As the leading producer of ethanol, with 25% of the U.S. production and increasing, ADM has a vested interest in conducting research and developing the best products and technologies to facilitate the use of corn byproducts, such as distillers grains, a protein-rich byproduct of ethanol production.  ADM Alliance Nutrition® research and feed technology groups are positioned to provide optimum products that compliment dry distillers grains (DDG) use to achieve maximum ROI on its use in dairy diets.

Many dairy nutritionists and producers are currently utilizing distillers grains in dairy rations due to its increasing availability and favorable cost.  However, to efficiently use distillers grains in the dairy ration, the diet must be fortified with lysine.  Today, the most efficacious means to achieve a higher ration lysine level is to use blood meal in conjunction with oilseed meals that are high in RUP percentage.

ADM Alliance Nutrition recognizes that blood meal is the most concentrated source of lysine, and it provides a complimentary amino acid profile when used with distillers grains in the dairy diet.  With the recent documented cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (i.e., Mad Cow disease), the use of animal proteins in rations for lactating animals has come under scrutiny by the government, general public, and dairy producers.  As one of the feed industry leaders in biosecurity programs, ADM Alliance Nutrition has implemented a stringent quality control process in the procurement and nutrient analysis of blood meal.

Quality Assurance

By requiring that blood meal come from slaughter and processing facilities certified exclusive to porcine blood, ADM Alliance Nutrition narrowed down 36 potential national blood meal suppliers to only a handful.  Porcine blood is widely accepted for use in bovine diets because it does not contain causative agents associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow disease). 

Beyond biosecurity concerns, problems associated with feeding blood meal include the large variations that can exist in crude protein content, RUP content, RUP-digestibility, and amino acid content.  To improve handling and increase RUP characteristics, blood is dried.  Differences in drying procedures greatly impact blood meal quality.  If blood is dried too long, it will have high RUP values, but low digestibility, and the lysine will be unavailable for the cow’s use.  If the blood is not dried enough, it will result in low RUP values, enabling greater rumen degradation and virtually none will pass to the small intestine for absorption and use by the cow.   Both of these scenarios commonly occur with blood meal products, where the method of processing has a major impact on quality.

ADM recognizes these potential nutritional limitations inherent in blood meal that can compromise expected performance.  Consequently, ADM researchers conducted extensive analytical work to determine the nutritional profiles of blood meal from the handful of select suppliers, their specific plant locations, and processing methods used to manufacture their porcine blood meal.  This information was used for the final selection of two suppliers of certified porcine blood meal for ADM Alliance Nutrition.  Each load of blood meal from these two suppliers that arrive at ADM facilities comes sealed and certified as porcine blood meal.
 

Quality Control

Quality control is also important when processing blood meal for use in dairy rations.  In addition to its stringent quality assurance requirements, ADM Alliance Nutrition’s ongoing quality control program assures that using blood meal as the source of digestible lysine, does not compromise the expected performance in milk protein production.  ADM’s quality control professionals apply extensive analytical standards to determine and maintain, on a continual basis, the nutritional content of blood meal used in ADM products (see Table 1).

Technology at Work

As dairy nutritionists and producers utilize DDG in dairy rations, the need arises for a product to compliment the amino acid profile of DDG in dairy diets.  ADM Alliance Nutrition’s amino acid research experts specifically formulated and tested 34731AAA Dairy Solutions 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base for this application – to provide the optimal amino acid balance to most effectively compliment the use of distillers grains in the dairy diet.  In addition to extensive analytical testing at the ADM Animal Nutrition Research Center, the blood-oilseed meal combination used in Dairy Solutions 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base has been validated in wide field use with especially satisfactory performance.  Dairy Solutions 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base provides a higher lysine density needed to balance rations utilizing DDG for high producing dairy cows.

ADM Alliance Nutrition’s quality assurance and quality control processes ensure that the nutritional profile of blood meal used in Dairy Solutions 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base consistently and optimally balances the amino acid (lysine) requirement in high producing cow rations using corn byproducts.  Because of ADM Alliance Nutrition’s stringent quality assurance and quality control processes used in the manufacture of Dairy Solutions 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base, dairy producers who fine-tune amino acid balance in lactating rations can reap higher ROI through the dividends of higher milk protein and milk production.  The bottom line – ADM Alliance Nutrition applies scientific knowledge and skill to formulate feed products and dairy rations which provide consistent quality and value for our customers, enabling dairy cows to perform to their genetic potential.

 And that’s the rest of the story.

Experience the Technology™ at work in Dairy Solutions^® 6:1 Protein Fortifier Base.

Table 1.  RUP and Essential Amino Acid Composition of Blood Meal
Essential AA, %	ADM Mean Values1	NRC 2001 Blood Meal Values2
Arginine	4.47	4.28
Histidine	6.83	6.36
Isoleucine	0.87	1.26
Leucine	12.44	12.88
Lysine	8.09	8.98
Methionine Sulfone	0.34	1.17
Phenylalanine	6.11	6.85
Threonine	2.99	4.34
Valine	8.73	8.68
Tryptophan	1.58	1.50
AA, % of Total	92.16	95.5
RUP, % CP	90.2	77.5
RUP Digest %	80.7	80.0
1Preferred ANI Suppliers' Blood Meal Nutrient Profile (based upon extensive and ongoing analyses); ADM Animal Nutrition Research Study E06906. 2NRC 2001 Blood Meal Nutrient Profile.