Feedstuffs in Focus

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Feedstuffs in Focus is a weekly look at the hot issues in the livestock, poultry, grain and feed industries. Join us as we talk with industry influencers, experts and leaders about trends and more. Feedstuffs in Focus is produced by the team at Feedstuffs.

4 DAYS AGO

AI for early poultry disease detection

In a poultry barn, disease does not wait for the next walk-through. We sit down with Dr. Guoming Li of the University of Georgia to talk about a practical question every grower and integrator faces: how do you catch health problems early enough to protect animal welfare, reduce losses, and safeguard food safety when time and labor are limited? We explore precision poultry farming tools that turn everyday signals into early warnings. Dr. Li breaks down how thermography and machine learning can detect temperature shifts linked to avian influenza and Newcastle disease, and why focusing on non-feathered regions like the head and legs improves accuracy by reducing ambient-temperature noise. We also discuss how image-based diagnostics can fit into real farm routines, including the idea of a smartphone app that uses deep learning and transfer learning to classify fecal images for Salmonella risk assessment without adding expensive sensors. Then we tackle the hard part: trust. When a model trained on one dataset fails on another region or housing system, it exposes the generalizability problem that still holds back AI disease detection. We also look at behavioral analytics, including the broiler activity index and computer vision tracking of movement patterns, as biomarkers for illness, stress, and abnormal conditions. Finally, we zoom out to what makes AI reliable in animal health: curated datasets, rigorous validation, and science-based inference instead of confident guesses. If you care about poultry health monitoring, biosecurity, and practical AI on farms, listen now, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What signal do you think will become the most trusted early-warning tool: heat, images, or behavior?

17 min
18 MAR

Is your message clear and understood or just loud?

A lot of farm problems look like “people problems” until you zoom in and see what’s really happening: unclear expectations, mismatched communication styles, and feedback that never gets said out loud. We sit down with Dr. Brent Sexton of Suidae Health and Production to talk about communication on farm and why it stays challenging even when we’re always on our phones, computers, and email. From quick instructions in the barn to high-stakes decisions in livestock production, the message you send is only half the story. The other half is how it lands. We dig into self-awareness as a practical leadership tool and why understanding your own tendencies can change everything about how you manage, coach, and collaborate. Personality assessments like DISC and Myers-Briggs are not magic, but they can highlight default patterns such as urgency, intensity, or a need for more data before acting. When you know your style, you can adapt your approach to the person you’re talking to, build rapport faster, and reduce friction inside farm teams and animal agriculture operations. We also get real about feedback and how to make it usable. Critical feedback is rarely comfortable, but avoiding it is costly. We talk about formal reviews, in-the-moment coaching, and the underrated habit of asking for feedback before small issues become big ones. From there we tackle two major pressure points: language barriers and cultural differences, plus digital communication where tone is hard to read and a short “K” can spiral into assumptions. If you care about clearer farm communication, stronger teamwork, and better day-to-day execution across animal health and nutrition, hit subscribe, share this with a manager or crew leader, and leave a review telling us the communication challenge you want to solve next.

11 min
13 MAR

Early-life respiratory disease shapes dairy-beef crossbred cattle performance

BRD doesn’t always announce itself with a dramatic crash in gain. Sometimes it shows up months later where nobody expects it: on the rail, as lower marbling and a worse carcass grade. That’s the unsettling thread we pull on with Dr. Melissa Cantor of Pennsylvania State University, as we unpack what early-life respiratory disease means for beef on dairy, beef, and crossbred calves. We start where lifetime health really begins: colostrum management. Dr. Cantor explains how immunoglobulin G (IgG) transfer shapes passive immunity, antibiotic treatment risk, and even survival. From there we dig into why bovine respiratory disease peaks around weaning, what lung consolidation can look like for weeks after milk is removed, and why “they caught up later” can still hide real damage. Facilities and daily routines become the practical battleground. We talk ventilation targets (including why shutting barns tight in winter backfires), nose-to-nose contact in wire pens, sanitation and bedding removal, and calf housing choices that reduce stress while supporting early grain intake and rumen development. We also get specific about detecting BRD the right way, why coughing alone is a poor trigger for antibiotics, and how free tools like the UC Davis respiratory scoring system can tighten decision-making. Finally, we cover pathogen shedding during stress. If you raise or buy beef on dairy calves, share this conversation with a partner, subscribe, and leave a review so more producers can find practical, science-backed calf health strategies.

