Students and Our future by Mike Mehren Ph.D.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with some members of the Student Idaho Cattle Assoc. from the Univ. Idaho in Moscow. These students were on a field trip to see the variety of agriculture in the Columbia Basin and Northeastern Oregon.

We’re in danger if these youngsters are our future. They’ll pass us by before we’re ready! The questions they asked ranged from specific to my thoughts about the future of animal feeding and nutrition in our area. We’ll go through some of them and hope they pique your interest as well as they did mine.

One area that will impact every operation will be government regulation and help. This will be seen from birth to death of the animal. Right now we are reporting nitrogen and phosphorus excretion. We have been asked to calculate methane production. Carbon balancing won’t be far behind. Nutrients will be added to this list. I have not figured out how these calculations will help your animals perform better. They are being used to measure how much of these compounds affect the land, ground water, and nearby streams, lakes, and rivers. Successful farmers have already learned how to deal with these types of issues. They have learned to use government programs to their advantage. We in beef production are not there yet, but I believe we will be if we hope to survive. Other areas will be humane handling, use of anesthesia, and transportation.

Another issue to deal with will be the loss of antibiotics in feeding and treating livestock. I know feed antibiotics that improve gain and feed efficiency, prevent bloat and coccidiosis will be restricted without scientific justification. Antibiotics available to treat a sick animal will be drastically reduced also. These two fields open a huge area of research to determine other compounds that can be used to prevent or treat a disease. An example might be the use of copper in pig diets. High levels of copper control bacterial growth and are used to protect hogs from disease. We know that excessive levels of copper will kill virtually all of the bugs in the paunch of cattle, so there is no direct cross-over for that mineral. I’m not aware of studies that have looked into minerals or mixtures of minerals specifically for disease prevention or treatment. Extracts from plants offer fascinating opportunities to fight bacteria and viruses.

We do have an array of specialized microbes, enzymes, and cell fractions that are being used to promote health and performance. We have only scratched the surface in that area of nutrition. Compared to 20 years ago, we have come light years, and will undoubtedly advance this science in the years to come. Two firms leading this charge in the northwest are All Tech and Diamond V. What impresses me and other nutritionists is the amount of research that is being conducted. They report the studies where they win as well as those when they lose. This is the mark of companies on the right track. How many products are you offered that have no research behind them? Their evidence for the value of their product is testimony by other ranchers, studies done with other animals, or in-house studies that aren’t published. Fortunately for us, claims for improved health or prevention or control of disease are regulated by State Dept. of Agric or FDA personnel. Can you imagine the product claims for ‘makes a more tender steak’ as long as it was followed by ‘the FDA has not evaluated this claim’? For humans, it appears that last statement allows a company to make all kinds of claims.

Another great question was how I went about reducing the cost of winter feed for cows. I should have handed that young man $20! It allowed me to go into my rant about feed testing. No matter what is fed or considered for feeding, the first step needs to be the feed test. This information is almost as important as the feed itself. The feed test describes the feed in detail, so that you or your new young nutritionist can figure out what nutrients are low, which ones are high, and what might be needed to supplement it so that the cattle can get the most benefit when it’s eaten. We went through an example that used grass straw. The steps taken were: (1) what is the current body condition of the cows? (2) When will the cows calve? (3) What are the ages of the cows? (4) What feeds do we have available, and what is the cost? (5) What is the analysis of the feeds available? If that information is gathered, it gives the nutritionist a point of reference to make a recommendation.

A good question was about straw ammoniation. All kinds of different treatments are being studied to improve the digestibility of the fibrous portion of forages. Ammoniation is one treatment that has proven its worth economically as well as biologically, but is not used very extensively for one reason or the other. It adds nitrogen to the straw. The bugs in the paunch then use this nitrogen to make protein just like they do the nitrogen in urea, canola meal, or alfalfa. Ammoniation also breaks some of the chemical bonds that prevent the cattle from digesting the straw. This raises the TDN of straw to about the same as feeder alfalfa hay; about 54% TDN. Processing all kinds of potential feedstuffs has gone on for years. Wood and waste paper are some of the products that were tested. The search for sources of ethanol and biofuel will undoubtedly find byproducts very
beneficial for livestock once they have been separated during the distillation or extraction of the fat.

Of course my all-time favorite by product, potato vines, might even be a subject of research to determine how we can feed it to livestock rather than let it rot in the field. Can you imagine the tons of feed that would be available if the vines were saved for feed? Does it need to be ammoniated and ensiled; can it be mixed with other feedstuffs to improve its value? Under what conditions will it be toxic? How can we detoxify it? How can it be harvested without interfering with potato harvest? Answers to these types of questions can make a tremendous difference in the viability of the cattle industry in the Pacific Northwest.

