Livestock

Henri Hekman, CEO of AgroCares (left) and Casper Niesink, Director Global Solutions and Services at Trouw Nutrition. (Image source: AgroCares)

AgroCares and Trouw Nutrition have announced the renewal of their NutriOpt On-site Adviser agreement, aiming to provide real-time, comprehensive nutritional insights that can directly benefit farms’ and feed mills’ operational efficiencies, economics and sustainability efforts

Combining Trouw Nutrition’s institutional knowledge and nutrient database with AgroCares’ proprietary portable NIR scanner technology, the partnership aims to provide real-time, comprehensive nutritional insights that can directly benefit farms’ and feed mills’ operational efficiencies, economics and sustainability efforts.

Leveraging Trouw Nutrition’s extensive nutrient knowledge and database, the NutriOpt On-Site Adviser can assess raw ingredients and finished feed for a specific species in less than five minutes. Species-specific nutrients are available for swine, ruminants, and poultry. New hardware developed and manufactured by AgroCares empowers farmers and feed producers to apply the nutrient profile of raw materials, silages and complete feed to make species-specific decisions.

Trusted by thousands of farmers and feed producers worldwide, the NutriOpt On-site Adviser helps producers meet market demands, such as information on the environmental footprint of food production. Henri Hekman, CEO of AgroCares, remarked that the technology draws on the innate strengths and market leadership of each partner.

The renewed contractual agreement reflects both partners’ commitment to make the equipment and nutritional data insights available to even more businesses worldwide. Ultimately, the collaboration aims to accelerate feed management, feed efficiency, sustainability and farm profitability for users, while aligning with both partners’ continued ambitions to invest in innovation and sustainability.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with AgroCares, whose technology has been instrumental in delivering the precision and reliability our customers expect. Our joint efforts have already made significant impacts in the industry to date, and we are committed to driving further innovations that benefit both our customers and the planet,” stated Hekman. “We are convinced that our species focused knowledge/ingredient profile offers the opportunity to further boost precision nutrition.”

NutriOpt Technologies was also one of the exhibitors at EuroTier 2024 which took place from 12-15 November in Hanover, Germany.

Global president of Brenntag Specialties Pharma, Torsten Walz said that adding K+S' pharmaceutical salts would help strengthen their role as a key supplier to the global healthcare industry. (Image source: Brenntag)

Global chemicals and ingredients distribution market leader, Brenntag Specialties Pharma recently announced a new strategic partnership with globally oriented raw materials company, K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH for the worldwide distribution of three pharmaceutical salts

K+S which is one of the world's largest producers of pharmaceutical salts, will have three of their salts distributed by Brenntag. These include APISAL Sodium Chloride GMP grade (in pharmacopoeia quality, API), Potassium Chloride 99.9 % KCl Ph. Eur., USP (API) and HD-NaCl (excipient grade). 

The salts are manufactured using special processes to ensure purity and meeting the strict quality requirements of the pharmacopoeias (European Pharmacopoeia, US Pharmacopeia). Examples for final dosage forms are hemodialysis, infusion and injection solutions, electrolyte preparations and tablets. 

Global president of Brenntag Specialties Pharma, Torsten Walz said that adding K+S' pharmaceutical salts would help strengthen their role as a key supplier to the global healthcare industry.

"Our commitment to providing these important ingredients ensures that our customers worldwide have access to the highest quality components needed to produce effective pharmaceuticals, electrolyte therapies and dietary supplements. With this partnership, we combine decades of experience, because not only we at Brenntag are celebrating our 150th anniversary this year, K+S is also celebrating an important milestone: 135 years of company history,” added Waltz.

Technology developed by the Scottish biotech, which has announced its latest investment round, is set to revolutionise the dairy farming industry. (Image source: Business Wire)

Scottish biotech company, Biotangents recently announced its latest investment round, that is set to revolutionise the dairy farming industry with the world’s fastest on-farm, point-of-care diagnostic device aimed at addressing disease in dairy cows

Bovine mastitis is a serious and expensive problem costing the global dairy farming industry around US$25.4bn every year. Given the timeframe of existing diagnostics, which take so long that farmers resort to treating herds, predominantly with antibiotics.

The excessive use of antibiotics which that is unnecessary for 40% of cases increases the anti-microbial resistance of the herd, decreases life expectancy, and increases milk wastage, leading to negative environmental impact and significant costs. 

Biotangents developed its technology to enable farmers to make an informed treatment decision. Its solution comprises a cost effective, innovative on-farm molecular diagnostic device that provides highly accurate results in less than two hours. 

“Biotangents is on the cusp of full market launch with a technology that leads to better herd health, much improved productivity, and significantly higher levels of sustainability,” said CEO of Biotangents, Fiona Marshall.

Biotangents sees future applications for its technology not only in animal health, but also in human healthcare and environmental monitoring. Following the investment, Biotangents will commence on-farm trials across the UK and internationally later next year.

What makes the new cold plasma mite trap EX stand apart is its process which is complete devoid of additives or acaricides. (Image source: MIK INTERNATIONAL)

In collaboration with the Friedrich Loeffler Institute and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, MIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG presented its new product “Cold Plasma Mite Trap EX” for the first time at  EuroTier 2024 in Hanover

This system specifically focuses on controlling the red bird mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) in laying hen farms, and was honoured with a gold medal at the event. 

Red mites are one of the most common and economically important ectoparasites globally, with infestations causing massive damage to animal health and economy. Currently organic farming offers minimum options to control red mites, with the most common control method involving the use of acaricides. However, these cannot be used in excess due to the increased likelihood of developing resistance. 

What makes the new cold plasma mite trap EX stand apart is its process which is complete devoid of additives or acaricides. The process works by collecting and killing the mites and their brood in the mite trap. 

By generating a cold atmospheric pressure plasma, which is created by dielectric barrier discharge, the mites are killed highly efficiently and reliably. This can be used highly efficiently against all developmental stages of the red mite. 

After each killing process, the mite trap is automatically cleaned. The complete system is operated with a mains voltage of 230V and consists of a switching unit and at least one mite trap. Currently, 80 “Mite-EX” mite traps can be operated per switching unit.