Teaching the latest techniques of feed manufacturing processes and improving animal performance when using soybeans and soybean meal were some of the primary objectives at the USSEC China Feed Manufacturing training that was held April 23–27, 2018 at the IGP Institute Conference Center at Kansas State University (KSU) in Manhattan, Kansas.
Fifteen participants who work for agribusinesses in China attended the training and toured several industry businesses in Kansas. These participants also gained knowledge through lectures led by KSU faculty and staff.
The topics covered in this training included particle size reduction; batching and mixing; conditioning and pelleting; effects of feed processing on monogastric nutrition; troubleshooting; extrusion processing; pellet cooling and crumbling; post-pellet liquid applications; grain and feed ingredient storage; quality control program; benefits of full-fat soybean meal utilization in animal feeds; maintenance in the feed mill; and effects of feed processing on dairy nutrition.
“USSEC and IGP have a strong relationship with the common goal of providing technical assistance to international buyers of U.S. soybean and soy co-products,” says Carlos Campabadal, feed manufacturing and grain quality management specialist, and course coordinator. “IGP understands the importance of the Chinese market for U.S. soybeans. Therefore, we put a lot of effort in providing the best technical education and assistance to the group.”
Along with lectures and presentations, course participants also toured Countryside Feed, LLC in Hillsboro, Kansas; KSU’s O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Center in Manhattan, Kansas; the KSU Dairy Teaching and Research Center in Manhattan; O’Trimble Family Farm in Perry, Kansas; and Kansas Soybean Commission in Topeka.
These hands-on learning opportunities were meaningful to course participant Wang Jikuo, executive general manager at Gushi Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group Co., Ltd in the Heilongjiang Province in China. He says that he wanted to use this opportunity to see how the feed industry worked and what some of the best practices of feeding are in U.S. feed production systems.
“I really enjoyed all of the different parts of the course. For example, the site visit on the first day to a co-op was an interesting model for us to learn and I can bring that co-op model back home to China to use,” Wang says.
A video about this course can be viewed here.