Kiotechagil China, part of Anpario plc and their distributor YueXing Biotechnology, recently hosted two conferences in Guangdong province where the current standards of EU pig production and performance data were debated.
The conferences were attended by nearly 300 local pig farmers who were invited by local sub-distributor Mei Ligao. The farmers were addressed by Murray Hyden the director of biosecurity for Kiotechagil, Dr Wang, the technical director for Kiotechagil China as well as the president and manager of Mei Ligao.
Murray Hyden commented, “These conferences provided perfect opportunities to keep local farmers in China in tune with current European farming practices and also the implications of the 2013 regulation change with regards group housing of gestating sows. We also covered the trend towards outdoor pigs in the UK, the reasons behind the banning of antibiotics for prophylactic use, the benefits and pitfalls of liquid feeding and an introduction to the advantages of protected acid systems.”
Dr Wang introduced a new product for China, Clean’n Dry, a drying agent for piglets with an emollient to keep skin supple and with essential oils to provide an antibacterial effect. The product has been shown to have a calming effect on piglets leading to reduced aggression and enhanced performance.
Instead of tossing a commonly grown South American vegetable's peels into the trash, an innovative group of college students in Ghana is recycling cassava peels into animal feed. Cassava - a starchy, maize-like crop popularly grown in South America - typically provides a basic carbohydrate diet to 502 million people worldwide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
As the crop is inexpensive and readily available in Ghana, three students from Kwadaso Agricultural College in the Ashanti Region wanted to use the peels to solve environmental challenges and cut the costs of animal feed, according to Ghana Business News. As the price for maize-based animal feed has been increasing due to tough competition for limited supplies among both man and beasts, the students proposed the cassava peels could be used as a substitution.
"The cereal is not even enough for human consumption yet animals are also competing for it," said Marcellinus Babai, one of the students participating in the program. "Beyond us putting into practice what we have learned from school, we also want to resort to cheaper but available sources of animal feed with the intention to help solve the problem of high inputs in animal production."
Cereals 2013 is set to be the only event to provide the most up to date technical information for the entire arable industry.
Returning to the Boothby Graffoe site in Lincolnshire, Cereals 2013 offers an unrivaled opportunity to meet the experts from across the sector and find new ways to improve your business.
Hundreds of suppliers will showcase new and existing crop varieties, machinery, equipment and the latest thinking at both a strategic and practical level for all arable farmers and advisors.
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