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Water quality strategies, innovations boost profitable animal production
48 Plays10 months ago
From bird health to bottom-line profitability, learn how structured water assessment prevents the costly issues caused by contaminated water.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
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Welcome to Feed Strategy Podcast.
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I'm your host, Jackie Remke, Editor-in-Chief of Watt Global Media's Feed Brands.
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This edition of Feed Strategy Podcast is brought to you by Zinpro Corporation.
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For more than 53 years, Zinpro has been a global leader in advancing animal performance through greater nutrition.
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Zinpro is dedicated to creating smarter practices for a better, more sustainable world.
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To learn more, visit ZenPro.com.
Introduction to Dr. Ton Kramer
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Today we're joined by Dr. Ton Kramer, ZenPro's South American Business Manager.
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Dr. Kramer holds both a master's and doctorate degree in animal science from the Federal University of Parana in Brazil.
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He also possesses MBAs in business management and project management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, along with a postgraduate degree in marketing from Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing.
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In addition to his academic credentials, Dr. Kramer has held significant leadership roles within the Brazilian Association of Veterinary Specialists and Swine.
Impact of Water Quality on Poultry
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Dr. Kramer will discuss how inadequate water quality
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can compromise productive performance in poultry production.
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He will examine the ways this issue impacts health, as well as how it can damage equipment, and also share the best strategies to address the challenge.
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Hi, Dr. Kramer.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
00:01:43
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Hey, Jackie.
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It's great to be here.
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So let's start at the beginning.
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What are the primary causes of water issues in production environments?
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Yeah, that's a great question, Jackie.
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If you think first of all, are the contaminants like bacteria, especially bacteria is something that we talk the most, but we also need to consider other components of contaminants on this water, like heavy metals or other organic material in the water.
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Then we need to think also about the mineral imbalances.
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We have high levels of different minerals according to the region of the water or even the source of the water.
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So these mineral contaminants can make the water palatable, make impact on other nutrients, absorption, and even damage equipment.
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And also we need to consider other environmental factors like runoff or seasonal changes that can introduce pollutants on water.
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And finally, the infrastructure like old pipes or poorly maintained tanks can leach minerals or harbor biofilms.
Consequences of Poor Water Quality
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What are the potential consequences of poor water quality in poultry production?
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And how might this impact the overall profitability of an operation?
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Yeah, that's serious because birds may drink less, which means that they will eat less.
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And because of that, they will grow slower.
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More than that, health issues that came from contaminated water can introduce pathogens, decreasing egg production, feed conversion growing, and the quality of the final products may be affected with these contaminants.
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Also, increased mortality and because of these health issues, medication costs may impact the performance and productivity and profitability.
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You mentioned bacteria earlier.
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Are you seeing common types of pathogens that need to be overcome or controlled?
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Depending on the source of the water, you can see different pathogens.
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But in general, for surface shallows or wells, the risk of contamination is higher.
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And then polyforms like E. coli or even salmonella are also high.
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As you visit customers, do you often see a structured process in place for interpreting water analysis in livestock production?
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And if so, what specific benefits will this provide to producers?
Water Analysis and Its Importance
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In general, what we see is that the analysis is just what is demanded by the legislation and very basic analysis that are done like microbiological contaminants, like bacteria especially, pH or even hardness.
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This is
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It's very basic analysis that are done.
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And this is actually not enough to understand the impacts of the water on performance.
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So what we are proposing, thinking on a structured process for analysis and interpretation, is to have consistency in evaluating water.
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the water in regular periods, like at least twice per year because of the rain and drought periods.
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We need to consider that.
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So doing this analysis in a regular basis, it helps us to understand the impacts of the potential other issues on health and performance.
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So it helps us to have an early detection of these potential issues before they affect animal health and performance.
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This will also help us to the decision-making process, considering water treatment or even an update on the water treatment system or infrastructure changes that is needed.
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And at the end of the day, it will help us to optimize performance and minimize the risks.
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It's like being proactive and not reactive.
