There is a growing concern to improve the environmental footprint from pig production, and minerals are in the front line. Apart from phosphorous, trace minerals like zinc and copper in feeds are increasingly regulated to reduce their excess in animal wastes, which may then accumulate in soils and waters after manure spreading. Until now, pig producers and feed manufacturers had no tool to simulate any change in mineral nutrition on the total life of the growing pig.
What is the influence of pharmacological dosage of zinc oxide for a limited period of time on total Zn excretion? Can we compensate such practice by lowering Zn dietary concentration in the finishing period? How may a phase feeding program in the fattening period improve the situation? What is the impact of a better feed conversion? siMMin™, a new software from Animine, enables the pig production chain to answer these questions. It also modelizes the zinc concentration of pig wastes, which is of particular value when they are used as fertilisers.
siMMin™ is developed from scientific publications with the support of INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research). This educational software is designed for pig producers, feed manufacturers, nutritionists, veterinarians, academics and regulatory authorities. siMMin™ is online since January 2013, and is freely accessible to all. http://animine.eu/siMMin
January 7, 2013 - Animine