Sustainability — unarguably one the most used words in the agricultural sector both now and probably for the next decade. Every facet of the agri-food industry is working hard toward sustainability, and it is especially high on the agendas of all players across the egg supply chain.

Noble Foods is the U.K.’s leading vertically integrated company striving to serve the egg industry sustainably, from care and welfare to carbon and waste.

Noble Foods entered the world of eggs over 100 years ago, under the name ‘Deans Foods.’ Way back in 1920, William Dean took the rather rustic and entrepreneurial approach of door-to-door egg sales by a horse and cart.

Today, Noble Foods is still under the ownership of the third and fourth generation of the Dean family, producing 400 metric tons of egg products every week, 58% of which are free-range.

Company facts:

• Manufactures around 750,000 metric tons of feed every year from five feed mills.
• Rears around four million pullets per year across 14 rearing sites from 1–16 weeks old.
• Has 280 laying farm sites, both company-owned and contracted independent farmers. 

Noble Foods is a leader in vertical integration of the poultry industry in the U.K.

Noble Foods has proven and is proud of its forerunning proactiveness, from being the first to trial Salmonella vaccines back in the 1990s to sitting at tier 1 within the BB4 model (a regulated welfare program).

Developing a vision and an approach

Noble Foods has set some ambitious sustainability goals in recent months, making it the main company driver. Graham Atkinson, Agriculture Director for Producers at Noble Foods, was tasked with making it happen.

In Graham’s opinion, sustainability means different things to different people and different businesses. There is no clear right or wrong way of “doing it.” He was not sure how or where to start. However, he had a fair idea of what Noble Foods was trying to achieve and where Alltech could help. So, he asked the question: Could we partner together to make the sustainability challenge an opportunity via the Planet of Plenty partnership program?

While Graham and the leadership team accept that the journey will change direction and they will be thrown some curveballs along the way, they have now clearly and proactively defined their vision and focus into four areas:

1. Carbon footprint: reducing the impact of feed regimes.
2. Food loss: restoring and recovering more usable first-class eggs.
3. Land use: reducing and replacing the raw materials.
4. Animal welfare: increasing, developing and driving the fulfillment of the life of laying hens.

Now, the hard part: doing it! Putting some meat on those bones. To do this, Graham is busy building a collaborative council of key players to come together and share expertise.

A journey joined by others

For a while now, Graham has been hunting for partners who share the same vision and who can act as consultants and facilitators. Partners who can deliver the required infrastructure, skill base, science and knowledge to travel fast. Partners who can safeguard their leadership status.

Noble Foods has committed to 100% cage-free production by 2025.

Alltech, like Noble Foods, is a family-owned and operated business, sharing similar sustainability ambitions and values. These shared common values and ways of working are really what sparked and solidified the partnership — the idea of making a bigger and quicker difference by working together.

Through the power of science and nutrition, Alltech is now working very closely with Noble Foods’ supply chain, from start to finish, to help produce more quality eggs from happier birds and with less environmental impact.

The Planet of Plenty partnership between Noble Foods and Alltech is still in its infancy. The first pilot project has just begun, and the excitement of the partnership’s impact on future egg production is radiating from within the supply chain.

Visit one.alltech.com for more information.

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Okay, let’s get real: While nutrition is one of the most important ways to influence any animal’s health, feeding horses is not rocket science, and we tend to overcomplicate equine nutrition.

While performance horses often have more specific nutrient requirements than the average horse at maintenance, all horses have the same general needs, and keeping it simple when it comes to feeding is the best method for reaching maximum horse health.

Here, we will break it down step by step so that you can make sure your horses receive exactly what they need.

1. Determine your horses’ energy needs based on their exercise and training schedule.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it is important to take an honest inventory of your horse’s training regimen. The key word here is “honest” — but we’ll get back to that in a moment.

According to The Nutrient Requirements of Horses (NRC), there are four categories of activity level and intensity:

• Light exercise: One to three hours per week of mostly walking and trotting.
• Moderate exercise: Three to five hours per week of mostly trotting, with some walking and cantering and some skilled work, like jumping, dressage, cutting or ranch work.
• Heavy exercise: Four to five hours per week of trotting, cantering, galloping and skilled work.
• Very heavy exercise: One hour per week of speed work and/or six to 12 hours per week.

Generally, the only horses that fit into the “very heavy” category are racehorses, elite endurance horses or three-day-eventing horses, while most other horses fit into the light or moderate exercise categories.

It’s very easy for us to overestimate our horses’ workload. Keep in mind that modern horses evolved from animals who often traveled 40 to 50 miles per day! They had to really work for their meals, which is not the case for domestic horses. The reason it is important to be honest with yourself about your horse’s activity level is that if you have a horse in the light or moderate category who you unintentionally feed at the heavy or very heavy level, you will likely be at risk for overfeeding, which can have detrimental and debilitating health consequences for your horse.

You may be surprised to learn that some horses who do light to moderate exercise do not require energy in amounts much higher than what is needed for maintenance. On the other hand, some performance horses require up to twice as much energy as a horse at maintenance. It’s all about taking each individual animal’s unique blend of genetics, age and metabolism into account, as well as their exercise intensity and duration. A qualified equine nutritionist can help you determine the winning formula for your horse.

2. Always, always, always start with hay (and a hay test).

Energy can be supplied in the diet by carbohydrates and fat. Carbohydrates fall into two categories: non-structural and structural.

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) come from sugars and starches, primarily from grain concentrates. Most performance horses require some form of NSC, and while there is no reason to fear feeding sugar and starch — sometimes glucose is necessary! — they do tend to be more problematic for our equine friends. As such, it is important to limit the NSCs in the diet to what the horse really needs based on its age and exercise intensity.

Structural carbohydrates, on the other hand, include fiber from forage sources and are one of the most critical components in making sure that the horse’s hindgut functions optimally. Remember: A happy hindgut equals a happy horse.

The large intestine in the horse’s digestive tract is home to billions of beneficial microbes that digest fiber and produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which are used as a source of energy. This is the reason why hay alone can meet the energy requirements of some horses. Fiber helps keep the large intestine at the correct pH balance and greatly reduces the risk of colic. After all, forage is what horses were designed to eat and should always be fed at a minimum of 1% of the animal’s body weight per day. The forage component of a horse’s diet also takes pasture grasses into account, so be sure to factor in how much turnout your horse receives.

If you are feeding performance horses, invest in a hay test, which will tell you the exact nutrient levels and help you determine which nutrients need to be added to the diet (based on equine requirements) in the form of grain and horse supplements.

We should also note that good-quality fat is an easy — and, often, safer — way to increase energy in a performance horse’s diet. Fats will be used by the horse’s body during aerobic exercise, which can help save the glucose from NSCs for high-intensity or long-duration exercise. 

3. Remember the importance of water and salts.

While these nutrients are often overlooked, adequate access to fresh, clean water and iodized salt is crucial for all animals, but especially for performance horses.

When exercised in hot, humid weather, horses could lose up to four gallons of sweat per hour! Additionally, horse sweat is hypertonic, meaning that it contains higher levels of electrolytes than what is circulating in the body. Human sweat, in contrast, is hypotonic, meaning that there is a higher concentration of electrolytes circulating in the body than what is in our sweat. This means that giving a sweaty horse plain water will only further dilute the concentration of electrolytes in its body. Given that electrolytes are required to maintain the fluid balance and electrical activity of each cell, they are hugely important for performance!

