Beginning in 2015, USSEC partnered with the Alcon-Cargill Company to develop a new dairy diet.
USSEC Animal Utilization consultant Carlos Campabadal worked with the dairy nutrition staff at Cargill - Central America to develop a closing diet for the pre-partum period, which is the most important diet in a dairy feeding system. Its use increases milk production and reproduction in the next lactation and causes a reduction of metabolic diseases including milk fever, ketosis, and acidosis.
The diet was finalized at the end of February 2016, and USSEC helped to introduce it in Honduras by participating in four dairy field days, attended by 272 producers. Mr. Campabadal spoke about the importance of the closing period and also presented a conference, "The Importance of Nutrition in Cow Reproduction." The USSEC consultant gave great emphasis to the importance of using U.S. soybean meal because of its quality and composition during all of his presentations.
The development of a new diet is a good step for USSEC because it encourages Central American dairy producers to utilize more soybean meal, and partnering with Cargill is a positive because the company purchases more than 140,000 metric tons (MT) of U.S. soybean meal, selling U.S. soybean meal to small producers that make their own feed.