Wrapping up July: What’s new in the world of pigs?

ADM will acquire French-based Neovia

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is planning to buy feed additive company Neovia, with 72 production facilities and a presence in 25 countries, headquartered in Saint-Nolff, France. The cash deal has a value of about € 1.5 billion. Neovia, which is currently majority owned by French agricultural cooperative InVivo, has about 8,200 employees. It has 11 R&D centres in 6 countries.

Agrifirm to take over Special Nutrients

Another take-over: Netherlands-based Royal Agrifirm Group will acquire Miami, FL-based Special Nutrients. This US company is a manufacturer of mycotoxin binders. For Special Nutrients this step supports the development of its portfolio. The 2 companies had been working together for a long time and realised that their activities were complementary. Special Nutrients’ Fernando Tamames III will keep an important stake in the company.

De Heus acquires compound feed plant in Serbia

Royal De Heus has acquired the Serbian compound feed plant Komponenta, located in Cuprija. Next to the existing plant in Sabac, De Heus will now have 2 production locations in Serbia, with a joint production capacity of 260,000 tonnes. The newly acquired plant will be entirely renovated to step up quality standards, a process that is expected to be completed by late 2018.

Danish Crown gets OK for purchase of Zandbergen

Tulip Food, a subsidiary of meat producer Danish Crown, received approval to acquire Bacon Specialist Zandbergen in the Netherlands. This step is part of the company’s long-term strategy in becoming the leading global bacon producer. The Dutch company is mainly active in private labels and mostly operates in northern European markets.

PIC introduces the PIC 800

Breeding news: PIC introduced the PIC800, in its own words ‘the new gold standard for Duroc terminal sires’. The PIC800 is bred for producers who value Duroc traits such as robustness, growth, and pork quality. The sire is the result of a 6-fold increase in the nucleus population size since 2013. PIC also implemented relationship-based genomics.

Additionally, PIC completed the strategic relationship with Danish pig breeding company Møllevang. The intention was already shared late 2017; now all closing conditions are fulfilled. The deal combines PIC’s and Møllevang’s supply chains. For the German and Austrian market, the German company Gesing Tierzucht will be distributing the Møllevang dam line genetics, as from July 2.

DanBred opens AI station and multipliers in Japan

Breeding organisation DanBred has signed an exclusive distributor agreement with Cimco to establish sale of DanBred genetics in Japan. Cimco also acquired the rights to multiply DanBred breeding animals in Japan as well as selling semen from a regional Cimco AI station. One multiplier farm is already fully functional; a 2nd will be up and running in 2019.

DanBred also announced to add a new trait in its breeding goals. The company called it ‘mDLGB30’, which is short for ‘Maternal Daily Gain Litter Birth-30’. This trait is introduced to ensure stronger and faster growing pigs from birth to 30 kg.

Topigs Norsvin opens research centre in Canada

Late June, Topigs Norsvin opened its new research centre ‘Delta Canada’. The centre allows the genetic company to faster supply customers in the USA and Canada, as well as the rest of the world. First boars are expected to leave the centre late 2018. The facility is located near Woodlands, MB, which is in relative isolation, yet close to Winnipeg airport. Investment costs were CAN$ 15 million (€ 10 million). The facility houses 2,600 pigs and will test 7,500 young nucleus boars of the TN Tempo sire line and the Z-line dam line every year.

The breeding company also reported that Norway, a country that almost only uses its genetics, achieved an average daily gain (ADG) figure higher than 1 kg/day in 2017, for the 1st time. In addition, the number of weaned piglets/sow/year grew with 1 piglet.

Applied research for Latin American pig industry

PigChamp Pro Europa and Colombian swine research farm HoCoTec+ will partner to offer applied research services to the pig industry in Latin America. The companies signed an agreement in July. The deal also involves the implementation of information management systems for companies in the pig business in Latin America. The agreement is based on the need to get knowledge about the performance of commercial products in tropical conditions.