In normal circumstances when a horse is only emitting small amounts of sweat, an iodized white salt block or loose salt, in addition to hay and grain, will do the trick. If weather and exercise — or some other form of stress, like long-distance travel — lead to prolonged, excessive sweating, providing a high-quality electrolyte supplement with potassium, sodium and chloride is a very good idea.

4. Don’t overdo protein.

Many horse owners accidentally misunderstand how protein should be used in their horses’ diet. As mentioned above, adding energy (or extra calories) to the diet is done with carbohydrates or fat. While protein and, more specifically, levels of certain amino acids are required for growth, muscle and the maintenance of body systems, protein is an inefficient energy source.

Horses have requirements for essential amino acids, the most important of which are lysine, methionine and threonine. This is another reason why investing in a hay test will help you to balance your performance horse’s diet. 

Horses doing light work can often meet their protein requirements (approximately 10% of their diet) from hay and pasture and the use of a ration balancer. Horses doing moderate to heavy work have higher protein requirements, which can typically be met with commercially fortified grain and/or the addition of alfalfa hay.

In general, a protein deficiency is not common in most domestic horse diets; in fact, it is more common for protein to be fed in excess, which will end up as a waste product. If you begin to notice a heavy smell of ammonia in your horse’s stall, this is a telltale sign that you may be overfeeding protein.

5. Help minimize and manage stress.

It’s no secret that performance horses endure stress. What we sometimes forget, however, is that this stress can impact almost every system in an animal’s body, from its digestive system to its musculoskeletal system. A well-rounded approach to managing performance horses includes taking all of these systems into consideration.

• Joint and hoof health: The concussion and force that a performance horse’s limbs must endure is substantial. Providing joint-specific nutrients, like glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, and hoof nutrients, like organic zinc and biotin, can help protect joints and hooves before damage occurs.
• Antioxidants: Vitamin E and organic selenium are hugely important components in the performance horse’s diet to help combat muscle damage from the free radicals associated with exercise and metabolism.
• Immune function: Organic trace minerals are important constituents of joint and hoof health — not to mention that they help promote normal nervous system function and a healthy immune system.
• Gut health: The stress that performance horses are subject to in the forms of training, travel, new environments and more can absolutely impact their microbiome and cause digestive upset. Additionally, the need for glucose (i.e., NSCs) to power exercise is a reality for many performance horses. Gut nutrients, such as pre- and probiotics, can help minimize digestive distress and maximize safe feedings, travels and training days.

The key to feeding performance horses is moderation. No one ingredient or nutrient is beneficial when there is either a deficiency or an excess. Use common sense, pay attention to your horse’s behavior and cues, and seek balance with an equine nutritionist.

Alltech’s new line of premium equine supplements was formulated to assist with that balance. Lifeforce Elite Performance was designed to be the only horse supplement you’ll need in a performance setting to promote a healthy, whole-body stress response. We are certain that you will get your money’s worth — and your horse will also be able to tell the difference!

Check out Lifeforce here, and follow us on social media @lifeforcehorse for more tips on keeping your performance horse healthy and happy!

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No matter the segment of the beef system, stress is a natural and unavoidable hurdle that the beef industry must learn to manage. Ironically, it is often the segmentation of the beef system that results in periods of stress. These stressful times often fall around transition intervals, when cattle move from one phase of production to the next. Weaning and feedlot receiving are two transition periods during which calves will experience multiple stressors. Prolonged exposure to stress has negative impacts on calf performance, and these negative effects can result in long-term issues.

When you consider the long history of the beef sector, stress is a relatively new issue being examined and discussed by those in the industry. In recent years, scientists and producers have begun to realize the impact that stress can have on calf performance. Fortunately, however, there are solutions for mitigating stress for your cattle during transitions. First, it is important to understand what can cause stress, as well as the consequences of that stress.

Stressors that can occur during weaning and receiving include:

• Separation from the dam

The social stress of being removed from the mother can be significant. One management practice that gradually weans calves is fence-line weaning. This technique involves placing weaned calves and dams in adjacent pastures that allow calves to be able see their mothers while being physically separated. Make sure you have sturdy fences with no gaps to prevent calves from crawling through to the other side.

• Transportation

It’s inevitable: At some point, cattle will need to be moved. There are many ways that producers can work to reduce stress during transportation — but similarly to humans travelling to new locations or making a big move, this major transition will likely lead to schedule changes and disruptions, changes in eating patterns, etc.

• Commingling

When groups of cattle are mingled together, they can expose each other to new pathogens. Even if the animals are on the same ranch but are from different pastures, producers need to consider a commingling strategy.

• Unfamiliar diets

Going from their mothers’ milk to feed might feel like a stark transition to some calves. The tips later in this article explain how to get calves to the bunk and help them transition to a new, healthy, nutrient-dense diet.

Stress can have consequences on production, including:

• Impaired growth. Stress causes muscle breakdown and can slow the growth of your cattle.
• Suppression of immune functions, which can lead to a decreased ability to resist infection and an increased susceptibility to getting sick.
• Altered behavior, like reduced feed intake.

A wholistic view of beef production is necessary to identify where leverage points exist within the production system. Recognizing leverage points allows for a more effective application of management practices to minimize stress and improve performance. In beef production, the most effective approach to minimizing stress is a preventative one. Implement practices that will help you foster and maintain a resilient herd. Resilient calves are going to be able to handle the periods of stress that are inherent within the beef system. The key to building resilient calves is implementing proactive management practices.

Outlined below are five easy and practical management tips that will help you produce resilient cattle.

1. Vaccinate prior to shipping.

Work with your veterinarian to establish a vaccination program prior to your animals being commingled and shipped. A vaccination program is essential to building a healthy immune system prior to animals being exposed to novel pathogens in a new place and when surrounded by other animals.

2. Castrate animals as early as possible.

Castration is a stressful but generally necessary management practice. Research has shown that animals experience less stress when they are castrated at a younger age. Some producers will castrate at birth, when they tag or maybe when they take cattle out to grass. Whatever fits into your management schedule, getting your animals castrated early will allow them to recoup before other stressors manifest throughout the following transition stages.

3. Minimize commingling.

Just like with humans, anytime you bring animals from different sources together, you run the risk of exposing them to pathogens. You can reduce this risk of exposure for calves by being strategic about minimizing mixing between sources of cattle. There is also an element of social stress as the newly commingled animals work to establish a pecking order.

4. Expose calves to feed bunks and water troughs.

Familiarize your animals with feed bunks and water troughs prior to shipping. This can help reduce stress during feedlot arrival, as getting calves to feed bunks prior to shipping will help them get onto feed quicker. The sooner they get on feed and start consuming water, the better they will bounce back from transportation stress.

5. Proper nutrition is essential.

When transitioning cattle, it is important to make sure that their nutritional requirements are being met. Meeting the cattle’s protein, energy and trace mineral requirements is essential for their immune function and growth. During periods of stress, it is common for animals to reduce their feed intake. In these cases, providing diets that are more nutrient-dense to compensate for reduced intake is recommended.

