POULTRY industry leader Alltech Lienert Australia capped off the 2019 Australian Poultry Science Symposium with a dinner function dedicated to discussing poultry nutrition and performance.
Guests gathered at Sydney’s Dolton House for a roundtable dinner featuring talks from three of the industry’s finest. Dr Lucy Waldron from LWT Animal Nutrition kicked the night off with her discussion on ‘The development of technology diets: Trial results’.
Lucy has worked in the animal feed industry since 1995 and has run her own nutrition research catering for larger species (horses and calves) since 2006. During her talk on technology diets, Lucy addressed the issue of inorganic minerals and challenges of pollution and excretion, as well as the success of mineral trials in Canada.
Lucy’s focus on the history of mineral use in feed highlighted the major changes seen within the industry since the 1950s. As the second speaker for the night, Alltech mineral division global director Steve Elliott discussed ‘Trace minerals: Essential nutrients for optimal performance’.
Steve has travelled all over the world speaking about the benefits of trace mineral nutrition and its impact on health and immunity. During his talk, Steve encouraged industry to consider using more organic forms of trace minerals as well as considering which types are used to maximise biologically relevant absorption and minimise negative interactions.
Wrapping up the night as the final speaker, Alltech UK and Ireland poultry technical manager John Cooper took the floor to discuss ‘Practical experience and observations of breeders, broilers and layers’. John has spent 23 years working with poultry and the past five within the Alltech team. John was also recently awarded as poultry supply chain champion at the British Poultry Awards, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the industry.
John discussed the importance of gut health as well as his success using egg strength readers to measure and collect strength data and egg weights. During his address, John mentioned the benefits of microfloral rehabilitation to restore normal gut function and effective ways to phase out antibiotics.
John’s work with Alltech has led to vast improvements in approaching gut health management and rehabilitating the intestinal microbiota
