Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Soybean Alternatives to Fish Meal for Weanling Pigs

New research indicates that fermented soybean meal and enzyme-treated soybean meal may replace fish meal in weanling pig diets.

"The price of fish meal has exploded and is causing producers to search for new options for weanling pig diets," said Hans H. Stein, University of Illinoi professor of animal sciences. "Pigs are traditionally fed diets containing relatively large amounts of animal proteins such as fish meal from weaning up to 40 pounds when they can digest traditional soybean meal."

The fermentation and enzyme treatment process helps remove some of the antigens found in traditional soybean meal and other compounds that are not easily digested by weanling pigs. Stein said these new sources of soybean meal may be the answer producers are looking for to keep costs down without sacrificing digestibility of important amino acids.

"In our study, we measured the digestibility of amino acids in these two new sources of soybean meal in comparison to fish meal, casein and soy protein isolate," Stein said. "We observed that enzyme-treated soybean meal has even better digestibility of amino acids than conventional soybean meal. It appears the enzyme treatment increases digestibility. Fermented soybean meal has the same digestibility as standard soybean meal, so we now know that fermentation doesn't reduce digestibility."

Stein said both fermented and enzyme-treated soybean meal products are readily available in the United States and are currently cheaper alternatives to fish meal.

"With the high cost of fish meal and concerns about its future availability, I believe these are two good options for weanling pig diets," Stein said. "They are comparable in digestibility to soy protein isolate, the gold standard protein source that is only used in human nutrition."

Source: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Protecting Horses in Extreme Weather

Provide warm water.
Provide warm water at least twice a day or use a water-heating unit if the horses drink from a common water source in a field. Make sure the heating units are working properly and no stray voltage is leaking into the water. If horses must drink cold water, they may not drink enough, which could contribute to impaction colic and dehydration.

Provide shelter.
Horses are generally well protected from the cold through the insulating hair coat and other aspects of their physiology. However, they need protection in extreme winter conditions of cold, blizzard, or wind. The insulating hair coat becomes significantly less effective when wet through, and horses should be sheltered from the cold when freezing rain is combined with cold weather.

Continued in... The Corral
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