USSEC moved into the second phase of its “Poultry and Swine Feed Meetings – Northeast Europe” project this fall.
Dr. Gonzalo G. Mateos of the University Polytechnica Madrid in Spain, a livestock nutritionist and expert in U.S. Soy quality and its nutritional utilization, provided select USSEC customers in Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary with cutting edge know-how on the utilization of soy and other protein-rich ingredients in broiler, layer, and pig diets and assisted them in the development of better feeding programs.
Dr. Mateos first attended meetings in Wrocław in southeast Poland. The time spent with Professor Dr. Daniel Korniewicz, Cargill / LNB, Swine Nutrition & Production Lead, focused mainly on discussing his company’s production procedures, feed formulation and nutritional challenges. Soy-derived products were another area covered, including the soy protein concentrates (SPCs), soy protein isolates (SPIs), and fermented soymeal products. The African swine fever situation in Poland and the other European countries and the lesson our customers could learn from the Spanish successes in fighting with the disease in 1980s was another important topic.
In the Opole region of southern Poland, Dr. Mateos and Jerzy Kosieradzki, USSEC Technical Director – Northeast Europe, visited Blattin-Polska, where they spent most of their time with Dr. Mirosław Wantuła, Manager of the Swine Production Department. A tour of Blattin’s feed mill and a discussion about the various aspects of their milling technology and quality control system followed. They also covered a range of other swine production and health issues such as the nutritional requirements of highly prolific swine breeds, especially Danbred, feeding system adjustments without antibiotics, optimization of protein-rich ingredients usage, farm management and quality of the people taking care of piglets and sows.
In the Czech Republic, the U.S. Soy envoys spent most of the time with the local branch of DeHeus feed compounder. They toured the feed mill, inspecting every stage of their quality control system, and discussed their nutritional program and how to improve it in the situation of the changing market and national or EU regulations (no antibiotics, expected ban on zinc in feed, etc.). U.S. Soy products’ quality characteristics and competitive nutritional and economic value was thoroughly explained to the local specialists. The U.S. Soy representatives enjoyed the professionalism and hospitality of Michal Karas, a chief swine nutrition program at the company.
In Gardony, Hungary, Dr. Mateos and Mr. Kosieradzki joined UBM Feed’s staff, who coordinated a large seminar for 130 of their swine-producing customers. The U.S. Soy team attended a portion of the pig grower symposium and met with staff members for discussions.
At every company, USSEC met with graduates of various USSEC events held in the U.S. and Europe who spoke about their opinions, comments, or recommendations. USSEC briefed all customers visited about upcoming activities for the remainder of 2018 and 2019.