Not only must we carefully measure and reduce our own environmental footprint, but we must also develop market-leading solutions to help our customers meet their climate targets too if we are to thrive as a cutting-edge animal nutrition business worldwide. One such sustainable feed additive solution represents a new way to mitigate the risk of acidosis in dairy cattle.
Head of Sustainability and Marketing
Volac International Ltd
Volac is a family-owned business that has produced high performance animal nutrition products for over 40 years. Passionate about ruminant nutrition, we are excited by the opportunity to use our technological know-how and operational solutions to help the animal feed industry and its farmer customers lighten their carbon footprint.
Today the business focus is firmly on products and services for the feed fats, forage additives and feed additive market sectors with an unwavering commitment to developing products that support sustainable farming. Feed is a key input for all farms, and we now provide feed additive solutions that support livestock efficiency at many critical stages of animal production. These solutions also help mitigate the emissions associated with farm outputs.
As we all focus on our own respective sustainability journeys to Net Zero, Volac takes its own environmental impact responsibility extremely seriously (see latest ESG report)1.
The Volac International ESG goal is to achieve Net Zero by 2045. To do this we are focusing on three main strategic pillars: Sustainable Farming, Net Zero manufacturing and stakeholder alignment. Under the umbrella of sustainable farming, we are focusing on ruminant efficiency, carbon footprint reduction and nutrient utilisation and preservation through a number of internal and external trials and product developments.
Volac environmental targets (see supporting graph):
• Full carbon footprinting of Volac products by 2025
• 100% recyclable packaging on Volac branded products by 2030
• Net Zero for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030
• Reducing Scope 3 emissions to Net Zero by 2045
In 2023 we completed carbon footprint analyses for the rumen protected fat product Megalac and forage preservative Ecosyl. Also, through changes to refrigerant used at our manufacturing site at Port Talbot, from R134a to CO2, we have reduced the 100-year global warming potential of these systems from1430 to 1.
But not only must we carefully measure and reduce our own environmental footprint, we must also develop market-leading solutions to help our customers meet their climate targets too if we are to thrive as a cutting-edge animal nutrition business worldwide.
The Volac Feed Additive business uses strategic customer partnering to provide sustainable solutions to enhance livestock production and efficiency – that also offer tangible carbon reduction benefits.
One such sustainable feed additive solution represents a new way to mitigate the risk of acidosis in dairy cattle. Ruminal acidosis is typically associated with intakes of large amounts of highly fermentable, carbohydrate-rich feeds. For many years it has been considered a problem of lowered rumen pH, but a better understanding of rumen microbiology is informing new scientific thinking on its management.
Dairy cows with mild clinical acidosis will be off their feed and may scour. More severe clinical signs of acidosis include decreased milk production and poor body condition score, despite adequate nutrition. Severely affected herds may experience high rates of culling or unexplained deaths.
The understanding of acidosis has focused on rumen pH – with an acidotic rumen being defined as being lower than pH 5.8 for a significant amount of time during the day. Nutritionists have tried to mitigate this accumulation of acid in the rumen by feeding buffers in the cow’s diet – but this is essentially ‘putting the fire out after it has started’. Other feed additives, including yeasts, have also been used.
RUMEN FERMENTATION KINETICS
Nutritionists are now thinking differently – and finding novel ways to mitigate acidosis – based on new, in depth understanding of rumen fermentation kinetics. A low rumen pH is simply the product of an acidotic rumen environment. But the biological and chemical steps before the pH drop include alterations in microbial populations and the partitioning of hydrogen resulting from the breakdown of carbohydrate.
The cow must get rid of this hydrogen gas. And the rumen microflora deals with it by transforming it into something else. Hydrogen accumulating in the rumen goes into ‘pools’. Biologically safe hydrogen pools include starch engulfed by rumen protozoa, bacterial glycogen formation, growth of bacteria, weak organic acids (VFAs) and methane. An unsafe pool for hydrogen in the rumen is lactic acid, which can cause acidosis.
Consequently, if we focus on altering the rumen microbiome somehow, we can find productive ways of diverting rumen fermentation away from unwanted lactic acid production towards the safer hydrogen pools – and, importantly, those that don’t include methane, which represents lost energy efficiency in the diet and is not ideal environmentally.
This is where novel phytogenic feed additives with antimicrobial activity, such as Volac’s new RumiBio come in. Dietary inclusion of this novel phytogenic additive can help increase desirable propionic acid production rather than lactic acid – and help change the way fermentation happens in the rumen to produce a better cow performance outcome.
MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF ENDOTOXINS
Mitigating the health and performance sapping impact of feed endotoxin contamination is another example where novel feed additive solutions can support improved dairy production efficiency.
Endotoxins are produced by bacteria and can be found everywhere in the dairy farming environment. They are present in the food cattle eat, their normal rumen flora, the water they drink and on the surfaces they lick. In fact, wherever you find bacteria, you will likely find endotoxins.
Endotoxins are incredibly diverse and form an integral part of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella or E.coli. Their main function is to provide structural integrity to bacteria and provide a barrier or defence against environmental stresses.
Endotoxins are normally released within the host animal or into the environment when gram-negative bacteria die. But they can also be released by bacteria when multiplying or invading a host.
Cattle are consistently removing and dealing with bacterial endotoxins. However, most of the time none of their adverse effects will be noticeable because a healthy cow’s immune system is able to cope daily with the general challenges presented by endotoxins.
Endotoxins only become a problem if they enter the bloodstream. This sometimes happens if a host’s immune system is overstimulated or unbalanced, such as when challenged by disease or environmental stress. If this happens, depressed feed intake is often the first sign, but inflammation and sometimes even fever can also result.
For example, when cows are fed a high cereal diet and rumen pH drops, the acidotic state of the rumen can lead to bacterial death and release of endotoxins. If the endotoxin load is high enough, endotoxemia can occur.
Maintenance of a healthy immune status and a favourable population of rumen flora – as well as the feeding of certain feed additives – will help mitigate any threat from endotoxins to the cow. For example, beta-glucan can be used to train the immune system not to overstimulate in the presence of endotoxins. Alternatively, proven endotoxin-specific binders, such as Volac’s new generation Ultrasorb R 3.0 can also be used routinely to bind endotoxins in the gut and prevent them from entering the bloodstream.
With today’s high performing dairy cows often on a knife-edge, standard diet-based acidosis, mycotoxin and endotoxin remediation strategies are well worth considering.
Reference:
1. An extensive analysis of Volac’s own carbon emissions has enabled the business to set ambitious but achievable net zero targets of Scope 1 and 2 by 2030 and Scope 3 by 2045. Volac has recently published details outlining progress in its latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) 2023/24 report.
About Sarah Banks
Sarah Banks has been with Volac since 1995. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture from Harper Adams University College. Recently, she completed the Sustainable Marketing Leadership programme at Cambridge Judge Business School. Passionate about sustainable practices, she advocates for the future of agriculture. Banks has held senior positions across various departments, including Technical, Marketing, Business Development, Crisis and Risk Management, Customer Service, Quality, Environmental Health, Safety, and Regulatory Affairs. Currently, she leads the Sustainable Marketing and Net Zero Sustainability Strategy as a key member of the Animal Nutrition Executive team at Volac.