It is unrealistic to think that we can eliminate all stress from the production system, but we can minimize the duration and severity of the stress that animals experience. When utilizing these management techniques, consider a schedule that exposes calves to stressors gradually, rather than all at once. When calves feel high levels of stress and no mitigation strategies are used, they can experience critical setbacks. The most important reason to help calves through periods of stress is to set them up for success for the rest of their life — ultimately leaving you with healthy animals, a healthy reputation and a healthy bottom line.  

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Today’s pets are part of the family and have longer lifespans, thanks to advancements in veterinary medicine, animal welfare and nutrition.

Nutrition is something that pet owners have the ability to influence every single day, so while we may be biased, we believe that nutrition is one of the most important ways to care for pets through every stage of life.

Some of the most important elements — literally! — of premium nutrition are trace minerals.

What are trace minerals?

Trace minerals are elements, such as zinc, copper, iron and manganese, that are required in very small amounts in a balanced diet but that have a wide range of health benefits, including supporting your cat’s or dog’s immune system, musculoskeletal health and skin and coat condition, to name a few.

In pet food diets, there are two important considerations when it comes to trace minerals:

1. The form of the mineral offered (inorganic vs. organic)
2. The amount of trace mineral provided (to ensure that there are no nutritional deficiencies)

Both of these factors will significantly influence the mineral’s bioavailability, or the impact that a particular trace mineral has on your pet.

Trace minerals for cats and dogs are not created equal

The nutrition marketplace has many different options when it comes to supplying trace mineral supplements for pets. These can be broadly classed as either inorganic (ITM) or organic trace minerals (OTM). The latter are so-called because the trace minerals are complexed — that is, they are associated with organic bonding groups. These bonding groups include amino acids, small peptides and organic acids, all of which influence the strength of the mineral binding.

Many factors need to be considered when trying to compare OTM products, but ultimately, the strength of the interaction between the mineral and the bonding group is the most important factor influencing bioavailability. Enhanced OTM bonding can ultimately increase the mineral’s bioavailability and effectiveness in the animal’s body.

The choice of bonding group is, therefore, critical to the effectiveness of OTMs, and research over the last number of years has highlighted the differences that exist between individual products. A poor choice of bonding group can result in the creation of products that offer no benefit over inorganic sources of minerals.

Inorganic trace minerals come from mined sources. Safety and traceability must be part of the quality assurance process to avoid the inclusion of heavy metals that, if present in a diet, can be deleterious to the long-term health of dogs and cats, especially as their lifespans increase.

In essence, not all trace minerals are created equal, but not all OTM products are created equal either.

How does the mineral form affect the nutrients that pets receive in their diets?

Keeping the nutritional balance of minerals in pet food can become rather complicated, because inorganic sources of trace minerals have variable absorption rates, and their bioavailability may be influenced by factors such as other dietary nutrients and the physiological condition of the animal, to name a few.

To counteract their poor bioavailability, it is common practice to add higher-than-recommended levels of inorganic trace minerals to commercial foods.

Bioplex® organic minerals, an alternative to the use of inorganic mined mineral sources, provide a number of benefits, from improved bioavailability to the support of the proper metabolic and physiological processes, which may not be carried out at full capacity when the trace mineral elements are not adequately supplied.

The amount of the mineral provided in diets will differ based on its form

As noted above, inorganic sources of trace minerals have variable absorption rates due to their structure. The absorption rate is a measurement of how the minerals are “taken up” by the digestive system and recruited into areas of need, such as the immune response and tissue repair.

When inorganic trace minerals are included in pet food diets, the amount that a pet consumes does not reflect the amount of trace minerals they actually absorb.

After a pet eats, the food is broken down by their digestive system to make nutrients available for absorption and use. The structure of the inorganic mineral causes it to interact with other components during this process. This results in the inorganic mineral forming an indigestible complex that ultimately ends up on the lawn or in the litterbox.

We describe this as poor bioavailability because, even though you are providing your pet with trace minerals in their food, those minerals are not able to be properly put to use and benefit your pet. To counteract this problem, it is common to add higher-than-recommended levels of trace minerals — but doing so is simply disguising one issue with another.

There are three ways that mineral form can influence nutrient absorption in the gut:

1. Food and feed antagonisms

Increasingly, the interactions between food components and trace minerals have come under scrutiny, with the possibility for negative interactions and antagonisms.

Credit: https://orthomolecular.webs.com/Elements/MineralWheel1.jpg
 

2. Impact on vitamin stability

The oxidation of vitamins, such as vitamin E, can lead to reduced vitamin function and can be caused by the oxidation of fats and, often, the actions of trace minerals. The type and, particularly, the form of the trace mineral will influence its effect on vitamin stability.

Studies examining vitamin E stability in the presence of inorganic or organic minerals demonstrate that, in the inorganic form, minerals can be detrimental to the stability of the vitamin molecule. Depending on the OTM source, however, the use of chelated minerals for dogs and cats may not cause such a dramatic decrease.

3. Compromised antioxidant function

Additional research assessing the effect of minerals on food components has established that commonly used antioxidants can be compromised by inorganic minerals. The data further indicates that, in cases where OTMs have shown weak mineral bonding, there is a significant negative impact on antioxidant activity. The choice of OTMs, therefore, plays a role in ensuring the quality and stability of food components.

Bioplex® organic trace minerals for pets are superior

Organic trace minerals are made differently. Organic minerals have a ring structure, which gives them protection and allows them to successfully pass through the digestive system. From there, the minerals can go through the gut wall and into the bloodstream to do their work. This is where inorganic trace minerals get left behind, as they stick to the gut instead of passing through it. Think of the gut as a gate; it either allows nutrients through or it doesn’t.

Inorganic forms of trace minerals are still used in pet food, but we are beginning to see more pet food manufacturers moving to better mineral nutrition, such as Bioplex® organic trace minerals.

Organic trace minerals make for healthy pets

While only required in small amounts in the diet, organic trace minerals play a large role in the body, and mineral deficiencies can be detrimental to an animal’s health.

For example, zinc is directly utilized for the hair and skin, favoring processes of cellular integrity. A zinc deficiency may manifest as a dysfunction of the epithelial tissue, dermatological conditions, coat problems and gastrointestinal tract injuries (due to damage to the microvilli).

Copper and manganese are directly deposited in the bones, joints, liver and muscle, and they are greatly important for the formation and homeostasis of the bone structure, making these especially important minerals for puppies and kittens. Copper is a cofactor of the enzyme lysyl oxidase, which is necessary for the cross-linking of collagen and elastin during cartilage synthesis. Manganese is a cofactor of glycosyltransferases, enzymes that are important in the formation and elongation of the glycosaminoglycan chain, which forms the basal substance of the cartilage model.

We could go on and on, but when it comes to mineral choice in pet food diets, organic trace minerals are far less likely to negatively affect other essential nutrients than inorganic sources. However, not all forms of organic minerals react in the same way. Therefore, we encourage diet formulators to pay greater attention to their choice of ingredients to maximize not only nutrition but the quality and stability of pet food.

Optimizing trace mineral nutrition will create healthier pets with more robust immune, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems. Not only will your pet food be a superior option on the shelves, but pet parents will see the difference and will surely continue buying your products.  

