DES MOINES, Iowa — Nutrition isn’t an easy or fast way to make money in the livestock industry.
But that doesn’t seem to rattle the folks at Novus International, who enthusiastically presented their newest creations at the World Pork Expo here in June.
“There is intellectual property on the nutrition side, you just have to develop something novel,” Eduardo Gallo, Novus’ senior vice-president and chief commercial officer, said in an interview.
Novus has been promoting the notion of “intelligent nutrition” as a way of tackling many problems in animal agriculture. Nutrition, rather than just being a way to get enough food into an animal to meet its caloric needs, is seen as a delivery system for everything from disease prevention to environmental sustainability.
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“It’s a novel combination of experienced people, of insightful perspectives and smarter solutions that allow us to put more into everything we create,” said Gallo. He highlighted nutrition’s ability to reduce antibiotic use, enhance reproductive performance and improve animal body and gut health.
“We will help create a world where we feed solutions instead of treating problems,” said Gallo, talking about the new products.
The technology behind the feed products isn’t simple.
“Our methionine solutions utilize the HMTBa molecule, which is a precursor to methionine,” said Abishek Shingote, associate vice-president with Novus.
He explained to reporters how the “unique molecule” works in Novus’ Alimet feed supplement, as well as the functioning of the chelated trace mineral product called Mintrex, that allows for lower levels of some minerals such as copper while increasing utilization by animals.
Gallo said there are almost endless possible uses for nutrition to tackle production, welfare and environmental issues.
“We have a lot of awareness of the pains of the industry. There are quite a few challenges to solve, from disease to performance to the sustainability of the industry — doing more with less,” said Gallo.
Future developments in nutrition might move away from supplements. In January, Novus bought Agrivida, a biotech company that has pioneered technology to insert valuable nutritional elements into feed crops. That could be a more efficient way to get vital nutrients into pigs and other livestock.
