Page 18 - APN July 2017

Page 18 – Australian Pork Newspaper, July 2017
www.porknews.com.au
Alltech opens new premises at Bendigo
ALLTECH recently relocated its Victorian operations base to a new site in Bendigo af- ter outgrowing the old location.
The new ‘strategic hub’ is almost three times the size of the previous opera- tion, at 2700sq m.
As well as housing tonnes of feed ingredients, the new warehouse also plays host to a number of KEENAN mixer wagons and a variety of equip- ment after KEENAN was acquired by Alltech in 2016.
The Bendigo base will be a great resource for both farmer and group training sessions and will be a hive of activity mov- ing forwards.
About Alltech
Founded in 1980 by Irish entrepreneur and scientist Dr Pearse Lyons, Alltech discovers and delivers solutions for the sustain- able nutrition of plants, animals and people.
With more than 100 manufacturing sites glob- ally, Alltech is a leading producer and processor of
yeast and organic trace minerals, and the com- pany’s flagship algae pro- duction facility in Ken- tucky is one of only two of its kind in the world.
Alltech’s guiding ACE principle seeks to develop solutions that are safe for the animal, consumer and the environment.
More than 5000 Alltech team members worldwide put this knowledge to work every day for cus- tomers.
Alltech is a family owned company, which allows it to adapt quickly to emerging customer needs and stay focused on advanced innovation.
Headquartered just out- side Lexington, Kentucky, US, Alltech has a strong presence in all regions of the world.
For further information, visit www.alltech.com/ news
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Pig Farm Perspective
by Bruce the brainy pig
OF late, the Europe- an and US pig indus- tries have been fo- cused on improving air quality within weaner spaces.
After all, ventila- tion and air quality for weaners plays a vital role in the health and growth of pigs.
Recently, a number of dust-reduction units, known as electrostatic particle ionisation sys- tems, have been uti- lised in an attempt to reduce the dust and pathogen concentra- tion in the air of wean- er spaces.
The EPI consists of a charged line that releas- es trillions of negative ions per second.
These ions collide with particles (dust, pathogens and so on) in the air, which causes the particles to act like magnets.
The particles then stick to each other and the shed surfaces, re- ducing the airborne dust
and pathogen concen- tration.
Both vets and re- searchers have found there is both an ani- mal health and produc- tion improvement and an improvement in the air quality for staff on farms that have utilised EPIs.
The immediate meth- od of reducing the con- centration of airborne diseases (such as myco- plasma and influenza) is through decreasing the dust levels within a shed.
This can be achieved via a number of meth- ods including controlled ventilation, use of pel- leted feeds over mash, and use of water or oil to dampen surfaces.
An EPI is another tool we can use to reduce dust and pathogen con- centration in the air.
Previous research on commercial US farms has found the use of EPIs can increase aver- age daily gain by 2.2
percent and can de- crease mortality by 1.2 percent in pigs from weaning to finishing.
A further follow-up study by the University of Minnesota assessed the reduction in cer- tain pathogens (such as PRRS, influenza and PED).
This study found that 99.36 percent of PRRS particles were removed from the air with the use of an EPI, followed by influenza (82.18 per- cent) and PED (72.5 percent).
In addition, between 76 and 80 percent of dust particles were also removed from the air, further improving air quality.
In an era of increased focus on antibiotic us- age,anEPIcanbea further tool to reduce sickness and mortality, decrease antibiotic us- age and increase growth of pigs through im- proved air quality from wean to finish.