More than 110 representatives from 19 different countries accepted an invitation from Lallemand Animal Nutrition to attend the company’s nutrition symposium and dairy tours in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June.
Researchers and Lallemand employees discussed increasing silage quality, the effective use of inoculants, maximizing feed efficiency, recognizing sub-acute rumen acidosis and the future opportunities for functional foods. Attendees included producers, nutritionists, distributors, researchers and company personnel.
Why Scotland?
Since it’s an international conference, we wanted to find a central location. Also, the Scottish dairy industry is fairly progressive for the European market.
What are the top 3 challenges facing the dairy industry right now?
Obviously, at the top would be profitability. Even for the dairyman here [in Scotland], margins are tight. Feed prices are through the roof. Profitability is getting tougher.
Another challenge is feed efficiency. It is key to get as much milk as we can out of each mound of feed.
Finally, more in effect here than in North America, is consumer perception. The public is having more of an impact on the way we produce milk and the technologies we are able to use or not use.
What new trends did you hear others talking about here that you think your company can address in the future?
An opportunity is functional foods – the human health aspect. Whether it be selenium, omega-3 fatty acids or CLA, there is a huge opportunity for us in the dairy industry to focus on those things and to add a value to our products.
How do you think attendees will benefit their clients or the dairy industry as a whole for having visited the conference?
If you look at the rumen system, we are still fairly inefficient in producing product out of the feeds we produce. So there is a lot of room for opportunity to increase digestibility and basically get more production out of the feeds we feed. PD
Jim Sullivan
Lallemand Dairy Technical Services
jsullivan@lallemand.com
