The demand for alternative, all-natural feeding programs has taken center stage
With the recent announcements by major packers to eliminate ractopamine from their supply chain by the first of the year, the demand for alternative, all-natural feeding programs has taken center stage for many packers and those who raise pork across the United States. Ensuring that Average Daily Gain, Carcass Uniformity and Meat Quality doesn’t take a hit with the removal of ractopamine from the feeding program, has been a challenge facing many companies who specialize in researching and providing innovative solutions to the marketplace. Not only is the requirement for a ractopamine-free fed pig, the feed consumed by that pig must be manufactured in a ractopamine-free facility. That requirement will likely expedite the transition of many manufacturing facilities away from ractopamine completely. Furst-McNess Company based in Freeport, Illinois, with their swine research and sales office located in Johnston, Iowa, has been developing products for this market since 2011. Through formal research in their state-of-the-art research facility and extensive commercial trials, the McNess swine research team led by Dr. Fredrik Sandberg, has developed a feed ingredient, LeanFuel, that is up to the challenge. Although LeanFuel is not new, the research has demonstrated to packers and those raising pork, meeting the requirements of those packers is achievable while maintaining the expected performance. “The results of our research were exciting to say the least,” according to Sandberg, “but the real excitement came when the results of our commercial trials started coming in: the product works in real production, and not just in a research facility.” After several years of formal research and commercial trials, LeanFuel has been shown in several published trials to support Average Daily Feed intake, Average Daily Gain and Feed Efficiency, as well as carcass weight uniformity and meat quality. Lean Fuel is a feed supplement fed during late finishing to optimize health and performance.
For more information about LeanFuel or to request a consultation and review of the research, contact Furst-McNess at [email protected], call 815-801-2744, or visit www.leanfuel.net. Furst-McNess has spent the last eight years developing, improving, and researching an all-natural complete feeding program that will support the long-term sustainability of the North American pork industry.
