Reillyblue, although the impact of heat stress on food animals...

Reillyblue, although the impact of heat stress on food animals isn’t something most of us are familiar with, animal health and feed companies certainly are. I’ve found numerous studies done and papers published just on the subject of heat stress in poultry, including looking at whether supplementation with Vitamin E can assist. The general consensus seems to be that it can.

Current supplementation guidelines already reflect this belief. One major global feed additive company suggests that Vitamin E supplementation for grower and finisher broilers should be increased from 50-100 mg/kg to 200mg/kg under heat stress conditions and if optimal meat quality is desired. I note that in this latest study, 10mg/kg of TPM was found to be the optimal dose under heat stress conditions.

Of course, whether TPM will have a role to play in feed additives will inevitably come down to cost/benefit. The key question is, even if its performance and health benefits are proven, can TPM be a cost competitive solution? Currently, we lack the specific details required to make that calculation and I suspect, as that is likely to be commercially sensitive information, that’s not about to change.

What we do know is that one of the first steps that Ross Murdoch took was to overhaul manufacturing to improve capacity and efficiency, lower COGs, improve margins and tighten quality. Not only was production capacity greatly improved, but COGS was reduced to 25% of what it was previously.

I believe that Ross Murdoch has run the numbers and is confident that the business case stacks up. Firstly, he has been upbeat about both animal health and the improvements in manufacturing efficiencies. Secondly, by my assessment, if results to date weren’t good enough or if the economic case failed to make sense, he would have scrapped the animal health division by now. But the continued willingness to fund the division, the ongoing studies and the animal health related patent filing and regulatory filings in both the US and EU suggest to me both ongoing commitment and optimism. My sense is that Ross Murdoch’s enthusiasm for the opportunity of TPM in animal health has only increased, rather than diminished with time.

Finally, I believe I’ve identified where this latest research on heat stress in broilers was completed. Consequently, I would expect that the results of this latest research would be recognised by a range of companies, specifically including Baiada, Inghams, Feedworks, DSM, Elanco, Evonik, Ridley and Zoetis.

I’m firmly with Kens on this. The naysayers will scoff, but I am of the strong opinion that TPM in animal health is being underestimated.