When to Reformulate your Diets

Swine nutrition is a very dynamic science and one aspect of it is knowing when it is time to re-evaluate the diets we recommend. There are a multitude of influences on how a diet is composed including, but not limited to: input costs, ingredient availability, ingredient composition, market prices of meat, mycotoxins and more.
Let’s look at a couple of the most common influencers and see how they alter the composition of a diet. All examples will be for finishing pigs using an average diet.

Price Influence
Price is one of the most dynamic elements of nutrition. Market prices on commodities are volatile and move rapidly upward, and sometimes not as rapidly, downward. Global markets, geopolitical events and weather all wreak havoc on pricing, and we need to know when it is time to reformulate to either capture savings or mitigate the risk of increasing prices. For a producer manufacturing feed on-farm, the impact of price on corn or soybean meal leaves little room to navigate unless an alternative or replacement ingredient is available. For the example in Table 1, we will use wheat as the replacement for corn and canola meal as the replacement for soybean meal. In this example we can see that when wheat is more expensive than corn by more than $40 it is not a viable feed ingredient in the mix. On the protein side, when the difference in cost between soybean meal and canola meal is $40 and less, the canola meal is not a viable ingredient. The key message is that it is a sliding scale to replace ingredients in a diet based on the price of its closest alternative. There is almost always a point of inflection, in this example, $40/MT for corn and more than $40/ MT price difference for soybean meal.

Table 1: Example of ingredient substitution depending on ingredient cost differences

Nutrient Influence
The nutrient composition of a feed ingredient is also vital to ensure you are delivering exactly what you think you are to the pigs. If you have formulated with a 45% crude protein soybean meal, then you need to ensure that the nutrients that come with that protein level are present. It is more difficult to monitor and account for composition changes in ingredients as we are always getting information on a product that is already in the bin. In a perfect world, we could either get a sample before delivery or segregate ingredients until a lab analysis is completed, but this is just not realistic for most producers. In the example in Table 2, we will simply highlight the impact on feed composition assuming changes in the energy and crude protein levels of ingredients.
In Table 2, we reviewed the energy level of corn and the protein level of soybean meal to consider their influence on simple diets. For corn, as we decrease the energy level, we can see a marked increase in the amount of corn needed to maintain the energy level in the complete tonne of feed. By the time we have reduced energy by 200 kcal/kg in corn, the diet can no longer solve without supplemental energy sources like fat or oil. With soybean meal, we altered the protein content, and its influence on the amino acid balance of the ingredient. When we decrease or increase soybean meal protein content, there is a clear pattern of usage based on the nutrient content. Taking delivery of soybean meal that is even 1% different in crude protein than expected can have an impact on the diets if they are not rebalanced using more soybean meal or supplemental amino acids.

Table 2: Demonstrating how energy and crude protein level influence ideal inclusion

Toxins
Finally, mycotoxins are an issue that influences our feed formulation decisions each crop year. We need to keep a close eye on the contribution of these toxins within our feeds to ensure we only manufacture and present the best quality product for our animals. There are multiple means to deal with toxins, the most effective being removal or blending out of poor-quality grain products. When this is not an option, we can rely on toxin binders, enzymes and other items to help mitigate the impact of the toxins in the feed. The good news is that the 2024 crop is looking to be a very good one in terms of toxin load. This is discussed in detail in one of our other Grist articles in this issue. This is just a small summary of a few factors that should be monitored to determine when it is time to reformulate your feed. As we can see, this is a dynamic question with many different answers. The Good News: The nutritionists at Grand Valley Fortifiers are here to help take the guesswork out of the decision making and ensure you not only optimise your hogs nutrition but also your bottom line.

This article was written for the Winter 2024 Swine Grist. To read the whole Swine Grist, click the button below.

This article was also written for the Winter 2024 Western & Prairie Swine Grist. To read the whole Western Swine Grist, click the button below.