Feed Management - May/June 2009

Grain trader
predicts corn
prices could fall
to $2.50/bu.

Cash prices of corn could drop 31% this year to below $2.50 a bushel, the lowest since October 2006, according to Commodity Information Systems president Bill Gary and reported by Bloomberg. Gary has been trading on grains since 1961 and correctly predicted in July that prices would plunge as credit tightened.

“This recession is going to last a lot longer than the one in the 1970s,” hurting demand for raw materials, said Gary. “I don’t see any major bull move in commodities in the next several years,” Gary said.

Glycerin from biofuels promising pig feed

In a USDA/ARS study, pigs fed crude glycerin from biofuels plants were able to digest it efficiently, and it provided them with a supply of caloric energy that basically equaled that of corn grain. A follow-up study showed no effects on weight, carcass composition, and meat quality in pigs fed diets containing 5% or 10% crude glycerin from weaning to market weight.

In five different experiments on pigs, the diets of starter pigs and finisher pigs were

fed with different levels of crude glycerin from a biofuels plant. Overall, these studies conducted by USDA/ARS animal nutritionist Brian Kerr showed that the sample of crude glycerin contained an apparent metabolizable energy (AME) concentration of 3,207 calories per kilogram (kcal/kg).

Overall, the data indicates that crude glycerin is an excellent source of energy in swine rations and can be used without harming animal performance, carcass

Do you have comments or questions about this issue? Visit FeedIndustryNetwork.com or send an e-mail to the editor at eclark@ wattnet.net.

WATT holds first online ag forum

Presentations from the April 29 WAT T Online Animal Nutrition and Health Forum will be available to be viewed until July 28. Participants from 112 countries took part in this first virtual forum for the agriculture sector, illustrating the desire for information and knowledge sharing, says Jeff Miller, director of E Strategy Sales and Marketing for WAT T.

The five presentations that can be viewed online include these: 10 Ideas that Will Change the Future of Poultry Nutrition and Health, and The Impact of Alternate Feed Ingredients. An estimated 2,000 people signed up for the forum. The next online forum will be held in November. One key advantage the forum offered, Miller adds, is that because it was online, companies could send employees to a world class event without associated travel costs.