Real Science Exchange-Dairy

Latest Episodes:

Legacy Series, Dr. Peter J. Van Soest Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Mary Beth Hall, USDA; Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University; Dr. David Mertens, Mertens Innovation & Research

Today’s episode is a fan-favorite, the Legacy Series. In this series we celebrate the pioneers of the industry, take a look back at their research, their impact and their lives. Specifically today we are honoring and memorializing Dr. Peter J. Van Soest. Dr. Soest passed away in March of 2021, but his legacy will forever be felt in the animal nutrition world.

In this episode, we hear from three students of Dr. Van Soest who have gone on to illustrious careers of their own. Dr. Mary Beth Hall with USDA, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh from Cornell and Dr. David Mertens with Mertens Innovation & Research.

Dr. Mertens said that Dr. Van Soest started his career at USDARS, and was given the mission to create an alternative to crude fiber. The breakthrough came from his knowledge of biochemistry and his work at Walter Reed hospital. Dr. Soest used detergents to remove protein from feed so you could measure fiber. (13:35)

Dr. Hall emphasized that one of Dr. Van Soest’s legacies lives through the students he trained and the students they trained. Dr. Van Soest passed on the idea that you don’t stop with what you have and say it’s good enough. If new information presents itself, you consider them and test them and move on from there. (21:37)

Dr. Amburgh spoke about the lectures from Dr. Van Soest that are being digitized and will be available to listen to, which includes his popular periodic table lecture. (41:15)

Dr. Mertens recommended reading Dr. Van Soest papers on the development of ADF or NDF and AOAC. They give you an insight into how he did what he did - which was built on nothing that was done before. (56:12)

Dr. Amburgh believes that Dr. Van Soest’s legacy is teaching people how to think. He had a tremendous thought process and it wasn’t whether you were right or wrong, it was about what you learned in the process of thinking through all that. (1:10:53)

If you’d like to find Dr. Van Soest’s book, you can find it here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3sYFpiX.

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Global Market and Supply Chain Trends for 2022 Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of the Real Science Exchange we are looking into 2022 and what is shaping up for agriculture around the globe.

Brett Stewart thinks that with the expansion of the world-wide money supply, current prices won’t break lower, and especially not in commodity markets. (6:26)

John Bedell spoke about the five headwinds, which are: increased demand, constrained supply, commodity price pressure, domestic logistics and international logistics. Of these, the only one that John expects to change is demand. (13:18)

Richard Fritz spoke on the China trade agreement and he believes the most important aspect of the agreement is setting standards for animal health. However, it is an agreement made on price, not volume so it is a very unique agreement. (31:11)

Brett Stewart addressed the labor shortage and said that as wages increase to keep up with inflation, inflation will continue to increase as well. The labor shortage is not unique to the United States, some beef processors in South America are 30% below average slaughter rates because of lack of workers. (42:47)

Richard Fritz mentioned the Russia/Ukraine situation and the impact on agriculture, mostly in grain export out of the Black Sea which could become a problem. (55:01)

John Bedell added that Russia supplies natural gas to Europe and that can have a lot of trickle down effects as well. (56:04)

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Improving Protein Utilization to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Dairy Production Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of the Real Science Exchange we focus on ways to improve protein utilization in dairy cows to reduce our overall environmental footprint.

Dr. Chris Reynolds said that moving towards precision feeding and feeding animals closer to dietary requirements would reduce surplus nitrogen. (8:19)

It was mentioned by Dr. Mark Hanigan that a small, internal survey was taken in which nutritionists said they were focusing on nitrogen efficiency, which shows the industry is evolving. (18:41)

Furthermore, Dr. Chris Reynolds referenced the variation in forage composition and that cows respond to the longer term average, not the day-to-day variation. (39:05)

The conversation continued as Dr. Mark Hanigan said a practical way to decrease nitrogen is to decrease salt in the diet. You can always figure a benchmark for your herd once you figure out what the milk-nitrogen rate is for that diet. Then you can start pulling some protein out. If you don’t lose production or dry matter intake, then you have a new benchmark. (51:17)

To conclude, Dr. Chris Reynolds talked about the possibility of genetic testing cows for nitrogen efficiency. If we can phenotype enough cows we can look for a genetic correlation and find out if it's an inheritable trait. (57:43)

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Combatting Lipid-Enveloped Viruses - PRRSV, PEDV, ASFV and Maybe Even Covid-19 Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Charlie Elrod, Natural Biologics and Dr. Josh Jackman, Tropical Innovations/Sungkyunkwan University
Co-host: Dr. Ken Sanderson, Balchem

Today’s podcast tackles a big topic in the global swine industry - African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). This virus has recently been reported in Thailand and continues to spread throughout the globe. While North America looks for any sign of ASFV, it continues to struggle with other lipid-enveloped viruses as well.

