USSEC Hosts Eastern European Customers for Practical Training During Swine Nutrition Course
- Category:
- Animal Utilization
- General News
USSEC recently held practical training for eastern European customers, on the heels of its three-day in-class swine nutrition and management course held in Spain (see U.S. Soy News, October 11, 2016, for more information on that portion of the seminar). The two to three days of practical training was held at farms, feed mills, research facilities, providers of commercial services to farmers and manufacturers, suppliers of ingredients and additives, and quality control laboratories.
Having completed their intensive theoretical training in Madrid, customers from Poland, Belarus, Romania, Czech Republic and Russia toured the many swine producing and feed manufacturing sites scattered in various places in Spain. While accompanied by two key trainers, USSEC consultants Dr. Gonzalo G. Mateos and Dr. Juan Acedo-Rico, the trainees had the opportunity to speak with the many commercial specialists at the operations visited and check with them on how various procedures and technological solutions work in a day-to-day reality.
At COBADU cooperative, Dr. Eduardo Bueno, Chief of Nutrition, led the group around the coop’s feedstuffs drying and initial processing facilities, feed mill making feeds for monogastric animals, ruminant feed mill, feedstuff warehouses and quality control lab and answered a multitude of the participants’ questions. Dr. Rafael Sanchez, General Manger, explained to them the economic and productive system the cooperative uses in its business.
Visiting CEP experimental swine farm, a 500-sow unit, the eastern European customers were hosted by Joaquin Morales, Veterinarian in Charge, who explained the farm’s technological set-up and some studies run by the institution as a service to the industry. 3F company (Feeds & Foods Factory), was another case, where the group was hosted by Dr. Mario Garcia, one of the lecturers at the seminar completed earlier in the week, who showed them around the plant that makes livestock nutritional products out of organic acid, enzymes and other liquid additives and explained the practical aspects of such products utilization in swine diets.
At every stage of the practical training part of the course, the trainers pointed out the nutritional and economic aspects of optimal utilization of soybean products in livestock production with a special focus on swine production in which Spain holds the number one position in Europe. At COBADU, the students could see soybean extrusion operation and learn about the benefits gained by the local farmers, who feed it to their livestock.