Mycotoxins are hidden thieves on farms that hurt profit and performance; forgetting the myths and learning the facts was the headline of a recent series of meetings in western Canada by Alltech Canada.
Eric Guy the Manitoba and Saskatchewan Alltech feed additives representative said a big myth is farmers often treat a toxic feed binder as a cost but not as it should be preventative.
“They [the farmers] never see it as a good thing. Like it’s something you have to use sometimes, but you don’t want to.”
Guy’s goal is to help turn this mentality of a bad thing into a good thing and an opportunity.
The other is a misunderstanding where people think mycotoxins are a mold. That’s all they think. It’s interesting to learn that mycotoxin is the by-product of the mold created as a natural defence system. If something irritates or agitates the mold it secretes mycotoxins.
The next myth is a producer can’t find or smell anything. It’s not there; at best, there is only tiny mold. It’s probably no big deal.
“That’s true to a certain extent, but our research showed even a few mycotoxins that you’re potentially losing out. And the producers received that concept well with ensuing interesting conversation.”
Guy said several things happen. There are at least hundreds of mycotoxins all acting a little differently.
“Across the board, if you have mycotoxins, whether a nasty case or a not-so-big-a-deal case, you see a lot of decreases on the reproductive side. Semen count can decrease, testicular issues, just little subtle things.”
However, in the hog business, one, two, or even a three per cent decrease in profitability that’s a huge problem. In sows, mycotoxins cause abortions or stillborns, decrease litter sizes and lots of vomiting and leads to a decline in productivity and an increase in unproductive days, which costs money.
He said the recent meetings gave producers more tools to evaluate different products and which one fits their bill. There are a ‘million’ products on the market.
“To give them the tools to make their own
decisions to increase their profitability.”
When is the best time to test for toxins? First, don’t wait until the hot spot or symptoms appear in the grain because from harvest to feeding can be any length of time. Once a sow aborts a piglet after feeding the feed batch, it is too late.
“The Alltech program uses proactive solutions with a recent strategy to feed our product at lower inclusions at less cost for the producer. We redid our formulas to produce a just as effective product but fed at half the rate, so half the cost.”
Looking to prevent is the goal of Alltech’s product Integral because the science behind it is that once the grain has mycotoxins it’s impossible to rid of the same.
“You can do things to mitigate them by binding, clean grains to reduce them, but you can’t 100 per cent get rid of them. So when being reactive, you’re behind.”
With the rainfall this year, there is a high likelihood of more molds and toxins. Doing a complete financial breakdown twice even with low toxins, the math shows across the board, across species, it is a profitable decision to use low inclusions as a preventative insurance policy program even without huge issues.
While every company’s product is different, Guy said the application of Alltech’s product and many others would go in as a feed additive in the mill.
“Producers with their mills have a micro box and add in complete feeds. Sometimes it goes into premixes, but not usually. It’s usually added after, on the farm.”
Guy visits the farm with the person in charge to test their grains right before them.
“Here’s what you’re looking at. If you play poker, you need to know what your cards are. You can’t deal with the problem if you don’t know what it is.”
Not to sell the product upfront but to test the grains and feeds. Then, knowing what the problem is or if there’s a problem, he can make a good decision.
“Sometimes, you don’t need to use it. And I think it’s important for producers to understand that.” •
—By Harry Siemens