Dr. Josh Jackman states that over 80% of livestock and human population epidemics and pandemics are caused by lipid enveloped viruses, making it of huge economic significance. (14:31)

Dr. Charlie Elrod spoke of balancing the need for that macrophage recruitment and fighting the infection versus keeping them away. By tamping the virus down, or reducing the viral load that results in fewer macrophages getting infected, and fewer virus particles surviving in the mucosal environment, then you’ve improved. (27:02)

Dr. Josh Jackman explains that you need more than one hole in a virus membrane to become inactive or broken down. The structural damage is really important to break the structural integrity of the virus particle. Another mode to prevent infection is with compounds that prevent the viral membranes from fusing with cellular membranes. (33:09)

Dr. Charlie Elrod mentions that when feeding GML to sows, it does get into the milk circulation and can have a positive effect on piglets in the form of antimicrobial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity. Being able to mitigate risks to the most susceptible neonatal animals would be a good thing. (47:01)

Dr. Josh Jackman adds that there is an association between higher GML levels and reduced disease severity. The potential is huge because GML targets lipid enveloped viruses broadly. Since you can’t predict which virus will cause the next outbreak, GML is something that has the potential to be a first-line counter measure to the next pandemic. (57:27)

Dr. Charlie Elrod closes by saying there is a lot of potential discoveries out there.We need to continue exploring and bring in different sources of genetic mechanisms or more specific mechanisms like a flavonoid. This is really just the first chapter. (1:14:37)

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

2022 Journal Club- Phosphorus in Dairy Diets Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Jesse Goff, Iowa State University
Co-host: Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Balchem

Today’s podcast is our January installment of the Journal Club, styled after the traditional journal clubs at universities across the country and around the world. Today we’re a closer look at some of the newest research published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

Article 1: https://bit.ly/3zCBdIA

Dr. Jesse Goff, in summarizing a paper from the Netherlands, stated animals on a low phosphorus diet had lower blood phosphorus than the other animals, which isn’t unexpected. But the animal's calcium concentration had improved on a lower phosphorus diet. (5:53)

Dr. Bill Weiss emphasized a two to one phosphorus ratio isn’t always correct. The important thing is to meet the NRC requirements for both phosphorus and calcium. (11:38)

Dr. Jesse Goff warned that even if you think you are feeding a low phosphorus diet if you are using byproducts - such as soybean meal, canola meal and wet brewers - it can all bring in a lot of phosphorus. You need to be wary of that in the diet. (17:20)

Dr. Bill Weiss mentioned you should be in a slightly deficient diet postpartum and not meet the NRC requirements. Dr. Jesse Goff added that a postpartum cow would be pulling phosphorus and calcium out of her bones, needing less in her diet. (29:26)

Article 2: https://bit.ly/33hKjyI

Dr. Jesse Goff and Dr. Bill Weiss summarized the second article, which covered a study with an even lower phosphorus diet than the first article. This study promotes a low phosphorus diet as a way to control hypocalcemia. (36:49)

Dr. Bill Weiss mentioned that based on these papers, he thinks the low phosphorus diets in the pre-fresh and in the far-off should not worry as much so you can have some cost-savings in your feed.

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Real Science Exchange - Year in Review Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Guests: Drs. Clay Zimmerman, Glen Aines, Eric Altom, Jeff Elliott

As we close out 2021 we want to take a few minutes to look back. The Real Science Exchange was started to have a more in-depth and intimate conversation with our guests from the Real Science Lecture Series. We began in the fall of 2020 and have modeled this podcast after the time spent around the pub table at scientific meetings. This is where you get out the cocktail napkin and solve all the research problems presented during the conference.

