Feed Energy's 'The Catalyst' - Issue 39 | February 2019
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Corporate Social Responsibility
by Robert Riley, Jr., Chairman of the Board
I have written about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the past and I have talked about Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The TBL is sometimes described as the “3-P’s” – People, Planet and Profit. TBL accounting is gaining traction among many companies that are interested in putting a value on their involvement in helping people, in helping the environment and in the profit they hope to make in their business operations. Many understand that TBL is like a three-legged stool – if you are missing one leg the stool will collapse. So, why do I bring up all these three-letter acronyms? It is because I want all of our clients, producers and vendors to know about the care and concern the Riley Resource Group has for all the stakeholders who we touch.

The Riley family council put together a mission statement which reads: “As a family in business, “Care” is a defining integral component. It impacts all of what we do, from our family units, to our businesses, to our community and to the world in which we live and work. Because of this Care, we want all to succeed. It is our desire and mission to positively impact these as we work together as a family council.”

As a business, we have a need to make a profit. This allows us to stay in business, keep all employees paid, help our customers, re-invest in plants, equipment and research and development. What money we have made in the last 10 years or so, has all stayed with the businesses. Profits after any taxes due have been paid (taxes being seen as the “rent” we pay for civilization – governance, laws, fire, police, education, help for those less fortunate). Profits after (like in the instruction on the plane – “put your own oxygen mask on first, then help those around you”) we attempt to help the people around us. Our employees, our neighbors, our communities, through bonuses, profit sharing, education reimbursement, health care, retirement plans, scholarships, donations to worthy causes, sponsorships, even docks on the lake! At Riley Resource Group (RRG) we want our corporate and operations facilities to be attractive to workers, to be additive to the neighborhoods, cities and our state. The better we all are, the better each of us are. And vice versa.

As someone who believes strongly in CSR, I put lots of effort into the non-profits and civic and trade related organizations. From Bread for the World and the Iowa Food Bank, United Way, and Eat Pleasant Hill, to The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Whiterock Conservancy, to Simpson College, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, the Des Moines Public Library, and the Iowa Parks Foundation, and to Iowa State University, Iowa Poultry Assoc., Iowa AgStates, FFA, and various Leadership programs. I, and Riley Resource Group, provide time, talent and treasure to these organizations and causes. Many people in the Riley family and our employees volunteer their time to various groups also. We want all to share in the pride we have in our communities, our people and our environment. 

 A couple of quotes provide some of the rationale for these actions… George Eliot said “What are we on this earth for if not to make life less miserable for others” . Franklin Roosevelt said "The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

The Riley Family and companies in the Riley Resource Group, are firm believers that we have the responsibility to give back so that we can continue to exist. The social contract we have with society requires us to be good examples, and good stewards. We try to do that as well as we can.
Feed Energy's R2 Products Help To Maximize
Biosecurity Programs For Producers
By Chris Snyder, CEO
In January, 2019, the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) sent out their revised biosecurity guidelines titled, “Developing Biosecurity Practices for Feed and Ingredient Manufacturing.” This update provided new information on how viruses and other pathogens can be spread through animal feed. Included in the guidelines is the AFIA’s recommendation to feed and ingredient manufacturers “to develop a biosecurity plan to control the potential spread of animal diseases through feed and feed ingredients.”

Considering these new guidelines, Feed Energy’s 2018 launch of its R2 family of products provides poultry and swine producers with a whole new tool they can use in maximizing their biosecurity program. In addition to being a potent bio-security tool, R2 products also deliver production performance improvements that add more value to a producers’ bottom line.

Biosecurity is important to both industry and individual producers. At the industry level, maintaining animal health and biosecurity status is critical for the sustainability and profitability of all producers. Market access and consumer confidence depend on an industry’s ability to promise that its products are safe and free from animal disease, and that it can trace animal movements and farm inputs, including feed. And the cost of a disease outbreak is shared beyond the farm, as it can impact feed suppliers, meat processors, and even non-agriculture sectors.

Last year, Feed Energy introduced the R2 family of products, a group of new, energy-based nutrition solutions. R2 products are patent pending and engineered to help mitigate pathogens like Salmonella, E. Coli, Campylobacter, Listeria and Clostridium. The proprietary line of R2 products have been thoroughly tested both in the laboratory and in real world production bio-assay trials. Lab studies show that R2 can help control as much as 95% of pathogens, and in swine trials it was effective in mitigating the PRRS virus. Animal diets will always consist of protein, carbohydrate and calories, with R2 producers get high quality energy and a value add, bio-security solution all in one.

In their announcement, the AFIA said “The effectiveness of a biosecurity plan depends upon the culture of the facility to drive the program, the commitment of its employees, and most importantly, the commitment by a facility’s management team to implement and assess the plan.” When assessing biosecurity, producers cannot overlook the risk from feed, and with anti-pathogen properties combined with proven performance improvements, R2 products should be part of any biosecurity program.
Client Spotlight
New Fashion Pork Committed To Quality & Innovation
Chad Hastad, NFP Nutritionist
New Fashion Pork was founded in 1994 by Brad and Meg Freking when they expanded Brad’s family’s farrow-to-finish sow operation in Jackson County, Minnesota. Through a series of acquisitions of hog facilities and feed mills across the Midwest, New Fashion Pork has grown from their Jackson County, MN roots to operating hog barns in seven states, including Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.    

Head quartered in Jackson, Minnesota, New Fashion Pork (NFP) currently markets over 1.4 million pigs per year. There are several factors to credit for the success of the company, but none more important than the company’s commitment to quality and innovation. 

