Animal nutrition 

Farm animals require a balanced diet that meets their nutritional requirements for optimal growth and weight gain. Providing adequate amounts of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals ensures that animals have the nutrients necessary for efficient muscle development and body mass accumulation. Balanced nutrition supports efficient feed conversion and maximizes growth rates, leading to higher productivity in meat production. 

Effective nutrition management is crucial for reproductive performance in animals. Meeting the nutritional needs of breeding animals ensures optimal fertility, conception rates, and successful pregnancies. Nutrient deficiencies or imbalances can lead to reproductive disorders, lower conception rates, or increased embryonic losses. 

Proper nutrition can also contribute to environmental sustainability by lessening the environmental impact of animal farming. Balanced diets that optimize nutrient utilization reduce the excretion of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, minimizing environmental pollution. 

Most farmed animals receive their mineral nutrition through their feed. It is therefore important that each ration contains the correct balanced percentage of the macro and micro elements to suit the animal’s circumstances and production system.

Mineral deficiencies lead to metabolic diseases and significant economic losses. Poultry and swine are mainly fed indoors so all their mineral requirements must be contained in the feed through supplementing with mineral salts. 

In contrast, grass-fed animals can obtain minerals from pasture, forages, mineral supplements or salt-licking blocks and loose salt.  Mineral supplements are useful for supplying minerals animals cannot obtain from the environment and are added to the feed ration. 

Animal health plays a crucial role in overall productivity in livestock management. Healthy animals are more efficient at converting feed into muscle mass, resulting in greater meat production. Reproductive performance is affected by animal health, with healthier animals having higher conception and birth rates. 

Disease and stress have a significant impact on productivity, reducing output as well as increasing mortality rates. Animal health is also closely linked to food safety, with residues from medications or antibiotics reducing the marketability of produce. 

Modern dairy cows are fed high levels of starch and sugar to provide the energy required for increased milk yields. These rapidly fermentable carbohydrates create quicker acid production in the rumen, lowering pH and affecting microbial activity. This is called sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA).  

SARA has long-term devastating health consequences for dairy cattle, including feed intake depression, fluctuations in feed intake, reduced diet digestibility, gastrointestinal damage, liver abscesses, and lameness. OmyaFeed C MgO protects herd health by suppressing SARA.