October 14, 2008
Dutch cooperative launches new pig feed to improve feed efficiency
Dutch cooperative Cehave Landbouwbelang has introduced a new pig feed, Airline 2.0, which will improve feed efficiency and reduce excretion of minerals in the manure.
Airline 2.0 is made with raw materials that contain low, but highly absorbable phosphate and nitrogen, which reduces phosphate levels in the manure by 60 percent and nitrogen by 30 percent. Cehave uses a Wenger Universal Pellet Cooker for expanding the raw materials and adds extra fats and oils after cooking. This way the energy level of feed is increased and feed efficiency on pig farms can improve to 2.0.
Under Dutch laws, the lowering of mineral content of the manure twice as much can be spread on the fields without additional costs. Normally excess manure has to be removed from the farm against considerable costs. The use of special raw materials makes the feed more expensive than regular feeds. For starter feed, additional costs are GBP5/100 kg and for fatteners, the feed is GBP9/100 kg more expensive.
The feed cooperative with Airline 2.0 claims improvement of daily gain with 50 grams compared to standard feed. Total yield remains the same. Net-gain can be found in the lower phosphate and nitrogen excretion, which lowers manure disposal costs.
Cehave Landbouwbelangis a cooperative with approximately 5,500 Dutch members. They produce and market animal feed and animal feed ingredients, supplies business requisites to the crop and livestock sectors, and also collects grain in the Netherlands.