Expanded availability for 2014, 2015

Livestock producers and their industries in Canada and the U.S. have a fresh option to safeguard feed quality and related animal performance.

This comes with the expanded availability of NutraMix from Canadian Bio-Systems Inc. – a unique product based on leading science to help ensure safe, high quality feed. The product is backed by the MycoCheck program which supports custom application recommendations.

Here’s a quick rundown of the product features and benefits, with perspective from Mark Peters, CBS Inc. Manager of Sales and Marketing, and Rob Patterson, CBS Inc. Technical Services Manager.

Q: What makes NutraMix unique in the marketplace?

Patterson: NutraMix is all about protection. Protecting the quality of feed and protecting the animals.

What makes NutraMix unique in the marketplace is that it delivers this protection in multiple ways, with several active components. Some are geared to promoting ‘clean’ feed. Others are geared to animal benefits that support protection and recovery from any potential contaminants.

Specifically, the product includes a combination of absorbents, yeast polysaccharides and vitamins, carefully formulated to maximize the complementary activities of these ingredients.

Q: The threat of disease and related contamination is always a concern. How does NutraMix help producers manage this issue?

Peters: Disease threats rise and fall. They can be difficult to predict. So one thing a product like NutraMix does is provide peace of mind.

Many customers use it as an insurance policy year after year. During times when the threat is high, it delivers high value. In years when the threat is low, it still makes sense as a basic safeguard.

If it’s built into your feeding program, this becomes one less thing the producer needs to worry about. You take yourself out of a guessing game and have the confidence you are limiting risk.

The product is geared to feedgrains but it works with protein sources as well.

Q: What is the role of MycoCheck?

Peters: The MycoCheck program is designed to go hand-in-hand with NutraMix. It’s a program from CBS Inc. that provides custom analysis of feed contaminant risk, to help producers identify optimal application levels for maximum benefit.

We ask producers to send us a sample of their grain or other feedstuffs. We analyze it with MycoCheck and get back to them quickly with the details. We are there every step of the way to help the customer decide on solutions and manage their feeding approach.

Q: What is the science basis for the product?

Patterson: The product development was based on leading research of its kind in the world, in Canada, conducted by leading experts on the effect of mycotoxins on livestock.

Research examining the benefits of NutraMix for monogastrics has been conducted at the University of Guelph. Studies investigating the benefits of NutraMix for ruminants have included trials conducted under large scale commercial herd conditions.

Perhaps the best indication though is the results our customers are seeing each year under the current conditions in the industry. Details on both study results and what new customers can expect are available by contacting CBS Inc. directly.

Q: Does NutraMix have specific benefits for feeding ‘new’ crops?

Peters: That question is based on a perception that often arises. For example, my grandpa always said once he combined grain before he fed that to his pigs he wanted it to sit in his bin for two or three months just to let it mature and settle a bit. That was often the rule of thumb. Today people feed it right off the combine, because they need it right away.

There are a lot of things people are doing differently today and we don’t have the body of knowledge to know the impact. The bottom line is for this or any situation of grain quality concern, enzymes and a product such as NutraMix can play a role. They provide a boost to ensure you get more benefit out of the grain and, specifically in the case of NutraMix, that it’s clean grain. If there was going to be a negative, these products can offset that or limit that. It comes back to that insurance policy concept again. It’s a simple, reliable way to protect against unknown factors that could compromise your quality and results.