Event: 24th Annual Practical Short Course on Feeds and Pet Food Extrusion

Next January will see the return of a feed related short course run by Texas A&M University, USA.

The 24th Annual Practical Short Course on Feeds and Pet Food Extrusion will cover a range of subjects including, designing new feed mills and selecting conveying, drying, grinding, conditioning and feed mixing equipment. 

Current practices for production of pet foods, preparing full-fat soy meal; recycling fisheries by-products, raw animal products, and secondary resources; extrusion of floating, sinking, and high fat feeds; spraying and coating fats, digests and preservatives; use of encapsulated ingredients and preparation of premixes, and least cost formulation will also be reviewed.

Practical demonstration of pet food, vacuum coating, and several others will take place on four major types of extruders - dry, interrupted flights, single and twin screw, using various shaping dies. 

The course runs from January 19-24, 2014. Reservations are accepted on a first-come basis. 

More information...

For extended programmes and application forms, contact:

Dr Mian N Riaz                                                              

979 845 2774

mnriaz@tamu.edu

29/04/2013: Farmers want GrainCorp sale inquiry; new O.H. Kruse feed technology innovation centre; Japanese Poultry gobbling up US soy meal

The NSW Farmers Association is calling for a federal inquiry into the sale of east coast grain handler GrainCorp to US Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), reports ABC News.

GrainCorp handles over three-quarters of the grain grown in eastern Australia and directly sells half of the wheat exported from NSW.

GrainCorp directors have accepted a takeover bid from Archer Daniels Midland of $3.4 billion dollars, after rejecting lesser offers from the American company.

ADM says if the offer proceeds the deal with help "connect Australia's growers with growing global demand for crops and food, particularly in Asia and the Middle East". 

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The new feed technology centre at K-State is becoming a reality. Construction has begun and should be completed in mid-2013.

The facility will serve as the new home of the feed science and management program, which has provided nearly 700 graduates to the US feed manufacturing industry during the 60 years since the industry helped to establish the programme at K-State. In addition, several thousand domestic and international feed industry professionals have participated in educational short courses and seminars provided by the programme.

The faculty members have been a source of problem solving and new technological information throughout the programme’s history. The programme has been fortunate to have a dedicated teaching and research feed mill available on campus for student, faculty and client use. Even though remodeled and updated numerous times, the present feed mill has far outlived its useful life and will finally be replaced.

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Soy meal produced from US soybeans has been a favorite of Japanese poultry for fifty years.  Now, demand is shifting and soy meal imports there are expected to grow, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

That may be good news for U.S. soybean farmer, since US Census figures show Japan is the second largest buyer of US soy meal in Asia. 

“United Soybean Board (USB) research is creating a body of information showing soy meal produced from US soybeans has consistently higher quantities of the five essential amino acids,” says Scott Singlestad, a USB farmer-leader who raises soybeans and corn. “That’s given US soy meal a higher feeding value over its competitors.”

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Soy bean snack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)