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What if, when something went wrong, your natural response was to feel positive, calm and proactive? Can you actually train your brain to handle life’s greatest challenges without stress and negative emotions?

According to Shirzad Chamine, neuroscientist and CEO of Positive Intelligence, Inc., you can do both — and when you do, you will be happier and more successful and will perform better.

This may sound aspirational, but Chamine has the research — and methodology — to prove that mental fitness is the key to unleashing your true potential at work and in life.

More than 500,000 people from over 50 countries have participated in Chamine’s Positive Intelligence research. Having coached hundreds of CEOs and their executive teams, as well as world-class athletes and students from Stanford University, he’s helped professionals worldwide make mental fitness a part of their daily routine.

What is mental fitness?

Mental fitness is our capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset, rather than a negative one. It’s measured by your Positive Intelligence Quotient, or PQ, which is the percentage of time your mind spends serving you as opposed to sabotaging you. As a conscious method for avoiding self-sabotage, your PQ can be built and strengthened over time.

Independent researchers have validated the many benefits of a higher PQ, ranging from higher salaries to greater success in work, marriage, friendship and more. Additionally, project teams with a high PQ are shown to perform 31% better on key performance metrics.

Chamine’s approach to boosting PQ, which he recently discussed during his keynote address at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference, begins with learning the behavioral neuroscience behind two very different components of the mind: the Saboteurs and the Sage.

This might sound complex, but understanding the roles that Saboteurs and the Sage play in the way we experience life is one of the simplest, most effective ways for overcoming long-term patterns of self-sabotage.

Identifying your Saboteurs

Saboteurs are the negative voices and limiting beliefs and habits that stand between you and the potential you actually fulfill.

• Saboteurs motivate you through negative emotions like fear, stress, anger, guilt, shame and insecurity.
• There are 10 Saboteurs responsible for the most common ways that we self-sabotage. The most common is The Judge, or the voice that tells us to find fault in ourselves, in others, and in our situations and circumstances. It’s constantly judging what’s wrong and fails to see what’s right.
• Imagine Saboteurs as a cast of characters in your mind that keep you in a place of negativity, reaction and self-doubt.

Finding your Sage

By contrast, the Sage is the Saboteurs’ positive counterpart that motivates us through emotions like curiosity, empathy, creativity and calm.

• Whereas the Saboteur fuels self-sabotage, the Sage brain tells us that every outcome or circumstance can be turned into a gift or an opportunity.
• The strength of your Sage is what determines your PQ and enables you to take clear-headed, laser-focused action.
• Understanding the differences between your Sage and your Saboteurs — and identifying which one your mind is serving — is the first concrete step to self-mastery.

“You're not just of two minds; you are of two brains. You have two entirely different wirings in your brain, with different neurochemicals that get produced and very different functioning,” said Chamine. “A big question at any given time is: Which part of your brain is activated right now? That determines everything about how you handle life's great challenges.”

By understanding which part of your brain is activated and the power of Positive Intelligence to determine your response, you can train yourself to recover and switch from negative to positive at a faster pace.

How to strengthen your PQ

1. Intercept your Saboteurs

When you feel a negative emotion, stop to observe and label your Saboteurs. By simply bringing them into awareness, you’ve already weakened their power.

2. Power up your Sage brain

Now that you’ve confronted your Saboteurs, it’s time to shift into Sage mode. Practice PQ reps to activate your Sage mind. PQ reps are simple exercises that involve shifting your attention to your body and your senses for at least 10 seconds. These practices strengthen the self-command muscle that helps you regulate your emotions. You can do PQ reps anytime, anywhere.

3. Choose Sage responses

Now, you can explore, empathize, innovate, navigate and activate to respond with the Sage perspective.

“When your Sage comes in and says, ‘You know what? I can and I shall convert this into a gift and opportunity,’ imagine what emotions you’re going to be experiencing,” Chamine suggested. “You're going to be feeling optimistic. You're going to be feeling curious.

“When you ask ‘How do I turn this into a gift? What could the gift be?’, you're activating a positive region of your brain that's wired for creativity, for resourcefulness,” he continued. “You're creating a positive foundation — not just in your own head, but amongst others.”

With this knowledge, Chamine wondered: What if you focused on building the powers of your mind with the same determination you bring to our improving your physical fitness? Can you imagine the possibilities?

“Moment by moment, one day at a time, that muscle of positivity builds,” Chamine reminded viewers at ONE. “And then, the contagion effect that you create in the world — you have no idea how powerful that is. You create a contagion, (but) rather than a contagion of negativity, you intercept that, and you create a positive contagion. And it's beautiful, as you become part of the solution rather than part of the problem in our world.”

Will you join us in seeing challenges as opportunities and pursuing greater happiness and success through the power of Positive Intelligence?

Visit one.alltech.com for more information.

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“Africa is the fastest-growing continent. Africa is getting educated now. Africa is where you need to be. Africa is where you (should) look to grow your food.”

That’s what Dr. Ruth Oniang’o, a keynote speaker at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference (ONE), used to tell her fellow board members when she served on the board of Nestlé. A professor of nutrition and former member of Parliament in Kenya, Dr. Oniang’o has spent her career advocating for food and nutrition policies that will feed the world’s fastest-growing continent and increase access to food across Africa.

Over the past several decades, many African countries have made great strides in reducing chronic hunger, malnutrition and weight loss — but with one in five African people still “chronically undernourished,” including millions of children, there is much more work left to be done to help turn African communities into examples of food security.

Dr. Oniang’o’s approach is a holistic one. Beyond her focus on growing healthier crops and strengthening food assistance, her work is transforming society through avenues that most people may not think of when it comes to food and nutrition.

1. Empower women

The first step to transforming how Africa grows and eats is identifying who’s behind the continent’s current food production.

“In Africa, it’s mostly women who are producing food,” said Dr. Oniang’o during her keynote address at ONE. “And I said, ‘No wonder we are a hungry continent. Women are already overworked. They bring up children, many children. They have to farm. They have to feed them.’”

We cannot solve hunger in Africa without women, Dr. Oniang’o argued. By elevating their value in society and providing them with the education and resources they need to manage their farms, their families and their health, we can create conditions that will allow African women to grow more food, feed a greater number of people and share their knowledge with others.

2. Promote adult literacy

One major key to that empowerment is literacy. According to data from the United Nations, the adult literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa is around 63% — meaning that one in three adults in the region, or some 182 million people, cannot read. And while some African countries have higher literacy rates, many are actually lower: South Sudan’s 35% literacy rate is among the lowest in the world.

Promoting adult literacy, both via governments and NGOs, leads to more educated adults across Africa, which has positive, long-term effects related to food, nutrition and families.

“Adult literacy is so important,” said Dr. Oniang’o, “because when women are educated, they will not want too many children. They'll want to do other things. They'll take good care of themselves, take care of their family, and therefore, their children will survive better. They want a better life for themselves, and they know what foods to provide to the family.”

3. Provide resources directly

No matter where they are in the world, farmers need resources of all kinds, from education and research to funds to help purchase seeds, nutrients and supplies. Providing resources directly to farmers is one of the fastest ways to improve their conditions and crop yields, as well as the health and nutrition of their families and communities. And providing resources to farmers doesn’t just help build individual and community food security — it can help alleviate poverty, too, since extreme poverty and hunger have “a cyclical relationship” in Africa, according to the United Nations. Hungry people have a hard time working, and people who can’t work have a hard time affording food.