We would like to thank all our loyal listeners around the world. We have been so blessed with an ever-growing audience. We now have listeners from all 50 states and 62 countries. We’ve had over 24,000 views and continue to gain listeners. Thank you to everyone that has joined, shared the messages and all who have participated. Get ready for new ways to interact in 2022.

Do you have a bourbon or scotch suggestion for Scott? If so, email your recommendations to anh.marketing@balchem.com and he will give it a try!

The speakers discuss their favorite podcasts of 2021 and what they learned from those discussions.

Clay discusses the expansion of the Real Science Exchange Podcast with the Journal Club in 2022. Journal articles will be selected, and guests will come on the podcast to discuss them. 14:53

Jeff explains the Legacy Series which will also continue in 2022. Pioneers will lead the discussion on the history of the industry. If you have anyone you would recommend for the Legacy Series please reach out and let us know at anh.marketing@balchem.com. 16:53

Scott also talks about the possibility of more in-person podcasts at 2022 industry conferences. If you are attending those future conferences, come let us know that you are a listener and have a drink with us! 23:40

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Impact of Thermal Processing on Protein Quality and Monogastric Nutrition Dec 07, 2021

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Chad Paulk, Kansas State University and Dr. JT Pope, Nutritionist at House of Raeford Farms
Co-host: Dr. Zack Lowman, Balchem

Today’s podcast is part of a continuing conversation started during the Real Science Lecture Series, where we look deeper into the impact of thermal processing on protein quality and the forms of thermal processing in the industry.

Dr. Chad Paulk mentioned there are two major categories of thermal processing, ingredients and complete diets. Complete diets in the U.S. use thermal processing most often in the pelleting process via steam conditioning and frictional heat and is a combination of heat and moisture. On the ingredient side, by-products or co-products are processed by heat most often to pull moisture or pathogen control. (4:11)

Drs. Chad Paulk and JT Pope agreed there are a wide variety of effects thermal processing has on protein. Thermal processing can “unfold” proteins and provide access to enzymes, which aids in digestibility. But if you expose protein too much, they start to bind to sugars and actually prevent them from being digested. (7:02)

Dr. JT Pope mentioned that in the Southeast especially, pelleting is a winning situation due to economic reasons. Dr. Chad Paulk added to that idea by saying the higher the ingredient cost, the greater the value of pelleting. For swine especially it is influenced by location and access to feed. In the poultry industry a large percentage pellet feed. (20:57)

Dr. JT Pope discussed that thermal processing can negatively impact enzymes. It’s important to understand the enzymes you’re feeding and how they will survive the pelleting process. It is possible through formulations and other methods to ensure the enzyme survives the pelleting process. (26:30)

Dr. Chad Paulk and Dr. JT Pope agree that the strategy for pellets is dependent on the outcome you are looking for. If the intention is for a high-quality pellet more heat may be used, but you may lose some nutritional density. If the focus is on available enzymes, the pellet may not be as high quality. More research is needed to create a high-quality pellet with the same enzyme availability. (30:28)

Dr. JT Pope emphasized this is a complex process and there is a lot left to learn. For now, pelleting and thermal processing being in the middle is ideal because over processing can be bad, and so can under processing. Dr. Chad Paulk added it’s important to know your ingredients and your supplier and understand how different factors influence the pelleting process. (49:18)

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Biosecurity Imperatives and the Feed Supply Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Jordan Gebhardt, Kansas State University and Dr. Chad Paulk, Kansas State University Co-host: Dr. Zack Lowman, Balchem

Tonight we are talking feed supply biosecurity and the many challenges we face as we try to keep various animal diseases at bay. In late July, the USDA announced that African Swine Fever was detected in the Dominican Republic, inching dangerously close to the U.S. swine herd.

