to support animal health and to improve weight gain and feed efficiency in different categories of food-producing animals.

1. Organic acids may improve gastric proteolysis, inhibit the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria and, finally, increase growth performance.
2. Probiotics are live microorganisms that modify the gut microflora in a beneficial way, thereby inhibiting the attachment and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.
3. Prebiotics represent a specific substrate for intestinal microorganisms. These fermentable carbohydrates are not digestible by endogenous enzymes but they selectively stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria, thus promoting and maintaining a healthy gut microflora.
4. Feed enzymes are supplemented to the feed to increase digestibility of non-starch polysaccharides or phytate phosphorus, or to support the activity of endogenous proteolytic or amylolytic enzymes in young animals.
5. Due to aromatic properties, phytogenics originating from herbs, spices and other plants may stimulate feed intake in various animal species. Additionally, they have strong antimicrobial effects and, therefore, reduce the competition for nutrients between the host and its gut microflora.
6. Finally, immune-modulating agents may be used as a valuable tool to prevent infectious diseases by inducing immune response, particularly in times of stress, when the host immune system is constricted.

Conclusion

The feed additives like BIOMIN Natural Growth Promoters (NGP) entering the market are not only better, some of them seem to give added value to the end product as well, markedly improve FCR and other results help farmers to save money. The higher feed costs are the higher the benefit is due to the use of BIOMIN NGPsTM, which helps with more accurate budgeting and the negotiation of more competitive feed prices in the market.