The use of feed additives in livestock diets is part of many nutritional strategies to help optimize performance, health and the well-being of animals. Feed additives are considered feed ingredients supplemented to animals to trigger physiological responses, such as growth, control of pathogenic bacteria, changes in pH and/or modifying rumen fermentation patterns. Although the concept is widely understood, the many offers in the market make it difficult for producers to narrow down which feed additive would be best for their operations, individual challenges or to reach specific benchmarks.
Feed additives can be divided into two categories: nutritional and non-nutritional. Nutritional feed additives might include minerals, vitamins, bypass amino acids, co-factors and other additives fed with the main purpose of providing nutritional value to meet the animal’s requirement for a specific production or life stage. On the other hand, non-nutritional feed additives, such as enzyme or flavors, are usually fed to address a particular challenge, meet a market trend or reach a performance goal at a specific life stage of the animal. For example, improvements in gut health, mitigation of heat stress, claims or concerns around nonmedicated feed usage, all-natural diets, transition periods, neonate stages and so on.
Despite feed additives' undeniable value in dairy production, basic concepts should be accounted for when first deciding on the implementation of a feed additive for high-producing animals.
First, consider making a complete production assessment to identify potential production bottlenecks, areas of challenge and improvement and to thoroughly scrutinize diet. Feed additives already included in the diet and currently supplemented to the herd should also be carefully considered when deciding on the inclusion of new feed additives into the feeding program.
Consider the potential economic return, the return on investment (ROI) and monetary return value – the input cost relative to the inclusion of the feed additive – achievable when incorporating feed-additive technology into the operation.
Finally, understanding the data dossier generated by the particular feed additive – including all controlled research trials as well as practical demonstrations showing the anticipated response, as well as the ROI – is important to verify the pertinence of that technology to the specific needs of the herd. When evaluating the research data that is presented for the feed additive, one key element to look for is the repeatability of the data. In other words: In how many different scenarios has that feed additive been fed and generated the same magnitude of results? If the feed additive only works in certain situations or certain geographic locations, that should also be taken into account before it is used.
Feed additives tailored for the dairy cattle market are mainly targeted for improving production performance, either by increasing milk yield or increasing milk components. This becomes very appealing in markets where producers are paid bonuses for increased milkfat or protein levels. Because milk volume and components are easily monitored on farms, either through individual milk meters or monthly milk tests, they also become the main “go-to” variables accounted for when evaluating a feed additive's adequacy on a farm-by-farm basis.
However, there are many other factors on a farm that impact these variables, which makes it difficult to establish a clear conclusion on the efficacy of additive supplementation and performance response. Supplementation time, controlled variables and a large number of animals supplemented are crucial factors that could play a role in increasing the likelihood of observing a response due to feed additives.
There are many feed additives that are marketed as generics or alternatives that come with little research and the assumption that they work the same as the product they are imitating. While these products may offer savings and return similar results to the original product, there are a lot of instances where you get what you pay for. Saving money on the purchase may cost more money in the long term from a reduced performance benefit.
When and when not to use feed additives?
This is the question producers must ask. In some cases, there is an increase in the use of additives when milk prices (and profit margins) are high, but when milk prices drop, there is a tendency to remove additives to save on feed costs. But this might cost more in the long run. For example, if a feed additive costs 10 cents per day and improves milk production with returns of 60 cents per day, the decision to use this feed additive could be beneficial and cost-effective. However, when milk price is reduced by half, many nutritionists would remove the additive as being too expensive. Yet even with the extra cost of the additive, the producer is still gaining 20 cents per head over where they would be without the additive, making the decision to remove it an ROI loss after all.
Feed additives can be a great strategy to improve herd profitability through gains in production performance and improvements in the health and well-being of animals. However, the decision to use additives requires a full production analysis and knowledge of the herd’s dietary and feeding programs, recent and recurring challenges, bottlenecks and areas for improvement, as well as in-depth scrutiny of the feed additive data dossier, market adoption and potential ROIs. An experienced nutritionist can help guide this decision-making process to support the greater potential for positive returns.
References omitted but are available upon request by sending an email to the editor.