12 min
18 FEB

Inside the feed supply chain: How nutrient shortages are impacting U.S. protein sector

The proper nutrients can make a big difference but what happens when they aren't available or are priced out of the diet formulation? We sit down with IFEEDER’s Lara Moody and Dr. Yuan-Tia Hung to unpack new species-level reports that reveal how disruptions in feed-grade vitamins and amino acids ripple through broilers, layers, turkeys, and swine operations. The conversation connects precise on-farm impacts—like average daily gain cut in half when lysine runs short and broiler meat yield slipping by double digits—to the bigger picture of U.S. food security and supply chain resilience. We dig into what the data say: where lysine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan matter most by species and phase; how vitamin A, B-complex, D, and E shape animal health and carcass yield; and why reformulating with corn, soybean meal, DDGS, or fish meal is only a partial fix. You’ll hear how higher crude protein can strain gut health and barns, why costs can spike more than 50% when replacing methionine in poultry diets, and where ingredient-based vitamin replacement simply hits a wall. Then we zoom out to trade realities: imports of vitamins rising from roughly 68% to 76%, a widening price discount from China encouraging least-cost rations, and vitamin A capacity utilization hovering around 40–50%, all pointing to fragility in a system that looks cheap—until it is not. We talk through practical resilience moves for producers and nutrition teams, from mapping critical nutrients and testing reformulation scenarios to diversifying suppliers and considering targeted inventories. On the policy side, we explore why tariffs likely miss the mark for vitamins, and how credible data equips stakeholders to pursue smarter levers that encourage diversified capacity and faster approvals for alternative sources. Want the details? The full 200-plus-page report, a 12-page summary, and species sub-reports are available at ifeeder.org. If this conversation helps you plan better, subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review. Your feedback guides future deep dives and keeps these industry-critical insights flowing.

16 min
6 FEB

Akralos to deliver advanced feed and nutrition solutions

Akralos Animal Nutrition, a new North American animal feed and nutrition company, officially launched Feb. 1. Formed through a joint venture between global agriculture leaders ADM and Alltech, Akralos combines Alltech’s U.S.-based Hubbard Feeds and Canada-based Masterfeeds businesses with ADM’s U.S. feed operations. Operating an extensive network of more than 40 feed mills across North America and supported by more than 1,400 team members, Akralos delivers reliable, high-quality feeds, minerals and supplements through its trusted brands, backed by advanced nutrition expertise, leading-edge science and personalized service. We talk with Alltech President and CEO Dr. Mark Lyons to learn more about the longstanding relationship between the two companies, the unified organization's mission and what's ahead.

16 min
28 JAN

Trust through science: Common Swine Industry Audit

Proof builds trust, and trust keeps the supply chain moving. We take you inside the Common Swine Industry Audit (CSIA) to show how one science-based, third-party verification practices helps producers and packers demonstrate animal welfare and pre-harvest pork safety with clarity and credibility. With guests Brooke Kitting, CSIA task force co-chair and senior veterinarian at Seaboard Foods, and Stephanie Wetter, Director of Animal Welfare at the National Pork Board, we explore why a single recognized audit reduces duplicative demands while protecting freedom to operate for farms of every size. We break down the 2026 CSIA updates that matter most. The audit now reflects the Five Domains model, shifting from a narrow focus on avoiding negatives to recognizing positive welfare states that contribute to a good life for pigs. You’ll hear how the animal benchmarking section evolves, why sampling is being expanded to detect low-frequency issues with greater confidence, and how clear transport space and handling criteria close critical gaps between barn and plant. These changes align with PQA Plus and TQA, creating a teach–implement–verify loop that matches what caretakers do every day and what customers expect to see documented. Beyond passing a checklist, the goal is a reliable feedback loop that drives continuous improvement and builds stronger trust with processors, retailers, and global customers. Ready to see how a single, science-backed practices can raise the bar for welfare, safety, and transparency across U.S. pork? Follow the show, share this episode with your team, and leave a quick review to tell us what change you’re most excited about.

