Cargill turkey feed mill achieves 30-year safety record

The Cargill Turkey and Cooked Meats (CTCM) feed mill in Springdale, Arkansas, which furnishes feed for Cargill’s turkey business in the region has operated 30 consecutive years, five days a week, 20 hours a day, without any employee lost-time injuries. This 30-year achievement will be celebrated with a ceremonial awards luncheon on June 20 at the Springdale feed mill location. 
Representatives from the CTCM Springdale feed mill and CTCM turkey hatchery in Gentry, Arkansas will be honored for their years of dedication to employee and workplace safety.
“Cargill was built on a firm foundation of respect, integrity and commitment to health and safety,” said Shane Acosta, general manager for Cargill’s turkey operations in Northwest Arkansas. “Employee and workplace safety is one of our top priorities and the employees of the Springdale mill should take great pride in this tremendous achievement they have worked so hard to earn. We are also honoring a similar 22-year accomplishment by our hatchery team at Gentry, Arkansas.”
For the nearly 40 Cargill employees who work at the feed mill, each week is filled with activity focused on producing feed for tens-of-thousands of Cargill turkeys. An average week for the feed mill consists of 100 hours of operation, with employees working in 10 hour shifts, two shifts daily, five days a week. In these 100 hours, Cargill employees produce, load and ship approximately 5.6 million pounds of feed, which is delivered to Cargill’s contract turkey farmers throughout the region.
Each week, the mill receives about 110 truckloads of ingredients and ships an average of 112 truckloads of finished feed. The process of loading and unloading these feed ingredients and the finished product is labor-intensive. It involves handling rail cars and trucks, as well as filling and drawing from large grain silos.
Ricky Belk, director of the Arkansas Department of Labor, will make remarks at the recognition ceremony, commending and congratulating Cargill for the 30-year achievement by the feed mill, as well as the 22-year milestone for no lost-time injuries that was achieved in 2014 by the company’s turkey hatchery at Gentry.
“The Arkansas Department of Labor has been recognizing employers for safe work time for over 30 years,” said Belk. “For a company to have a record of safety that spans nearly that entire time is an incredible achievement. It is an honor to be invited to celebrate this important milestone with the employees of Cargill and I am looking forward to congratulating them for their dedication to safety in our state.”

Turkey feed dietary adjustments may reduce nitrogen emissions

A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded study conducted at Michigan State University has shown that changes to the diets fed to turkey toms may reduce nitrogen emissions from grow-out farms without sacrificing meat yields.
Researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Maryland and Purdue University studied the effect of diets containing different concentrations of crude protein and different amino acid (AA) supplementations on nutrient retention and excretion by turkeys. They observed that decreasing dietary crude protein from 110% to 100% of the amount recommended by the National Research Council, and adding threonine to an AA supplementation of lysine and methionine, resulted in lower nitrogen excretion (by 12%) and a lower cumulative loss of ammonia (by 23%) when compared with diets containing only two supplemental amino acids. There were no differences in tom growth or feed conversion.  
The Environmental Protection Agency monitors emissions of air pollutants, such as particulate matter, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), under the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1990.  In 2005 the EPA announced an air quality compliance agreement to address emissions from certain animal feeding operations or AFOs.
“The goals of the 2005 EPA agreement include ensuring compliance with applicable CERCLA [Clean Air Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act] and EPCRA [Environmental Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act] provisions," said Dr. Zefei Liu, research associate at Michigan State University and one of the authors of the study. "Because some of these provisions carry hefty penalties for non-compliance, it is important for the poultry industry to continue to search for methods to monitor and control nutrient losses and air emissions from their operations. We hope that the findings of our study will contribute to this effort.” 
Details of the study were published in a recent issue of Poultry Science.

UK animal feed production up 4.9% in November 2010

According to the latest report from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, animal feed production in the United Kingdom was up by 4.9% in November 2010 compared to the same time period in 2009.
The total of all feed produced in November 2010 came to 818,200 metric tons, up 5.1% from October 2010 and 4.9% over November 2009 numbers. Of the various feeds, sheep feed boasted the highest growth over 2009, increasing by 14.2% in November 2010 to 41,600 metric tons. Poultry and pig feeds also saw significant growth in November 2010 compared to November 2009, at 9.7% (to 255,200 metric tons) and 5.8% (to 121,500 metric tons), respectively.
A breakdown of poultry feed in particular saw growth in all areas, with turkey feed seeing the highest growth — 11.2% (to 55,000 metric tons) in November 2010 over the same time period the previous year.

Western Milling recalls turkey grower feeds, may be contaminated with monesin

Western Milling LLC has initiated a voluntary recall of certain types of store brand noncommercial turkey feed due to possible contamination with monesin, a medicine found in medicated turkey feed.
The recalled feed was not formulated to contain monesin, which can cause injury or death when consumed by turkeys in excessive volume. Products subject to the recall were distributed in May and June 2010 to 57 retail animal stores in California, eight feed stores in Arizona and one store each in Nevada and Hawaii. The feed was sold in 50-pound paper bags under the brands Universal and Kruse Perfection. The lots affected are:

• U Turkey/Gamebird Grower Crumble, Lot 175 (PC K52105)
• K G.B. Turkey Grower Crumble, Lots 126, 127 and 175 (PC K52105)
• U Turkey/Gamebird Starter Krumble, Lots 126 and 175 (PC U332095)

Consumers with products fitting the above numbers should return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.