Can poultry companies manufacture parts-per-million nutrition?

The smallest ingredients in the formula can expose the largest gap between nutritional investment and manufacturing control.

Professional headshot of a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a brown jacket with plaid shirt Headshot
Ioannis Mavromichalis
August 10, 2026
Pile of tan and brown sand granules scattered on white background
New Africa | BigStock.com

Modern poultry diets depend increasingly on ingredients included at very low levels. Enzymes, vitamins, trace minerals, pigments and other functional additives are expected to improve performance, reduce feed cost or protect animal health. Some are also given nutrient matrix values, meaning other nutrients are removed from the formula because the additive is expected to replace them.

This is where a very small manufacturing error can become rather expensive.

Log in to view the full article
Recommended
Two farmers inspecting a black and white dairy cow in a barn, with hay and farm equipment visible in the background.
Dairy Cow Health & Disease
Washington state sees first cases of HPAI in dairy cattle
Company News
Kellie Brown joins Simmons Animal Nutrition as director of sales
Related Stories
Close-up of tan and brown cylindrical feed or wood pellets scattered in bulk
Animal Nutrition Views
Are we optimizing the pellet or the bird?
Close-up view of tan and brown cylindrical feed or fuel pellets scattered together
Animal Nutrition Views
Are poultry companies paying for nutrients birds never receive?
Soybeans and corn kernels separated by wooden divider in storage
Animal Nutrition Views
Alternative ingredients for soy and corn in broiler feeds
Group of fluffy yellow chicks standing on sandy ground
Animal Nutrition Views
Starting broiler chicks for a 35-day market
More in Animal Nutrition Views
Animal Nutrition Views
When should a poultry company independently review its nutrition program?
An external review is most valuable before performance collapses — when costs, specifications, additives and operating practices have gradually stopped working as one system.
Notebook with 'Review' written on page, yellow highlighter, sticky notes, and binder clip on wooden desk
Brand Insights
The U.S. Soy Advantage
U.S.SEC
Explore the benefits of soy from the U.S., delivering quality, reliability, nutrition, and sustainability for global animal feed and aquaculture.
The U.S. Soy Advantage
Animal Nutrition Views
When FCR is the wrong performance metric for a poultry integrator
Feed conversion measures biological efficiency, but it does not necessarily identify the flock producing the greatest quantity or value of saleable poultry meat.
Group of fluffy yellow baby chicks standing on sandy ground
Animal Nutrition Views
The hidden cost of an overcomplicated feed additive portfolio
Poultry companies regularly evaluate new additives, but rarely review whether the products accumulated over time still create measurable value together.
Child's hands typing on laptop keyboard while wearing teal clothing
Animal Nutrition Views
When least-cost feed becomes highest-cost production
Reducing feed cost per ton creates little value when the resulting diet increases feed conversion, growing time, flock variation or processing losses.
Business professional analyzing financial data with colorful charts and trend lines overlaid on desk documents
Animal Nutrition Views
Who owns nutrition performance across an integrated poultry company?
When nutrition, procurement, feed manufacturing, live production and processing optimize separate targets, nobody remains accountable for the final biological and financial result.
Technician in hard hat and safety vest touching glowing lightbulb with digital technology icons on electrical panel background
Animal Nutrition Views
Ingredient flexibility is becoming a supply chain advantage
Poultry companies that can qualify and use alternative ingredients quickly are better protected against price shocks, shortages and declining supplier quality.
Silver chain with one red link symbolizing connection and strength
Animal Nutrition Views
Is feed intake the most neglected poultry KPI during summer?
When heat reduces consumption, the diet may remain perfectly formulated while birds receive too little energy, protein, minerals and vitamins.
Industrial poultry farm with hundreds of white chickens with pink markings in a climate-controlled facility.
Animal Nutrition Views
The hidden cost of grinding poultry feed too finely
Finer grinding may improve mixing and pellet quality, but it also increases processing cost and can remove useful structure from poultry feed.
Hands holding a handful of tan animal feed pellets over a bed of similar pellets
Animal Nutrition Views
Are we optimizing the pellet or the bird?
Higher conditioning temperatures can improve pellet quality and feed hygiene, but the nutritional cost is seldom measured under commercial conditions.
Close-up of tan and brown cylindrical feed or wood pellets scattered in bulk
Animal Nutrition Views
Are poultry companies paying for nutrients birds never receive?
Precision formulation creates little value when manufacturing, transport and farm delivery are not managed as one system.
Close-up view of tan and brown cylindrical feed or fuel pellets scattered together
Animal Nutrition Views
Alternative ingredients for soy and corn in broiler feeds
Alternative ingredients can reduce feed cost, but only if the nutritionist buys information before buying volume.
Soybeans and corn kernels separated by wooden divider in storage
Animal Nutrition Views
Starting broiler chicks for a 35-day market
In a short cycle, the first seven days represent a large part of the bird’s life, and performance lost during that period is rarely recovered completely.
Group of fluffy yellow chicks standing on sandy ground
Page 1 of 47
Next Page