Dr. Jordan Gebhardt explained that African Swine Fever (ASF) is caused by a virus. He discussed the history of the virus and the impact that a disease like this can have on the animals, the producer and the industry. He also expressed his concern of the virus spreading to South America or Central America from its current location in the Dominican Republic. (7:26)

Dr. Chad Paulk discussed the potential contamination of the feed supply if or when the virus reaches the United States and how the feed supply chain can be changed to help reduce the spread of the virus. (16:36)

Dr. Jordan Gebhardt explains that African Swine Fever can only infect swine - domesticated pigs or wild boar. If a human were to consume a contaminated product, there would be no threat to them whatsoever. (24:03)

Dr. Chad Paulk discusses prevention of the virus and steps to take in order to reduce the risk. He gave the example of a feed mill processing a potential contaminated product and producing particles in the air that could contaminate the airspace of a road that has a lot of swine in transit. The steps will have to be used by everyone involved in production to help eliminate the spread of the virus so it needs to be built into the industry culture if that time comes. (40:00)

Dr. Jordan Gebhardt discusses the importance of making biosecurity practices convenient for the producer and their employees. If it is convenient for employees, they will be more likely to stick with the biosecurity measures to go about their daily routine. (51:43)

Dr. Chad Paulk and Dr. Jordan Gebhardt both discuss the importance of working together as an industry to prevent this disease from making it to the United States as well as working together with biosecurity as an industry if/when it does get here. (1:01:05)

To find Dr. Jordan Gebhardt’s presentation from the K-State Swine Day, visit Latest findings from the K-State-Vietnam partnership – Jordan Gebhardt

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NRC Series: Vitamins & Minerals Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University and Dr. Rich Erdman, University of Maryland

Tonight we finish the conversation on the new NRC with two legends in the industry. We’ll first focus on macro minerals, trace minerals and vitamins, but then we’ll also put a bow on the NRC series and wrap it up for our listeners tonight.

Dr. Bill Weiss says the new NRC defines “requirements” which was never done in past NRCs. They give a specific number for a specific population which is a large improvement for the reader. (9:55) 

Dr. Rich Erdman discusses the animal’s needs or requirements in order to maintain herself. He discusses the availability of vitamins, trace minerals and macros as well. (19:50) 

Dr. Bill Weiss discusses trace minerals and the factorial system used in the new NRC for these minerals such as manganese, iron, selenium and iodine. He discusses the copper and zinc data found in the 2021 version are based on the maintenance requirements of the cow. (33:33)

Dr. Rich Erdman stresses there is still a need for more specific data on the availability of supplements and feed. (50:10)

Dr. Bill Weiss discusses challenges for the next editions of the NRC (now NASEM) such as finding young scientists specializing in minerals, funding and the USDA recognizing that minerals are important and should be focused on. (1:05:53)

This concludes our series on the 2021 8th Revised Edition of the Nutrient Requirements of Animals. If you’d like to pre-order a copy and receive a 25% discount, visit Balchem.com/realscience and click on the NRC series for a link and the discount code.  

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This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health. 

NRC Series: Feed Intake & Carbohydrates Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

Guests: 
Dr. Mary Beth Hall with the USDA
Dr. Paul Kononoff from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Co-host: Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Balchem

We continue our discussions on the new 2021 dairy NRC, now known as NASEM. This is a follow-up to our Real Science Lecture series of five webinars that officially unveiled the content back in September. We’ll be breaking down the feed intake and carbohydrates sections during this episode.

Dr. Mary Beth Hall discusses the changes in the dry matter intake equations in the new NASEM. She explains that there are two different dry matter intake equations, and those equations have new factors that give producers a much closer look at the diet and what factors will influence intake. (7:29)

Dr. Paul Kononoff discusses the new feed factor equations and using different forage decisions. He explains when using it for forages, the new equation will be very useful to producers especially with all the factors involved. He also discusses byproducts and his hope for them to be included for future equations once more research is done. (26:19)

Dr. Mary Beth Hall discusses the carbohydrate chapter. She explained the equations didn’t drastically change but they discussed the different types of carbohydrates in more detail and had a better understanding of starch and fiber. (30:40)

Dr. Paul Kononoff discusses the gaps that are possibly in the new NASEM for the next committee to work on in the future. He stressed the importance of reporting chemical composition of feeds and forages. This will not only give a better understanding to those using the current equations, but it will also help the next committee when deciding on changes to those equations in the future. (45:55)

As a reminder, we finish breaking down the new 2021 8th Revised Edition of the Nutrient Requirements of Animals in one more podcast releasing next week. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the new episodes. If you’d like to pre-order a copy and receive a 25% discount, visit Balchem.com/realscience and click on the NRC series for a link and the discount code.

Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.

This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

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