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Now, beyond typical water quality parameters, what additional factors should be considered when testing water for livestock, poultry, and why are these parameters particularly significant?
Mineral Content and Feed Formulation
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Beyond basic parameters like pH, hardness, nitrate, and microbial content, what we see is that we need to go further, especially because the animals are much more productive considering the growth rate and
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feed conversion, these animals are more sensible.
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And what we see is that the mineral content on water that is represented by the total solids is important since these elements can affect nutrient absorption.
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If we think mineral absorption, for example, high levels of minerals as a water content may affect the receptors in gut level.
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And this can result in sometimes overload one mineral and sometimes will affect the demand of other minerals.
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So it's important to understand this composition.
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because they are critical for animal health, nutrient utilization, and also the system longevity.
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You've just touched on the relationship between water quality testing and nutritional management in livestock production.
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How might these findings from the water analysis influence feed formulations?
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When you think on bacterial contamination, it's not directly on the nutrient balances, but it's important to consider this to adjust the water treatment, like the use of chlorine.
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But thinking on the nutrient content, especially mineral, you need to consider the mineral interactions because, for example, high calcium, that is something common in different regions, or even iron, that is also
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common in other regions, make adjustments in the feed to avoid these imbalances.
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So thinking on sodium, potassium, chloride levels in water, they also influence the dietary electrolyte balance.
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And all of this will impact on water intake in a first perception, but they also will interfere in nutrient absorption.
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So...
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Considering all this content that changes during the year, it is necessary to make adjustments on nutrient levels in the feed to get the best performance of the animals.
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So thinking on that, water analysis is something essential for precision nutrition, very important nowadays.
Collaboration for Water Management
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It sounds like different parts of the operation, different job titles would be involved in ensuring water quality and its relationship with the animals and their health.
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Examine the roles that different professionals would play in water quality management.
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Yeah, sure.
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This is a team effort.
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So you have the producers that are working on daily basis with the animals and they are demanded to monitor the water systems, collect samples and implement the recommendations.
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Then you have the veterinarians and the nutritionists involved in this change, diagnose health issues that are linked to the water and advise on biosecurity.
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And finally, the nutritionists can adjust feed formulation based on water mineral content and the intake patterns.
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So it's like a collaboration system that ensures this holistic approach to animal health and performance.
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Zinpro recognized the need for understanding water quality in an operation.
Program Support and Solutions
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Tell me about its H2O Water Analysis Program.
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The Zimpr H2O water analysis program is a fantastic tool because it provides the possibility to understand the water analysis, the reports, because they are not so easy to understand.
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Since we can check all the parameters compared to the upper levels, toxic levels,
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we can think and understand the interactions of all the elements that were analyzed.
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So with comprehensive data, we can understand what to do after that.
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Adjustments on nutrition, actions on the health side, and even...
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update the water treatment system.
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This is like a central platform that helps us to improve the decision process to ensure the performance of the animals.
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How does the Zimpro H2O Water Analysis Program approach corrective actions when water quality issues have been identified?
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please describe the decision-making process that occurs once that's made clear?
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First of all, when we do an analysis and we identify the issue, it's important to retest to check if the issue is real.
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This confirms the presence of the contaminants.
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After that, the interpretation of the reports that came from the Zimpro H2O Water Analysis Program, it helps to
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define the treatments and the appropriate solutions.
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And this will be helpful because this ensures cost effectiveness on the solutions.
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And finally, we can implement the best solution considering that interpretation.
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And this may include water treatment, infrastructure upgrades, change on the water source, or also an adjustment on the nutritional levels of the feed.
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And what is important too is to keep monitoring.
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So continuously monitoring the water quality helps to adjust the strategies as needed to ensure long-term effectiveness.
Further Information and Resources
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Thank you so much for your time and sharing these insights.
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If you, the listener, would like more information about ZinPro's H2O Water Analysis Program, please visit www.zinpro.com.
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Click on Performance Solutions and look for more information under Production Optimization Tools.
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Or you could also contact your ZinPro representative.
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Thank you again, Dr. Kramer, and thanks to you for tuning in.