BI: Strategic production centre in France

Boehringer Ingelheim invests over € 200 million into a new production centre for Veterinary Public Health in Lyon, France. The investment is intended to meet the demand for e.g. Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) control. The company is creating about 100 jobs at the site. Construction of the 15,000 m2 building will start in fall 2018 and be completed late 2021. The facility will enable BI to establish antigen banks with strategic vaccine reserves.

Palital becomes independent company

Palital, a manufacturer of feed additives like e.g. coated butyrates, will continue its business as an independent company. The company used to be a joint-venture between German-based company Bewital and Dutch-based company Palion. As of June 1, however, Palion acquired all shares from the German company. Palital plans for a large-scale expansion of the production capacity and will concentrate its business in Velddriel, the Netherlands.

Biomin: Phytogenic feed additives survey results

Feed additives company Biomin has published new survey results on the use of phytogenic feed additives (PFAs) in farm animal diets worldwide. The report includes views of over 700 nutritionists, business owners, vets and consultants in over 80 countries. In total, 51% of respondents use PFAs; 60% said their PFA use will increase over the next 12 months. Lastly, digestibility enhancement and antimicrobial effects rank as the 2 top reasons for PFA use.

BASF can deliver vitamin products again

Chemical company BASF is capable again of supplying several ingredients for the animal nutrition market. Following an incident in the company’s citral plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, late October 2017, the company had to declare ‘force majeure’ for a range of products, which included its vitamin A and E products.

MS Schippers: new euthanasia device

Time for some product news: Dutch livestock trading company MS Schippers recently introduced a low-cost, animal friendly method of applying euthanasia, called MS Nitrogen. The company describes it as ‘animal friendly’ and is currently testing the tool in 10 practical farms. The device is based on foam which has captured nitrogen gas. The device does not consist of any technical parts, which makes bugs unlikely; cleaning however is an easy job.

Arm & Hammer studies effects of Celmanax

US animal nutrition company Arm & Hammer recently published the results of a trial in Spain about its product Celmanax. Intended to reduce dependency on zinc oxide, the product should be fed in lactation diets to sows and in creep and starter diets to piglets. The company reported that inclusion of the product increased average piglet 10-day body weight by 212 g. In addition, the piglets fed the product performed better than when receiving zinc oxide.

Norel: test of EO-Fit Swine on C. perfringens

Feed additive producer Norel conducted an in vitro study to its product EO-Fit Swine and Clostridium perfringens. The product, consisting of essential oils (cinnamaldehyde, thymol, carvacrol and the essential oil of clove), was tested in 6 different trials. The company wrote: “EO-Fit Swine’s components have bactericide capacity against Clostridium perfringens and that such capacity is enhanced thanks to their synergic effect when acting in combination.”

Marine Protein to step up production of PerfectDigest

Marine Protein, manufacturer of the PerfectDigest products, has acquired the rights to market the products worldwide. Starting August 2018, the production lines will be able to process 10,500 tonnes/year of raw material and 30,000 tonnes/year of dissolved raw material to produce 3,000 tonnes of liquid fish hydrolysate/year – the result of an upgrade. A new web site is expected in September.

VIV Europe 2018 visited by 144 nationalities

The latest edition of VIV Europe, held June 20-22, in Utrecht, the Netherlands, attracted 18,363 livestock professionals from 144 countries. At the Jaarbeurs showgrounds, they found 591 exhibitors from 47 countries, predominantly from the poultry business. The event was held in co-location with the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA), where on future pig production. The next VIV Europe is in 2022.

Intracare receives international visitors

More than 150 people from 40 different countries visited the production plant of Intracare in Veghel, the Netherlands mid-June. In a programme prior to VIV Europe, the company organised a bus service to guide all visitors to the plant, which is partly under construction as laboratory facilities will be extended. A few years ago, the company also opened a GMP pharma area for the production of veterinary medicines.