I think nutritionists entering the industry or universities in the next decade will have a
diversity of opportunities not enjoyed in the past. Here are some off-the-wall job
titles for your consideration:



		Students and Our Future BY MIKE MEHREN Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with some members of the Student Idaho Cattle Assoc. from the Univ. Idaho in Moscow. These students were on a field trip to see the variety of agriculture in the Columbia Basin and Northeastern Oregon. We’re in danger if these youngsters are our future. They’ll pass us by before we’re ready! The questions they asked ranged from specific to my thoughts about the future of animal feeding and nutrition in our area. We’ll go through some of them and hope they pique your interest as well as they did mine. One area that will impact every operation will be government regulation and help. This will be seen from birth to death of the animal. Right now we are reporting nitrogen and phosphorus excretion. We have been asked to calculate methane production. Carbon balancing won’t be far behind. Nutrients will be added to this list. I have not figured out how these calculations will help your animals perform better. They are being used to measure how much of these compounds affect the land, ground water, and nearby streams, lakes, and rivers. Successful farmers have already learned how to deal with these types of issues. They have learned to use government programs to their advantage. We in beef production are not there yet, but I believe we will be if we hope to survive. Other areas will be humane handling, use of anesthesia, and transportation. Another issue to deal with will be the loss of antibiotics in feeding and treating livestock. I know feed antibiotics that improve gain and feed efficiency, prevent bloat and coccidiosis will be restricted without scientific justification. Antibiotics available to treat a sick animal will be drastically reduced also. These two fields open a huge area of research to determine other compounds that can be used to prevent or treat a disease. An example might be the use of copper in pig diets. High levels of copper control bacterial growth and are used to protect hogs from disease. We know that excessive levels of copper will kill virtually all of the bugs in the paunch of cattle, so there is no direct cross-over for that mineral. I’m not aware of studies that have looked into minerals or mixtures of minerals specifically for disease prevention or treatment. Extracts from plants offer fascinating opportunities to fight bacteria and viruses. We do have an array of specialized microbes, enzymes, and cell fractions that are being used to promote health and performance. We have only scratched the surface in that area of nutrition. Compared to 20 years ago, we have come light years, and will undoubtedly advance this science in the years to come. Two firms leading this charge in the northwest are All Tech and Diamond V. What impresses me and other nutritionists is the amount of research that is being conducted. They report the studies where they win as well as those when they lose. This is the mark of companies on the right track. How many products are you offered that have no research behind them? Their evidence for the value of their product is testimony by other ranchers, studies done with other animals, or in-house studies that aren’t published. Fortunately for us, claims for improved health or prevention or control of disease are regulated by State Dept. of Agric or FDA personnel. Can you imagine the product claims for ‘makes a more tender steak’ as long as it was followed by ‘the FDA has not evaluated this claim’? For humans, it appears that last statement allows a company to make all kinds of claims. Another great question was how I went about reducing the cost of winter feed for cows. I should have handed that young man $20! It allowed me to go into my rant about feed testing. No matter what is fed or considered for feeding, the first step needs to be the feed test. This information is almost as important as the feed itself. The feed test describes the feed in detail, so that you or your new young nutritionist can figure out what nutrients are low, which ones are high, and what might be needed to supplement it so that the cattle can get the most benefit when it’s eaten. We went through an example that used grass straw. The steps taken were: (1) what is the current body condition of the cows? (2) When will the cows calve? (3) What are the ages of the cows? (4) What feeds do we have available, and what is the cost? (5) What is the analysis of the feeds available? If that information is gathered, it gives the nutritionist a point of reference to make a recommendation. A good question was about straw ammoniation. All kinds of different treatments are being studied to improve the digestibility of the fibrous portion of forages. Ammoniation is one treatment that has proven its worth economically as well as biologically, but is not used very extensively for one reason or the other. It adds nitrogen to the straw. The bugs in the paunch then use this nitrogen to make protein just like they do the nitrogen in urea, canola meal, or alfalfa. Ammoniation also breaks some of the chemical bonds that prevent the cattle from digesting the straw. This raises the TDN of straw to about the same as feeder alfalfa hay; about 54% TDN. Processing all kinds of potential feedstuffs has gone on for years. Wood and waste paper are some of the products that were tested. The search for sources of ethanol and biofuel will undoubtedly find byproducts very beneficial for livestock once they have been separated during the distillation or extraction of the fat. Of course my all-time favorite by product, potato vines, might even be a subject of research to determine how we can feed it to livestock rather than let it rot in the field. Can you imagine the tons of feed that would be available if the vines were saved for feed? Does it need to be ammoniated and ensiled; can it be mixed with other feedstuffs to improve its value? Under what conditions will it be toxic? How can we detoxify it? How can it be harvested without interfering with potato harvest? Answers to these types of questions can make a tremendous difference in the viability of the cattle industry in the Pacific Northwest. I think nutritionists entering the industry or universities in the next decade will have a diversity of opportunities not enjoyed in the past. Here are some off-the-wall job titles for your consideration: Political Nutritionist. Separating the chaff from the fodder for the public. Bio engineering Nutritionist Ecological Nutritionist Behavioral Nutritionist DeVine Nutritionist (sorry about that) Seriously, livestock nutritionist in the future will have to deal with many interrelationships between the animals, their environment, and laws regulating how the animals are treated, how they are fed, and where they are fed. Animal waste, smell, and disposal will require ingenuity and technology not used today. Michael J. Mehren, Ph.D. managed to stay retired for an entire weekend. He is now busy trying to rebuild his 201K (about half a 401K ) as a member of The Performix Nutrition team. He can be contacted by Email at mehrens@eotnet.net.		About OFGA Services Join OFGA Meetings & Events OFGA Officers OFGA Bylaws Links Contact OFGA Articles Mike Mehren, Ph.D. Feed/Export Wheat Report