Animal Nutrition Conference of Canada 2024

Dr. Jack Britt, North Carolina State University

The average dairy herd size in the USA is 330 cows, about 3-times the size of the average Canadian dairy herd. In the USA and Canada, about two-thirds of milk sold from dairy farms is processed into yogurt, cheeses, and ice cream, and this milk may be priced differently than fluid milk. Dairy consumption per capita is increasing at about 1-2 kg annually. Crossbred calves (dairy beef) have become a significant source of revenue for dairy farmers. Land available for larger dairy farms is in the western region of both countries, and large farms have been established in those areas. Changes in manure management have focused on limiting methane, which may be captured as an energy source. Cow-specific technologies have boosted robotically assisted management of cows. Herd sizes will continue to grow within the limit of land masses available in their location. Increased milk consumption and increased population of Hispanics will drive milk uptake in the USA.

Dr. Emily Burton, Nottingham Trent University

Surviving sustainably on Earth is one of a set of challenges that transcend national boundaries and are the primary focus of the United Nations (UN). The UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) clearly exist to find balance between economic, social, and environmental needs, both now and in the future. Ensuring we operate within the planetary boundaries estimated necessary for human survival is creating opportunities to change the way we think and work but with this opportunity comes both risk and reward. Our challenge, and indeed our responsibility as nutritionists is to identify how to ensure animal nutrition brings sustainable development for all, both locally in Canada and globally. This requires us to rapidly change the way we think and work in order to capitalise on the emerging opportunities in both production and processing of feed and animal proteins.
 
Feed production sometimes takes a narrow approach to sustainability, with a strong focus on use of finite resources and the environmental impact of resulting manure. However, leading economic bodies (including the World Bank) increasingly recognise the reliance of economic and societal stability on environmental stability. It is therefore important that the feed sector begins to recognise the increasing global focus on the well-being of the environment and valuing it as natural capital.
The concept of responsible innovation, where industry and academia give society opportunity to scrutinise the assumptions, values and visions that drive science, has been evolving in the EU for some time. Responsible research frameworks offer nutritionists the foundation for a new responsible innovation ethos where regulators are increasingly willing to rapidly adapt their regulatory systems to prevent delaying innovation that is beneficial to society.

Keywords: UN SDGs, responsible innovation, sustainable food production.

Dr. Kim Ominski, University of Manitoba

Protein demand over the next 30-years is projected to increase to satisfy the needs of the growing global population. Improved production efficiency, including average daily gain and feed efficiency, is one avenue to do so. Despite advances in production efficiency via genetic selection, improved management systems, and use of productivity-enhancing technologies (PET’s), there has been a shift in demand toward “free-from” products (i.e., free from growth hormones or antibiotics) in domestic and global markets. However, consumers are largely unaware of the implications of eliminating PET’s from the production system on cost of production, retail price of beef, environmental sustainability and future food security. Using PET’s as an example, this presentation will examine the implications of consumer food choices on productivity, economic viability and environmental sustainability including greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, as well as land and water use.  Further, as stakeholders in the livestock sector, we are eager to share our knowledge with consumers but capturing their attention is an ever-allusive challenge. Therefore, we will explore opportunities for engagement between industry stakeholders and consumers in Canada to ensure optimal use of natural resources, nutritional adequacy, improved human health, and the environmental sustainability of Canadian diets. However, as we support consumers in their quest to make informed choices regarding diet, we must be mindful that there is room in the marketplace for a variety of food production systems.
 
Keywords: beef cattle, productivity enhancing technologies, environmental sustainability

Dr. Jaap Van Milgen, French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE)

Individuals of the same species may look the same, but they are genetically somewhat different. Different species may look different, but share many common features. The genetic difference between a chicken and a pig is roughly 25%, which may seem considerable. However, it often reflects genetic differences to ensure that the same function can be realized in a (somewhat) different way. As animal nutritionists, we often focus on the differences between species and ignore (or: take for granted) the commonalities. For example, arginine is an essential amino acid for birds but not for mammals because birds lack an enzyme to enter carbamoyl-phosphate into the urea cycle. However, birds possess the other steps of the urea cycle allowing them to synthesize arginine from citrulline, and to catabolize arginine to proline or glutamate. This single missing step causes birds to excess nitrogen via the uric acid cycle rather than via the urea cycle, as in mammals. Mammals also use the uric acid cycle to metabolize purines (e.g., adenine), which is a building block of DNA and the core of ATP. Both species thus use (parts of) both cycles. The cost of synthesizing and excreting excess nitrogen is approximately 40.3 kJ/g N for urea and 60.7 kJ/g N for uric acid. In both cases, 56% is retained in excretion product and 44% is lost as heat with implications for the protein value in energy systems. A better understanding of the metabolic commonalities between species may help us in appreciating the practical differences.
 