16 min
23 JAN

Study defines value and challenges of Mississippi River shipping channel

A single stretch of water can set the tone for global prices, rural incomes, and the cost of everyday goods. We dive into the Mississippi River Ship Channel with Ken Erickson of Polaris Analytics and Consulting and Sean Duffy of the Big River Coalition to unpack new, verifiable numbers that quantify its outsized role in U.S. trade. The study pegs $226.5 billion in annual value moving through a corridor that links Midwest barges to ocean-going vessels, stitching together grain exports, fertilizer supply, refined products, coal, cement, aggregates, and more into a single, high-throughput system. We explore how reliability turns into real money: why every foot of lost draft can raise ocean freight rates about 2%, how brief closures ripple into weaker basis for farmers, and where those costs land first in local communities—lost output, fewer labor hours, and thinner tax receipts. The conversation traces supply chains from Baton Rouge past New Orleans to the Gulf, highlighting five deepwater ports that together handle nearly 500 million tons a year. We also address policy head-on, showing how hard data—sourced from vessel agents, customs districts, and industry partners—strengthens the case for sustained dredging and smarter infrastructure funding. If this story of data, infrastructure, and competitiveness speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review to help others find it.

27 min
14 JAN

Preparing gilts with purpose, managing to maximize genetic potential

Most farms chase averages and miss the levers that actually move sow productivity. We pull back the curtain on what truly drives reproduction and lifetime output: preparing gilts with purpose, managing health and stress to guard genetic potential, and leaning on objective, repeatable data instead of gut feel. With Dr. Chad Yoder of Elanco Animal Health, we connect the dots between environment, selection intensity, and the everyday choices that decide whether a sow flourishes or falls behind. We start by challenging one-size-fits-all SOPs. Housing systems, health status, and pen design aren’t background details—they’re the context that shapes outcomes. From stall-based to ESF group housing, the plan must fit the barn. Then we dive into body condition as a precision tool: why over-fat sows struggle to farrow and milk, why thin sows miss rebreed targets, and how calipers and emerging camera tech turn subjective scoring into actionable numbers. Consistent checkpoints through gestation and lactation let you course-correct before performance slips. Stress control is the quiet superpower. Each biological milestone—entry, training, breeding, farrowing, lactation—adds load and inflammation that erode potential. Smart handling, fewer movements, cleaner spaces, and well-timed nutrition or feed-grade interventions help sows stay on track. We pair that with data discipline: routine diagnostics to define health status, distribution analysis to spot weak subgroups, and year-over-year benchmarking to keep pace with genetic gains. Finally, we spotlight gilt development and selection—boar exposure, structure scoring, vulva size, body condition—and the advantage of raising more gilts than you need so you can select only the best. If you’re ready to shift from averages to precision—feeding where the sow is and where she needs to be, selecting for longevity, and reading data that actually guides action—this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with the one metric you’ll start tracking differently this week.

16 min

Feedstuffs in Focus is a weekly look at the hot issues in the livestock, poultry, grain and feed industries. Join us as we talk with industry influencers, experts and leaders about trends and more. Feedstuffs in Focus is produced by the team at Feedstuffs.

Creator

Feedstuffs
Years Active

2019 - 2026
Episodes

322
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Feedstuffs in Focus
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Feedstuffs in Focus