“If we do agriculture properly — if we distribute our resources properly — we can get people out of poverty,” said Dr. Oniang’o. “As someone who has worked with farmers right on the ground, it doesn't take a whole lot. It doesn't take a whole lot to transform a community and to make them have more food and to have them eat better.”

4. Look after the soil

We can’t increase the production of food sources without addressing soil health. Unhealthy, malnourished soil leads to malnourished crops that wither instead of thriving. Finding ways to improve soil health — like rotating in legumes to boost the nitrogen in the soil and supplementing malnourished soils with nutrients — helps foster healthier crops and establishes farming practices that will be more sustainable over time.

Dr. Oniang’o first realized the importance of soil health when she saw crops that looked weak and frail, mirroring the effects of malnutrition in adults and children in Africa. She advocates for ways to help farmers improve their soil health, starting with technologies like rapid soil tests to help farmers identify deficiencies within their soils — a prerequisite to growing stronger, healthier crops. After all, as she said, “If the soils are not healthy, human beings cannot be healthy.”

5. Build and support smart partnerships

“Nobody can do this alone,” said Dr. Oniang’o. “(The) private sector has a role to play. Public-sector government has a role to play. Civil society has a role to play. Everyone has a role to play.”

Implementing change on a continental scale cannot be done alone. It takes local groups and national governments to put all of the practices outlined above into place in support of individuals, communities and countries. National and local governments, NGOs, scientists, farmers and private-sector companies all have a role to play. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes that “increasing yields for staple crops (in Sub-Saharan Africa) will require greater investment, both domestically and through assistance from donors and international research organizations.”

Local groups across Africa know what local farmers need. By listening to these stakeholders, private companies, national governments and international collaborative efforts can find ways to be good partners, bringing about change on a scale that local groups can’t accomplish alone. These partnerships can help decrease food insecurity across Africa and transform the future of the continent for the long term.

The future of food in Africa

Imagine it: a farmer in Kenya learns to read. She’s able to take advantage of educational materials and research that help her grow her crops more efficiently, with higher yields and healthier soils for her specific growing conditions. She’s given the resources she needs to put these findings into practice, thanks to partnerships between her local government and private companies. She’s able to feed her family and even has a surplus to help feed others, contribute to a food bank or sell for a profit. She’s valued and respected as an expert; she shares her knowledge with other farmers nearby, and she helps build communities that are more food-secure — and the ripple effects continue to spread.

By investing in her, we invest in the future of Africa. That’s how we transform the future of food: one farmer at a time.

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When it comes to our priorities in life, our day-to-day concerns can often take precedence over our long-term goals. We are constantly focused on what is happening right now, in our careers, families, social lives and more. Very rarely do we take the time, or even get the opportunity, to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. However, when we do get to take this broader view, it is only then that we begin to observe the issues that not only affect ourselves but the world and the people around us. And not only can we identify these challenges, but we can also engage with them and develop the opportunities and solutions that will help us all for generations to come.

This was one of the main themes of “Economics and Health: A Natural Connection,” an in-depth keynote discussion between Alltech president and CEO Dr. Mark Lyons and Irish economist, author and university lecturer David McWilliams during the Alltech ONE Ideas Conference. Over the course of their conversation, the two speakers discussed a range of different countries that significantly influence global agriculture and assessed how their current and potential agricultural practices could affect the world as we know it.

“How do we become what will be described as ‘good ancestors,’” asked McWilliams, “so people in the future can look back at us and say, ‘They left the place in good nick’?”

This conversation came on the heels of a new animation project between Alltech and McWilliams. In a series of short videos, the two teamed up to focus on different nations’ economies in a quest to understand them better and learn how our histories and ideas are interrelated.

“We thought it would be a good way to look at what's the big global challenge,” McWilliams explained. “What are the historic, what are the momentous events going on? And then (we can) say, ‘Okay, how do these percolate down into countries big and small, major producers but also small, nimble producers?”

The outcome of this journey into world economics has been the revelation that everything is connected and that we all have a part to play in the betterment of our planet.

“What the (COVID-19) pandemic has told us is that none of us are alone, none of us can isolate ourselves, and the world is kind of smaller than we thought — and more interrelated,” McWilliams continued.

United States: Going back to its agricultural roots

The first of these country-focused animations looked at the United States. In the video, McWilliams pointed out that:

• The U.S. agriculture output tripled between 1948 and 2015, with enormous gains in efficiency.
• Around 90% of farmers cannot make a living off of their land alone.
• Agriculture only contributes to 7.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gases, far below the 30% attributed to cars.

Taking all of this information into account, McWilliams insisted that the U.S. itself will be the source of change in our environmental future.

“I think American culture is changing, at least when you see it from the outside,” explained McWilliams when asked his thoughts on the current Biden administration and what it means for the future of the U.S. “He's saying, ‘There's no point being wealthy if the wealth is only (in the hands of) a small minority. The wealth has to trickle down to everybody else. And if it doesn't trickle down, we're going to force it up.’”

What President Biden understands, according to McWilliams, is that the environment and inequality are the important issues and that they need to be addressed in order for the world to move forward, even if that goes against previously held beliefs.

“We are now at this phenomenal, intergenerational tipping point that the older generation isn't quite getting and the younger generation hasn't quite articulated,” said McWilliams. “But what it is is a change of macroeconomic policy, and what is driving the entire thing is this idea that we cannot simply be a gratification mindset, all of us together.

“We cannot have an immediate gratification mindset, which is ‘me, mine, my balance sheet, my profit margin, etc.,’” he continued. “We have to have a legacy mindset that we are, as I said at the top of the animation, we're just custodians. We're only passing through, right?”

McWilliams also highlighted the Biden administration’s understanding that the farming community is key to addressing these issues, especially regarding the country’s environmental impact. He said that the president realizes that agriculture is the solution to meeting carbon-neutral targets in the future. With this in mind, McWilliams believes U.S. agriculture is about to go through an enormous change, reinstating confidence and self-belief in the industry that has been missing for a long time.

“Before the industrial age, before the electricity age, before the internet age, there was agriculture,” McWilliams stated. “And agriculture will be the industry of the future, because only agriculture can naturally bring us to carbon neutrality. So, I think it's a really exciting time.”

Brazil: Re-telling the story

When it comes to feeding the world, Brazil is at the forefront. The South American country is:

• The largest exporter of beef and chicken meat globally.
• The world’s fourth-largest producer of swine.
• The largest exporter of soybeans and coffee.
• The biggest global producer of sugar and ethanol.
• The most widespread exporter and producer of orange juice, claiming over half of the global market.

But, according to the animation created by Alltech and McWilliams, Brazil has often failed to spread the good news stories of its agri-food industry. While its soybean farmers may feed billions, we only ever hear nightmarish stories of them forcing cattle ranchers off their land and allowing the rainforest to be destroyed. The video suggests that maybe now is the time for Brazil to reassess its legacy and to show how, rather being than part of the problem, its agricultural industry is actually integral to the global solution.

