Healthier & productive for longer

Lifetime performance of farmed animals

Sustainable animal protein starts here

With the world’s population set to hit nine billion-plus by 2050, it’s essential that we continue to invest in sustainable protein by boosting the lifetime performance of animals. After all, healthier animals contribute to a healthier planet (by living longer and requiring less medicines) – and a healthier, more profitable agriculture industry. Here at DSM we make it happen through a family of smartly designed nutritional plans that improve animal welfare and health at every stage of life.

From improving the feed intake of broiler1 chickens with our Balancius® innovation to strengthening swine skeletons or hardening the hooves of dairy cows, we’re developing solution to enable a brighter future for all. 

Investing in a healthier future

Investing in the lifetime performance of farm animals is good for society, but it’s essential for farmers – because today, around US$300 billion a year is lost to animal disease. There are many ways that bright nutritional science can tackle this challenge by ensuring that animals receive the right balance of essential and irreplaceable micronutrients, like vitamins. Here are just a few.

Poultry

In poultry, our nutritional plans not only enable stronger bones in hens, they also enable them to lay stronger eggs for a longer time - reducing food waste. Our greatest recent achievement is the development of a new feed additive solution called Balancius®.

Dairy cows

For dairy cows we’ve developed nutritional programs that support the growth of strong hooves and healthy udders. As a result cows stay in the herd, and produce milk, for longer.

Pigs

For pigs, our Optimum Vitamin Nutrition (OVN™) supplies the key vitamins needed to support a strong and effective immune system – for example by improving bone and frame strength, which in turn results in healthier sows that produce stronger piglets and live longer.

Boosting broiler health with Balancius®

Balancius® enables broilers to produce more food from the same amount of feed - thus improving their profitability while reducing the environmental footprint and making farming more sustainable with less waste.

Developed in partnership with Novozymes, Balancius® is the first ever nutritional ingredient designed to unlock the hidden potential in gastrointestinal functionality.

In fact, in trials it’s been shown to improve the ability of broilers to absorb and digest nutrients like fats and proteins – as well as boosting the feed conversion ratio (the amount of food produced based on the amount of feed consumed) by up to 3%.

To put that into perspective, based on the FAO’s estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from global chicken production, Balancius® has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 9 million tons annually – the equivalent of 3.7 million cars being taken off the road.

1) Broilers are bred for consumption rather than egg production (layers)

Sustainable Development Goals

Here at DSM we believe so strongly in creating a brighter society, that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are now aligned with our entire business strategy. For example, boosting the lifetime performance of animals is helping to reduce hunger and food waste (SDG 2); promote good health & wellbeing (SDG 3), ensure sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12) and combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13).

By working together with our customers, partners - and farmers - in the global food chain we’ve shown that it really is possible to make animal farming healthier for all.

Read more

  • Animal Nutrition & Health

    Animal Nutrition & Health

    Visit our Animal Nutrition & Health website for detailed information about the business and to find out how to get in touch.

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