NZ Dairy Summer 2020

40 | nz dairy The natural choice To enhance the nutritional value of your stock feed ask RINGROSE STOCK FEEDS about Optimate. FEEDSAFE » Ringrose Stockfoods Optimate provides many benefits Plant upgrades to meet demand • from page 38 was built and this year the pallet presses were again upgraded. These produce up to 8 tonnes and 4 tonnes of pellets per hour respectively. “It’s an ongoing process of upgrading the plant to meet the demand.” Ringrose Stockfoods manufactures nutritional products for dairy, poultry, horse and pigs supplied in bulk, pallets, nuts and mash, with more than half of its production going to the dairy industry. The process of creating animal nutrition products is highly specialised, requiring an independent ani- mal nutritionist to formulate the ingredients which include macro and trace minerals. “We regularly review our formulations and have them analysed on a regular basis so that the actual specifications line up with the expected specifica- tions of the formulations.” Ringrose Stockfoods is FeedSafe accredited and a member of the New Zealand Feed Manufactur- ers Association which promotes and protects the interests of members involved in the New Zealand animal feed manufacturing industry. Supplementary animal nutrition plays a key role in agriculture, filling seasonal feed deficits, improv- ing animal health, reducing veterinarian bills and in the case of dairy, potentially increasing the produc- tive life of milking cows. “You can get reasonable production from just pasture only, but once you add supplementary feeding you are going to increase that per-cow production by balancing the nutritional intake. “We are finding that veterinary bills are reduced, production is increased.” During the Covid-19 lockdown it was business as usual, however Lew has some concerns about the supply of some of the more specialised imported inputs in the future. Supplementary animal nutrition plays a key role in agriculture, filling seasonal feed deficits, improving animal health, reducing veterinarian bills. Optimate, produced by Blue Paci c Minerals is a BioGro certi ed, naturally occurring mineral that can be added to livestock rations for optimal rumen functioning. Optimate has an extraordinary ability to absorb, adsorb, hold, release and exchange chemicals, nutrients and toxins according to conditions of the surrounding environment. Feeding livestock Optimate will provide many bene ts, from optimising animal health and production to reducing nitrogen leachate in the environment. The product consists of natural New Zealand mineral deposits called Zeolites. The value of Zeolites has long been recognized and is commonly used in poultry, pig and cattle feeds throughout the world due to its unique honey-comb structure that allows for a large surface area of 200 m 2 per gram and high cation (positively charged ion) exchange capacity of 140 mEq (milliequivalents) per 100 grams. Extensive research overseas has shown that these properties allow Zeolites to bind, release and exchange positively-charged materials. In a recently published New Zealand research study with lactating dairy cows, Zeolites in Optimate were effective in reducing excess ammonia levels in the rumen and helped with maintaining the ruminal pH. Maintaining ruminal function in cows is important, especially during spring and autumn, when pastures can be high in protein and soluble sugars, leading to incomplete protein utilisation and excessive ruminal ammonia levels and a sometimes dangerously low ruminal pH, or so-called sub-acute acidosis, affecting cow performance. These research ndings support anecdotal feedback from farmers who use Optimate in their herd. As much as 400 grams of Optimate per cow per day did not reduce dry matter intake from pasture. Blue Paci c Minerals is New Zealand’s largest processor and distributor of zeolite and perlite ore for domestic, commercial, agricultural and industrial applications throughout Australia, Asia and South Paci c regions. As well as processing locally sourced raw materials, the company also imports industrial minerals for New Zealand clients and offers custom processing facilities. It holds signi cant reserves of the zeolite and perlite mineral ore bodies, either by access agreements, or direct ownership of the associated land. The company recognises the nature its operations has the potential to in uence the ecology and communities around its facilities, consequently it is active in making a valuable, enduring contribution to the design and development of new products aimed at addressing nitrogen management issues in the farming sector, improving lake water quality and other sustainable farming initiatives.