Pork producers are looking at challenging conditions due to high ingredient prices which are negatively impacting breakeven costs. High ingredient prices contribute to continuing volatility in pork markets and leaves producers seeking risk management solutions. 

Managing margins means making the most of all nutritional inputs in swine rations. Optimizing nutrition contributes to decreased costs of production. Dietary supplements play a significant role in achieving these objectives and enhancing your bottom line especially in the growing and finishing phases.

To capture the best profits possible, producers focus on four key production measures:

Achieving the greatest number of pigs at the most profitable target market weight, with the highest possible carcass yield percentage increases profitability. Implementing customized programs specifically designed to meet these goals give producers the greatest opportunity to see increases in return on investment.

While it is tempting and sometimes necessary, to use lower quality feed ingredients due to the cost and availability of corn and soybean meal, there are performance trade-offs to consider. The key to maintaining margins is to get the most nutrients out of the ingredients being fed using the latest technologies.

Organic acids like ACTIVATE® DA nutritional feed acid help maintain a healthy gut environment, reducing the risk of infection from bacterial diseases. Better acidification of the gut aids digestion and enzyme activation while antibacterial properties are thought to generate dual benefits of reducing pathogen levels while improving gut health inducing beneficial immune responses.

Minerals like MINTREX® chelated trace minerals absorption improvement means pigs get more of these necessary nutrients in their cells and tissues. As a result, better support of thousands of mineral-dependent enzymes and proteins occurs and biochemical work in the pig’s system functions optimally. Copper, specifically, can help optimize the antimicrobial effect in the GI tract resulting in improved gut health for the pig.

Antioxidants like AGRADO® Plus feed ingredient control oxidation in pigs so they get the best out of all the nutrients they consume. That means improved performance, feed efficiency and economic return for producers. Additionally, antioxidants stabilize and preserve feed, another economic benefit.

Enzymes like CIBENZA™ feed additive that improve amino acid availability and/or degrade non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) have gained a strong interest for swine feed. Amino acid availability is lower, and often more variable, in many protein sources compared to soybean meal. Proteases help by improving amino acid availability from these protein sources as well as soybean meal and help reduce the formulation risk associated with using variable sources of these non-soybean meal proteins.

Using Novus’s proprietary products in grow-finish rations enhances profitability by reducing diet cost, improving feed efficiency and increasing carcass yield while maintaining growth rates. The right combination of Novus products reduces diet costs with maintained performance. Novus provides solutions as unique as each producer’s pork production enterprise. With extensive expertise and experience, Novus works with producers individually to develop custom programs to help optimize weight gain and feed efficiency as well as carcass traits. Whether the custom-designed Accelerating Finishing Profitability program includes ACTIVATE, MINTREX Cu, AGRADO Plus, CIBENZA or all of them the result is a healthier bottom line. Novus serves unique and diverse customers, each deserving the benefit of all of Novus’s experience to help grow pigs and profits.

Look to Novus for solutions. With science-backed products, proven in extensive testing as well as on the farm, producers can have confidence in accelerating finishing profitability.