What makes us different?
Value Adding
1. Active, high-level involvement in all facets of the entire feed business
a. Depending on the requirement and expectations of customers
2. Assist stakeholders of the entire industry and feed value chain to effectively align themselves and create maximum value through mutual support structures
Raw Ingredient Procurement
1. Maize and Soybean: Safex (South Africa Future Exchange) hedging
2. Soybean meal: Component Pricing
3. Logistics
4. Macro and Micro ingredient procurement
a. Globally
5. Quality standards
Manufacturing and Quality
GMP systems
• Training in quality systems
• Help customers with the development of an effective QC system
• Monitoring raw material and final product quality
• Feed mill management and optimization
• Processing technology
• Feed mill efficiency
Formulation
Active management of formulas
• Commercial inputs (ingredient prices, availability, and production forecast)
• Technical inputs (RM matrix, specifications)
• Quantify every facet and impact on the cost of the diet
Analytical services
NIR and wet chemistry:
• Own internal lab
• Focus on NIR programs and value-added service
• Collaboration with other selected laboratories
• Co-operate with best global laboratories for special nutrient analysis
• Evaluate external laboratory
• Negotiate special prices
• Competitive
• Cost
• Accuracy & Quality
• Develop optimal analytical scheduless
• Interpretation and best use of nutrient results
• Monitor quality of wet chemistry results for accurate NIR calibrations
• Unscrambler software for NIR calibrations
NIR calibration
• NIR calibration on Perten NIR
• Two-way agreement with customers
• We supply the existing calibration to the customer at a cost
• The customer keeps sending samples to continuously improve the calibration
• We keep improving the calibration for our customers
• Building custom calibration if necessary
• Customer’s calibration reflects the actual analysis of raw materials and forages he deals with daily
Research studies
Management of trials for our Customers:
• Planning, execution, statistical analysis, reports, recommendations
• Trial facilities for poultry (2×96 pen facilities)
• Diet densities – specific for customer or market
• Variety of other trials
• Performance evaluation
• Raw material evaluation
• Additives evaluation
Back Office
Nutritionists
• Three full-time Nutritionists (currently)
• Support for traveling consultants
• Capture diets of customers on Matrix
• Do least cost formulations
• Evaluate and interpret raw analytical results
• Special projects
Commercial Modelling
Poultry
EFG Broiler Growth model and 2 in-house developed models for both the Cobb 500 and the Ross 308 birds.
Feed First makes use of various commercial models like the EFG Broiler Growth model. The EFG refers to three world-renowned scientists that developed the Model, namely Emmens, Fisher and Gous. It is a mechanistic model that predicts feed intake for a specific breed. It uses mature bird characteristics to describe the breed. Once feed intake is known, growth and FCR can easily be predicted.
Feed First also has developed 2 models in-house for both the Cobb 500 and the Ross 308 birds. These models are more empirical than mechanistic. It is therefore not built on ground principles like those of the EFG model. The advantage, however, is that the Model is very accurate for the specific business situation. It works well with the modern genetics where feed intake prediction becomes challenging in very young broilers that tend to over consume feed and where external brooding practices have a much bigger effect on feed intake than diet specifications. The objective of the model is to calculate the specific feed specifications, while maximizing the profit of the production unit.
Feed First has further developed strong data analysis capabilities. These capabilities are being used to analyse customer production databases and convert it into mathematical prediction equations, that allow Feed First customers to optimize their business and thereby maximize profits.
Ruminants
The CNCPS model
• Developed last 30 years by researchers from Cornell University and other USA institutions
• Continuous updating takes place
• Dynamic, mechanistic and mathematical model that represents the integration of research results from numerous basic and applied studies
• Goal: to accurately predict nutrient requirements and supply for any production situation
• Minimizes cost of production and limits wastage
• Formulates least cost of gain diets (R/kg meat produced)
• Most profitable
• Prediction of nutrient requirements – Principles
• Requires various accurate inputs of variables that will all contribute to influence the actual final production output achieved within a given situation
• Model Predictions
• Energy, metabolizable protein, amino acid, and mineral requirements for maintenance and tissue deposition
• Intake and ruminal degradation of feed carbohydrate and protein fractions, and microbial growth
• Intestinal digestion and excretion
• Metabolism of absorbed energy, protein, and amino acids
AMTS. Cattle & NDS
Primary objective of field application and diet formulation
• Designed for nutritional consultants, extension agents, and university researchers
• Valuable tool for teaching nutrition
• Due to the interface, very easy to use with special features included
• It can be easily used in teaching nutrition concepts
• Software platform developed around the CNCPS dynamic model
• Platform is an evolving application
• Continuously updated,
• as the results of new researches is available
• as the updates of the biological model are released by Cornell University
• Accurately predicts nutrient requirements and supply in each unique production situation for all type of animals
• Tool supporting the design and evaluations of diets
• You can compare rations options to see which feeds can help to lower feed cost or nutrient excretion
