NOVUS International, Inc., recently launched its new Scale Up Program for Grow-Finishers, for swine producers in the Americas aiming to maximize economic return.
The program aims to help pork producers improve feed conversion ratio and support performance in a sustainable manner, says Marcela Garcia, NOVUS swine solutions senior manager.
“With feed costs cutting into profits, it’s vital for producers to identify nutritional solutions that go beyond what is expected to maximize their return,” Garcia says in the release. “NOVUS offers solutions that are made of more and producers can see the results in their grow-finishers.”
The company’s product, MINTREX Cu bis-chelated trace mineral, serves as a key tool in the program, notes the release, as the copper in the product is bound to hydroxy analogue of methionine, HMTBa, a precursor to L-methionine. This makes the additive less susceptible to antagonisms throughout the gastrointestinal tract, allowing more mineral to reach the site of absorption in the gut while also supplying a source of essential amino acids. This unique makeup is shown to lower feed conversion by 3 to 5 points over traditional inorganic copper sources, explains the release.
“With MINTREX Cu, we see over $1.00 per pig return on an adjusted feed conversion ratio (FCR) and over $2.00 per pig return on a closeout basis,” says Brad Lawrence, Ph.D., NOVUS senior technical services manager. “We have also observed 0.5 to 1.0 percentage points fewer removals. This translates to 5 to 10 more pigs marketed per 1,000 pigs placed.”
Additionally, the release says MINTREX Cu can be supplemented at 50 ppm vs 150 ppm from TBBC while seeing the same or improved performance, while resulting in 60% less copper excreted simply from the lower inclusion rate.
Lawrence also notes, “Feeding MINTREX Cu at a significantly reduced rate than inorganic sources means feeding up to 650 fewer pounds of elemental copper per 10,000 pigs marketed. The 4 points lower feed conversion that has been observed equates to 45 tons less feed per 10,000 pigs or about two truckloads.”
The company’s product, ACTIVATE DA, may also help producers looking to further improve FCR in grow-finishers, the release adds. This nutritional feed acid, a proprietary blend of organic acids that supports pig health, may be feed at two pounds per tone during the late-finish stage and has show to improve FCR by up to 9 points during the 200-pound-to-market period, says the release.
“ACTIVATE DA is a powerful tool that producers can use to improve late finishing performance,” Garcia says. “Along with supporting FCR, it is also shown to support weight gain in the last-finishing stage up to 3.7% and support survivability by 1%.”
More information on the Scale Up Program for Grow-Finishers can be found on the NOVUS website.