McWilliams is convinced that as long as Brazil can improve the messaging, it could be at the forefront of agricultural and environmental change.

“It seemed to me that if Brazil gets its agriculture right, the world gets its agriculture right,” explained McWilliams. “And what happens in Brazil will happen elsewhere around the developing world.”

However, he believes that the country first has to get its story right. He suggested that Brazil has to focus on aggressively positive messaging, revealing to people how much of what they eat comes from Brazil and how efficiently it is produced.

“And that, I think, is its challenge over the next 10 or 15 years, because it's clear that Brazil is going to go from strength to strength in terms of basic production,” concluded McWilliams. “The question is: Can it go from strength to strength in terms of people's perceptions of whether Brazil is a good environmental citizen?”

China: A changing economic and agricultural landscape

According to the next installment in this animation series, the next 30 years will be the most important in the history of agriculture. This will be mainly due to the changing economic and agricultural landscape of China and Asia as a whole.

The short video states that in order for China to succeed in becoming the world’s largest economy and military power, it must secure a sufficient food supply for its people and ensure that they are not subjected to inflated food prices. However, this is complicated by the fact that China has limited natural resources, particularly water. The outcome has been a transformation and modernization of Chinese agriculture, an industry that utilizes cutting-edge agriculture technology like no other country. This development has allowed China to stake its claim as the world’s most sustainable food producer.

Another huge trend in China and Asia as a whole, McWilliams pointed out, is that with newfound wealth comes a change in diet. This can be seen with upper-middle-class Asians, who are dining on a more Western diet of beef and dairy instead of traditional tofu and rice. This shift in taste is another indicator of how the continent will influence food and agriculture production and the supply chain as we move forward.

“The future is one whereby China will try and do whatever it can to make sure that its agricultural production remains high and/or that it can buy in food,” McWilliams explained.

Ireland: The benefits of modernizing agriculture

When considering a list of some of the biggest agri-food producers and consumers on the planet, you could be forgiven for thinking that the addition of this small island on the edge of the Atlantic was a clerical error. But Ireland is a significant player when it comes to the global agriculture industry. According to the animation focusing on the island, Ireland’s geographic location and climate make it the perfect place for healthy grass growth. And with healthy grass growth comes healthy cows. This amounts to a total of $13 billion in annual food exports.

However, there are large stumbling blocks scattered along Ireland’s path to energy-efficient and sustainable food production. One is the commonly encountered misconception that the solution to reducing carbon emissions is to reduce food production — something that McWilliams said the European Union is pushing but that he believes is a mistake.

“In order for the European Union to get an aggregate reduction in carbon emissions,” McWilliams evaluated, “it would seem to me much more logical to favor those countries that have had an evolutionary or ecological or environmental gift, in order to actually produce more, not less, in places like this, because your input/output ratio is so much lower here (in Ireland) than it is either in the parched Mediterranean or in the frozen tundra of the North.”

McWilliams believes that in order for Irish agriculture to modernize and grow, it needs to take a leaf out of the book of one of Ireland’s leading sectors: technology, which generates over $25 billion in exports. He said in the animation that embracing innovation could cultivate new agricultural breakthroughs, making Ireland the most resource-efficient, carbon-neutral, sustainable food producer on Earth — something which, in turn, could produce a new export: incredibly valuable ag-tech.

In concluding the discussion, McWilliams reiterated that everything in economics is interrelated and that positive change now will lead to further growth in the future, allowing us to leave a positive legacy for generations to come.

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When he was 26 years old, Dewitt Jones walked into the headquarters of the famed National Geographic magazine as its newest photographer in what, amazingly, was his first professional photography job.

“I remember standing there in the lobby … surrounded by the most beautiful photographs I'd ever seen in my life,” recalled Jones in his keynote address at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference. “How was I ever going to prove myself, (prove) that I was worthy of working there?”

Despite his fears, Jones did more than prove himself; his eye for detail and stunning images have made him one of the premier photojournalists in the world. He worked as a freelance photographer for National Geographic for 20 years, and his photography has also been featured in global advertising campaigns for such powerhouse clients as Canon and United Airlines.

And his talents don’t stop at still photography: As a filmmaker, Jones had garnered two nominations for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards before he turned 30 years old.

So, how did Jones overcome his fears and establish such an incredible portfolio of work? As he explained in his presentation, he believes that the key to success is following four steps that reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary and provide a fresh perspective on life:

• Training your technique
• Putting yourself in the place of most potential
• Allowing yourself to be open to possibilities
• Focusing your vision to celebrate what’s right in the world

“When I applied these four techniques, I made some incredible images,” Jones said. “I locked in those images by always beginning by celebrating what was best … and letting the rest fall away.”

1. Train your technique

“Vision without technique is blind,” Jones said. “It's fine to have a brilliant idea, but if you don't have the technique … to manifest it, you have nothing.”

As a photographer, for Jones, honing his technique meant taking thousands of photos in the quest to get the handful of images that would resonate most with readers.    

“When I worked for (National) Geographic, the average article was shot in 400 rolls of film. That's over 14,000 images to get the 30 that go on an article,” Jones explained. “(But) I don't care how many shots it takes. We all know when those right answers come into focus … but you're not going to get (them) unless you're willing to press out on the edge of your own comfortable envelope to take the risk.

“It is not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries,” he added.  

Jones also emphasized the importance of focusing on perfecting your own technique, not on trying to be better than others or doing what everyone else is doing — a lesson he learned from Bob Gilka, who was the head of photography at National Geographic when Jones was hired.

“He said, ‘You know, Dewitt, the people who photograph for (this magazine) are the best in the world. And you're one of them now,’” Jones remembered. “‘You don't have to prove yourself … but by God, every day, you had better improve yourself. I want you to spend every day trying to be better than you were yesterday.’

“He changed the way I did everything from that day forward,” Jones said.

By focusing on improving our own techniques and strengths instead of worrying about how we measure up to others, Jones argued, we can free ourselves from our hang-ups.

“When we really are doing that improving, not proving, believing that there's more than one right answer (and) reframing obstacles into opportunities, that's when we'll begin to lose all our fear of mistakes or setbacks,” he said.

2. Put yourself in the place of most potential

No matter what your career or passion, Jones said, your chances of achieving great success are slim if you don’t put yourself in a place of great potential. For Jones, that meant literally traveling to locations with the most potential for finding the perfect shot.

“If nature is going to open up multiple windows of opportunity, where do I have the best chance of finding them?” Jones would ask himself. “There are 1,000 ways to come at any challenge to find that extraordinary view.”

Jones recalled one particular photo assignment where things weren’t going exactly as he’d hoped — but by being open to the location’s great potential, as well as to advice from someone who knew the place well, Jones was able to get even better pictures than he’d anticipated.

While on location in Scotland to shoot a campaign for Dewar’s Scotch, the weather wasn’t what Jones had planned for — but a local fisherman advised him that if he came back the next day, he might see something extraordinary, albeit unexpected.

“He said, ‘You know, laddie, there was mist on the water this morning. That's unusual for this time of year.’ And I climbed all over it,” Jones recalled. “I want to be in the place of most potential. So, I'm out there two hours before dawn, and when the light starts coming up, I got the boats, and I got the fishermen. … I got my first right answer, (and) they just kept coming.”