Keywords: poultry, pigs, metabolism, nitrogen, energy.

Dr. Dan Columbus, University of Saskatchewan

The issues facing pork producers and swine nutritionists moving into the future are similar to what they have been for decades, a need to increase productivity while meeting increasing demands from legislation and consumers in order to ensure the economic, environmental, and social sustainability. While the challenges are the same, the methods with which we tackle these issue are evolving, and nutritional sciences will necessarily include additional aspects, such as physiology, metabolism, and microbiome, among others, in order to advance the field.  There will also be a shift in focus to consider not only the impact of nutrition on growth, but on animal health and welfare as well, and to incorporate the impact of feed decisions on the environmental impact, and specifically the carbon footprint, of pork production. Our understanding of the complex interactions of the competing and symbiotic relationships between feedstuffs and animals as well as the incorporation of advancing technology, such as improved growth models and precision feeding, will be crucial for the advancement of the industry.

Dr. Mary Beth Hall, USDA

An essential element of sustainability is the efficient use of resources. Optimally extracting nutrients from the diet to meet a cow’s nutrient requirements rather than producing manure falls into this category. Rumen microbes can convert fiber that is indigestible by mammals to energy and protein usable by the cow in the forms of volatile fatty acids and microbial cells. At the same time, use of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) or protein by rumen microbes can result in reductions in expected yields of nutrients. For example, both protozoa and bacteria convert some portion of WSC to microbial glycogen, an internal storage carbohydrate that they can ferment later. This can help to maintain a healthy rumen pH by slowing down fermentation and acid production, but results in a use of 1 ATP per hexose added to the glycogen chains – a loss of ATP that reduces potential microbial protein yield. At the same time, dietary WSC, especially bona fide “sugars” (e.g., sucrose) are often associated with increased milk fat yields. For protein, microbial action on rumen degradable protein converts some portion to microbial cell walls which are indigestible, and ammonia which may be used by the microbes or excreted. The microbes can also convert nonprotein nitrogen sources such as urea to microbial protein, making protein useful to the cow out of a material that was not.
Essential to enhancing ruminal efficiency is understanding factors that affect it and translating those into approaches to diet formulation and management that support the desired results.
 
Keywords: dairy cattle, rumen, fermentation, efficiency.

Dr. Alfons Jansman, Wageningen University

Production of foods for humans has a major impact on environmental emissions, climate change and land-use. To reduce the impact, and minimize feed-food competition, implementation of the concept of circularity of food production will become increasingly important. In circular food systems, crop land is primarily used for plant-based food production, while by-products from food processing and biofuels i.e. crop residues, co-products of the food industry, grass from marginal land and food waste will be used to formulate diets for production animals. These ingredients generally contain less starch and fat (energy), are variable in protein content and, when of plant origin, contain more fibre and phytate compared to conventional feed ingredients. Use of more circular diets in pig production will have consequences for nutrient composition of the diet and their consumption by pigs might reveal physiological limitations related to digestion and post-absorptive metabolism. The use of circular diets will also direct more efforts towards processing of by-products and complete diets to maximize their nutritional value and minimize the environmental imprint. The potential challenges and consequences in formulating and using circular diets will be discussed from a nutritional, physiological, nutrient efficiency, health and welfare perspective.
 
Keywords: pigs, circular food production, by-products, nutrient efficiency, health.

Dr. Stephanie Terry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Canada has set ambitious commitments for reaching its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 40 to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. Likewise, agricultural industry stakeholders have made their own targets to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. Methane production from enteric fermentation is the most important greenhouse gas to ruminant livestock production, representing 80% of Canada’s agricultural methane emissions. Although the carbon footprint of beef and milk production per unit of product in Canada is less than 50% of the global average, ambitious and novel solutions for decreasing enteric methane are required to meet national methane pledges. Feed additives targeting enteric methane reduction are reviewed as having the most potential for potent, immediate and effective action. Despite the incoming availability of commercially produced feed additives, there is not widespread adoption due to several limitations including system application, regulatory restrictions, certainty in their validity, and economics. This paper will discuss the opportunities, limitations, and future research of feed additive technologies with the potential to decrease enteric methane production from both the Canadian beef and dairy population. Additionally, this paper will highlight the importance of co-ordination between government, industry, and producers in order the make feed additives available to meet Canada’s 2030 targets.
 
Keywords: ruminants, greenhouse gas emissions, enteric methane, feed additives.

Melissa Dumont, Animal Nutrition Association of Canada

An outlook on how current and emerging government priorities may shape the future of the livestock feed industry. ANAC’s role in advocating for and supporting the development of practical and relevant regulations, policies and other legislative tools will also be discussed.