Premixes, enzymes, additives: what they are, what they bring, what is never done without the veterinarian

This lesson is part of Making feed on the farm, expert level specialisation. It opens to every registered student, from free registration. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.

In 100 kg of feed, there are 99 kg of maize, soya, fish meal, oil and minerals, and 1 kg of "small bags": premix, amino acids, enzymes, additives. That kilo costs as much as 10 kg of maize, decides the health of the bones, the quality of the shell, the colour of the yolk and the digestion of bran, and it is through it that all the temptations come: the powder that makes birds grow, the "boosted" concentrate, the neighbour's remedy. Level 11 set the rule; this lesson makes it expert: read a premix label and convert it into contents in the feed, recalculate a formula when you add a phytase, choose and measure an additive, and hold the red line that never moves: no medicine in the feed without the veterinarian.

• ✓Read the label of a premix and convert its contents into contents in the finished feed according to the inclusion rate
• ✓Understand what an enzyme does (phytase, fibre enzymes) and recalculate the formula with its matrix value
• ✓Classify additives by family, ask the three questions before adding one and run a measured trial against a control house
• ✓Apply without exception the medicine rule: veterinarian's prescription, authorised manufacturer, withdrawal period, register

1. The premix from the inside: reading the label
2. Enzymes: what they do and how you recalculate the formula
3. Additives: the families, and what you measure
4. The trial protocol: a control house, two flocks, figures
5. The red line: never a medicine without the veterinarian
6. The workshop's premix, enzyme and additive sheet
7. Going further

• •Premix: vitamins + trace elements + antioxidant in a carrier, at 0.5%, 1% or 2.5% (concentrate with Ca, P, salt, amino acids to be deducted from the formula); label converted per kg of feed = content × rate ÷ 100 (2,400,000 IU/kg at 0.5% = 12,000 IU/kg); species and phase, date, manufacturer, lot, no veterinary substance.
• •Enzymes: phytase (phytate phosphorus released, phosphate reduced by 0.57 kg per 100 kg with a 0.10 point matrix, that is 2.0 u to compare with the enzyme cost), fibre enzymes (bran, brewers' grains, palm kernel), proteases; weighed to the gram, pre-dilution, heat < 80 °C, formula recalculated or money lost.
• •Additives by family (antioxidants, binders, acidifiers, probiotics, extracts, pigments, emulsifiers, anti-caking agents, mould inhibitors): sheet, authorisation, measurement; nutrient, additive or medicine?
• •Trial: two twin houses, same batch, same formula ± additive, 50 weighings per week, FCR; effect demonstrated only beyond the noise (0.05 of FCR, 3% of weight) and repeated on two swapped flocks; adopted only if the saving exceeds the cost.
• •Red line: antibiotics, anticoccidials, antiparasitics, unknown concentrates = written prescription from the veterinarian of the area, authorised manufacturer, quantity and duration set by him, withdrawal period, separate batch, cleaning, label, register, sample; antibiotic growth promoters and hormones: never.