3. Be open to possibilities

Even if you do put yourself in the place of most potential, Jones argued, it won’t make a difference if you aren’t open to the possibilities and what the world has to offer.   

“When the great photographer Minor White would go out to photograph, he would never say, ‘What will I take today?’” Jones recalled. “Rather, he would ask, ‘What will I be given today?’ And I would add: Will I be open enough to see it?”

For photographers, the possibilities are endless — but over the course of his career, Jones noticed that many people mistakenly believe that there’s only so much beauty to go around.

“Mother Nature never stood in front of a forest and said, ‘There is one great photograph hidden here. One photographer will find it, and the rest of you will be hopeless losers,’” Jones said. “No, nature says, ‘How many rolls you got, Dewitt? Bring it on! … I'll fill it up with beauty and possibility beyond your wildest imaginings, right down to my tiniest seed.’”

Along with being open to all of the possibilities, Jones argued that being willing to look for the next right answer instead of believing that there’s only one right answer is not only transformational — it is “the key to creativity.”

“So many things begin to change when you come at the world from that perspective,” Jones explained. “As you press on, looking for that next right answer, … you do so not in terror but comfortably knowing it's going to be there for you. And you really do begin to embrace change rather than fear it. You really do hit the day with a sense of possibility, not paralysis. And you just get more and more comfortable with reframing an obstacle into an opportunity.”

4. Focus your vision by celebrating what’s right

Jones saved his most important step for last, positing that how you see the world — and what you choose to focus on — will affect everything else in your life.  

“It's your vision that's going to make you a success, because vision controls our perception — and our perception becomes our reality,” Jones said.  

Jones began cultivating a vision of positivity when he was hired by National Geographic, who always encouraged him to focus his camera lens on the good instead of the bad.

“What they charged me with, every time they sent me out, was to celebrate what was right with the world,” Jones said. “I mean, why do you think we keep those silly yellow magazines? It's a national sacrilege to throw one away! Why? Because they celebrate what's right with the world.”

Jones acknowledged that it’s not always easy to find — or even look for — the positive, especially in the midst of overwhelming struggles, like the COVID-19 pandemic. But he still encourages everyone to try.

“I'm not going to deny that there's very real pain and suffering in the world,” Jones said. “But if I'm in love with life, I've got a lot more energy to face (it). By celebrating what's right, we find the energy to fix what's wrong. And (it’s) so important … to have a vision that will give us energy at a time when so many things are trying to take it away.”

Even when focusing on the good doesn’t come easily, Jones believes that we can become champions of finding the positive in the world the same way we become proficient in anything: practice, practice, practice.

“Unless you … make it a practice, it's not going to change your life,” Jones acknowledged. “This means that, every day, you have to consciously say, ‘I am going to celebrate what's right in my life.’”

So, how do you begin celebrating the good? In Jones’ opinion, it helps to tap into your passions — that is, things that “fill (your) cup”. This can be anything from sports to music to good conversations, and everything in between. It’s just a matter of finding it in your own life.

“You're going to have to go out and say …, ‘I just had an amazing interaction with my friends. I just saw the sunset. I just read a good book,’” Jones suggested. “Whatever it is that fills your cup up to where you overflow (and) you say, ‘These are things that make me glad to be alive.’”

By taking all four of these steps in our lives, Jones truly believes that we can change our perspective — and, ultimately, change the world.

“We can celebrate the best in every situation and every person every day,” Jones said. “We'll have the tools and the vision to face any challenge … while celebrating, with gratitude and with grace, all that we've been given. That perspective, that vision, it will change your life, as it has changed mine.”

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Horse owners often wrongly believe that they are destined to put up with a high number of flies and insects. As mid-summer approaches and heat and dry weather become the norm, many parts of North America are likely to experience an onslaught of fly populations, while other parts of the country are likely to have intense mosquito issues. Additional troublesome insects, such as biting midges — often called “no-see-ums” or buffalo gnats — can make summer almost unbearable for horses.

All of this makes many of us horse owners want to resort to utilizing heavy-hitting chemicals to keep our animals comfortable. While there may be a time and a place for this type of chemical warfare, looking at some big-picture management options is the safest way to begin your warfare strategy and reduce the need for insecticides. You should waste no time in planning your attack on the coming season’s flies and insects.

In this blog, I will review some of the least-toxic, most environmentally friendly methods for reducing and managing the fly and insect population at your horse facility, including diminishing the insect habitat, using mechanical barriers, putting beneficial insects and native birds to work for you, and setting non-insecticidal traps. We will also cover the topic of insecticides so that, if using these products becomes necessary, you can make an informed decision.

Using these controls as your first line of defense will help you reduce both the amount of chemicals used around your property and your impact on the environment. Less flies and fewer chemicals will be healthier for you and your horses, all while promoting sustainability in the equine industry.

1. Practice manure management.

Insecticides and fly sprays are commonly used in livestock fly control protocols, but you can greatly reduce your dependence on them if your manure and mud are managed properly, as flies, mosquitoes and other pests depend on manure and mud as a breeding ground.

Start with picking up the manure in stalls and confinement areas on a regular basis and developing a composting or manure storage area. Composting manure is the best option, as flies are generally associated with fresh manure rather than compost. A simple cover or tarp helps prevent rain runoff, which can contaminate surface water, creating the muddier habitat in which insect pests prefer to breed.

Gutters and downspouts on farm buildings divert clean rainwater away from animal confinement areas, reducing the chance of mud and the amount of water and mud in which insects could live. 

Stagnant water — that is, water that has not been moved or added to for five to seven days — can become a breeding site for mosquitoes in levels as small as half of a teacup. Flies and other pests also need water to survive, so it’s important to eliminate unnecessary sources of water, such as leaky faucets. Get rid of anything lying around that can hold stagnant water, such as old tires, toys, flowerpots, birdbaths, dog water bowls, buckets, barrels or trash.

Some insects — including face flies, biting midges, and deer or horse flies — do not like to enter darkened barns or stables. Providing your horse with a shelter or putting them inside a barn before and during dusk (when these insects are most active) may help horses escape being attacked by these miserable creatures.

Biting midges and mosquitoes tend to be poor flyers, so offering good ventilation or safely placing a fan outside a stall can create air movement, which may help individual horses that are particularly tormented by bugs.

2. Prioritize pasture management for horses.

Whenever possible, graze horses on higher, drier pastures at the beginning of the summer to avoid creating muddy areas. Save the lower, wet pastures — which harbor mosquitoes, deer flies, horse flies and biting midges — until later in the summer when those areas dry out.

Harrow (or drag) your pastures regularly to break up manure piles. Harrowing spreads manure, allowing plants to utilize the nutrients and organic materials contained therein. Spreading also dries out manure, making it a less attractive habitat for flies. 

Using footing materials — such as finely crushed gravel (sized 5/8 of an inch or less) or coarse sand — in confinement areas helps to further reduce mud. Three to six inches of footing material will help build up the area, keeping horses up out of the dirt and allowing rainwater to drain through.

3. Use physical barriers.

Most horse owners know about one wonderfully safe and effective method of fly management for horses: the fly mask. Fly masks act as a physical barrier between the horse and flies, with the added benefit of being a sunscreen for horses that are sensitive to sunburn. Most horses learn to appreciate fly masks quickly and will willingly lower their heads to have a mask put on them. Some masks only protect the eyes, while others also protect ears and jowls.