As stated on the home page of their website, “ With over a quarter of a century of experience in the swine industry, the NFP family has the vision to continually improve and enhance our value chain. With the latest technology and best management practices, NFP is producing high quality pork. Our people make it happen and are the backbone of NFP.”

In 2004 New Fashion Pork and Christensen Farms joined with three other producers and started Triumph Foods - a state of the art pork processing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri. Today the plant processes over 6 million hogs annually marketing pork products all over the United States, as well as, exporting to 20 other countries.

Eleven years later Triumph Foods announced a joint venture with Seaboard Foods creating Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC (STF). This arrangement enabled the two companies to align their farm operations and pork processing to help to ensure consistent quality pork products for their customers from “farm to plate”. In 2017 STF completed the construction of their new pork processing facility in Sioux City, Iowa. At full production the plant processes up to 21,000 head of market hogs per day.   

According to Chad Hastad, NFP Nutritionist, currently the company is less concerned about increasing the number of hogs they market and more focused on “forward and reverse integration”. That includes growing their own corn and processing 85% of their feed in their own feed mills. This enables NFP to be more in control of the efficiency and quality of what goes into their swine herds. This vertical integration allows them to “adapt faster to the dynamics of the business and the unpredictable fluctuations in the market conditions”.

Recognizing that consumers are more informed and aware than ever, NFP strives to be transparent. “As an important part of the food chain our goal is to produce wholesome, quality products,” said Chad. “We are constantly monitoring our operation and looking out for the welfare of our employees, as well as the welfare and humane treatment of our hogs. Our company is very focused on environmental stewardship - dedicated to protecting both our land and our water resources.”

Chad said an important part of NFP’s commitment to keeping their pigs healthy is their strict bio-security protocols to help prevent disease from entering the herd. This program has enabled them to lower their overall antibiotic s use to below European levels. He said they still use antibiotics, but only under consultation with their staff veterinarians. 

Several months ago, with biosecurity in mind, NFP agreed to a trial study of BuildR2 in the feed program for one of their large sow operations. Chad said the primary reason they decided to do a trial with BuildR2 was for its natural anti-pathogenic properties. It was added to their feed rations as a biosecurity measure. He said controlling pathogens in their barns is very measurable and they are happy with the results they are seeing with BuildR2 He said they are planning to add the BuildR2 program to a second feed mill. 

New Fashion Pork is an excellent example in responsible, progressive and sustainable farming practices. The company should be admired for the standards and visions they have established that results in great tasting pork products without compromising the health and welfare of their employees, swine herds or consumers. They have truly created a role model of best practices for large farm operations. 
Part 1: Summary of Fat & Lipid Use In Swine
Presentations By Dr. Kerr
Dr. Brian Kerr, Nutritionist at USDA-Animal Research Scientist
In conjunction with the Iowa Pork Congress Feed Energy hosted a private breakfast Wednesday morning January 23rd for a small group of invited guests. Our featured speaker was Dr. Brian Kerr, Nutritionist at USDA-Animal Research Scientist. In spite of an eight inch snow storm the night before and nasty cold temperatures we had a very nice turnout.
 
The title of Dr. Kerr’s presentation was “ Thoughts on Fat and Lipid Use in Swine Production” . In an hour long presentation Dr. Kerr covered the complexities of lipids as an essential energy source in swine. He discussed the importance of understanding lipid composition and quality factors affecting digestion and metabolism. He said some of the factors affecting the feed value of lipids are FA composition, FFA concentration, lipid quality indices and degree of peroxidation. Dr. Kerr shared the variations in digestible energy values of various lipids with soybean oil at the top and tallow at the bottom.

He also pointed out that lipid sources high in unsaturated fatty acids were most susceptible to peroxidation. He stated that factors such as the degree of saturation, temperature, exposure to oxygen, transition metals, salts, water and other non-lipid compounds can affect the ultimate composition of a lipid over time. He said lipid peroxidation is a complex and dynamic process that degrades its value. Dr. Kerr feels that a combination of lipid peroxidation assays that measure compounds at different stages of peroxidation is necessary to determine the dietary thresholds at which animal health and growth is impaired. Once that is known, the value of using supplemental dietary oxidants on animal health and performance can be more completely determined.

He summed up by saying the quality of lipids used in swine production should be a major consideration for pork producers and that nutritionists need to be able to assess and extract as much value as possible from feed ingredients for optimal animal production. He feels universally accepted standards need to be developed for measuring quality and peroxidation status of lipid sources used among the producers and the current energy prediction equation needs tweaking. Finally, the use of combinations of lipid peroxidation assays that measure compounds at different stages of peroxidation is necessary to determine dietary thresholds at which animal health and growth performance is impaired.  

Look for Part 2 of this story in our next quarterly edition of The Catalyst.
In The News
Adequate fatty acid nutrition encouraged for modern sows
In the February 21, 2019 edition of Feedstuffs was an article entitled “ Adequate fatty acid nutrition encouraged for modern sows

The article addressed comments made by Dr. Eric van Heugten with North Carolina State University from a speech he made at the International Production & Processing Expo. The article said that Dr. van Heugten “encouraged supplementation of essential fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid, to modern sows during lactation”. Dr. van Heugten says it is needed in the “modern sow” because she “produces more milk and weans larger, heavier litters than her predecessors”.    

Feed Energy’s BuildR2 was scientifically created specifically for sows to be bred and lactating sows.  BuildR2 is comprised of 90% Total Fatty Acid and 50% Linoleic Acid (spec sheet attached). Those are the exactly the nutrients Dr. van Heugten is recommending. Our trial studies support Dr. van Heugten’s findings – we are seeing increased number of live pigs born and decreased mortality rates.  Click here to read more about BuildR2 or contact one of our Account Managers.