Fly sheets are an additional option. These cool, open-weave, lightweight horse blankets can be quite useful at keeping pestering flies off a horse’s body. Fly boots are also available to help protect the horse's legs and hooves by helping to greatly decrease stomping.

4. Recognize good bugs.

When it comes to pest management, we often err by approaching all insects as pests. However, according to the Xerces Society — a forty-year-old nonprofit organization that works to conserve habitats for beneficial insects worldwide — only about 2% of all insects are actually considered pests. The Xerces Society also reports that beneficial insects are worth quite a bit to agriculture economically: around $4–12 billion annually. Many insects prey on each other, and insects would rule the world if that were not the case.

One example of a beneficial insect that horse owners can put to work is the fly parasite, a gnat-sized, nocturnal wasp that lays its eggs in the developing pupae of flies, thereby reducing or nearly eliminating the fly population. Fly parasites do not harm humans or animals in any way and are rarely even noticeable, since they are tiny and are only active at night.

Commercially raised fly parasites can be purchased from several sources, which can be located by doing an internet search of the words “fly parasite”. To be most effective as a fly control program, fly parasites should be released early in the fly season and every four weeks thereafter.

5. Encourage insect-eating birds.

Encouraging insect-eating birds to move into your yard and barn area is an excellent method for reducing the flying insect population. Members of the swallow family can be a tremendous asset to a horse facility, as they dive and dart through the neighborhood collecting bugs. One adult barn swallow will consume several thousand insects per day — a number comparable with using a bug zapper via a method that is much safer than using insecticides.

Some common North American insect-eating birds include violet-green swallows, tree swallows, barn swallows, bluebirds, purple martins and cliff swallows. Nesting can be encouraged by hanging nest boxes specifically made for the types of birds in your area. Swallows, such as violet-greens, will utilize nesting material like hair that is shed by horses or dogs. For help determining the insect-eating birds specific to your part of the country and their nest box needs, consult your local Audubon Society, birding organization, extension office, wild bird store or library.

6. Accept bats.

Bats play an important part in every healthy environment by eating the nocturnal flying insects that plague both our horses and ourselves, such as mosquitoes. Bats are reported to eat up to 600 mosquitoes an hour — more than 5,000 a night! They also eat other agricultural pests, such as corn borers, cutworm moths, potato beetles and grasshoppers.

You may be able to encourage a bat family to move onto your property by hanging a bat box built specifically for the types of bats common in your region. Bat houses should be placed on the southern exposure of a barn, pole, tree or house. The best habitat is within a half-mile of a stream, lake or wetland. Place bat houses by early April and be patient, as it may take up to two years for a bat colony to find your house.

A word of caution: Because of the concern for rabies, which can be carried by bats (as well as any warm-blooded animal), consult your veterinarian for their recommendations on vaccinating your horses against rabies. And just as you would do with a stinging insect or an unfamiliar dog, always leave bats alone. Bats are not aggressive, but like any wild animal, if cornered, they may bite to defend themselves.

7. Use insect and fly traps.

Several types of simple, non-toxic insect traps can be extremely useful for reducing the flying insect population on your farm. The cheapest and easiest are sticky traps; flying insects happen across them and get stuck. Fly paper or sticky tape can be attached above doorways or from barn ceilings. Old-fashioned sticky strips — the coiled kind — are probably the cheapest and easiest to utilize. Try hanging many of them (i.e., 10 or more) from your barn ceiling. Once they are full of dead flies, remove the old pieces of tape and hang fresh ones. Choose these locations carefully to avoid snagging human hair or swishing horse tails.

Other kinds of traps include brightly colored sticky tubes, as bright colors attract flies; these tubes can also be hung up. These traps may or may not come with an attractant (i.e., an embedded scent), which flies seek out.

Several commercial brands of pesticide-free bags are available on the market. The stinky attractant used in these bags activates when dissolved in water. Lured by the scent (and perhaps also the color), flies enter the trap through the yellow cap top and drown in the water. These bags come ready to hang and use and are easy to dispose of when full by simply tossing into the trash. There are also reusable varieties.

Place attractant bags on the perimeter of your property to lure flies away from high-traffic areas. The downside to these traps is that they are smelly — which is another good reason to place them away from barn areas.

8. Understand your chemical control options.  

An insecticide is a chemical that kills insects, while a repellant is a substance that discourages flies and other insects from landing. When using insecticides, read and follow the directions carefully and avoid using more than necessary. Only use insecticides that are recommended for use on horses. Generally, insecticides are meant to be used outdoors, in well-ventilated, open places — not in an enclosed area, such as an indoor stall or barn. Indiscriminate use of insecticides may promote resistant strains of flies and could kill beneficial insects or harm birds and bats.

Equine insecticides generally fall into one of four categories (listed here in order from least to most toxic):

• Pyrethrins (a botanical insecticide made from chrysanthemums)
• Permethrins (synthetic pyrethrins)
• Carbamates
• Organophosphates

Unfortunately, “least toxic” and “most effective” don’t always go hand in hand. Even the best fly sprays containing pyrethroids do not last long.

Insecticides are usually used as premise sprays, which means that any insect they come into contact with will potentially be killed — including beneficial ones, not just pests.

Most equine fly sprays are repellents. Repellents are available as sprays, lotions, wipe-ons, gels, dusting powders, ointments, roll-ons, shampoos and towelettes. Repellents contain a substance irritating to flies, such as oil of citronella, and most contain some amount of insecticide.

Repellents also contain a product, known as a base, that helps hold the active ingredients to the horse’s body hair. The most common repellent bases are water, oil or alcohol. Oil-based repellents remain on the horse’s hair shaft longer, but oil attracts dirt. Water-based repellents do not last as long but attract less dirt, and alcohol-based repellents can be drying to the horse’s skin. To increase the lasting effect, some repellents are made with silicone, which coats the hair shaft and holds the repellent in place longer. Repellents can also contain sunscreen, coat conditioners (such as lanolin or aloe vera) and other products that may increase their staying power. How long a repellent lasts depends on the weather, the exercise level of the horse (i.e., how much they sweat), brushing and rolling.

Moderation is key. Sometimes chemicals must be used, especially on insect-sensitive horses, but it is best to avoid spraying the horses every day or while they are in their stalls or pens; that’s a lot of chemicals to put on the horse, and it may also be very costly.

Say goodbye to the bugs in the horse barn.

The key point to keep in mind when trying to manage insects is to first strive to diminish the insect habitats where insects live and breed, which include mud, manure and stagnant water. After you have these areas under control, go after insects with birds, bats, fly parasites and non-insecticidal traps.

Beyond that, if certain insects become problematic, you can choose whether you want to use a repellent or an insecticide-based spray on your horse. With these tools on hand, you’ll have more options available for the coming insect season, meaning you won’t have to put up with as many pests and can also reduce the use of chemicals on your horse property.

I want to learn more about nutrition for my horses.

Google the phrase “joint supplements for horses,” and you will quickly be overwhelmed by more than 165,000 results.

Many owners and trainers in the horse industry consider joint health a top concern for their management programs. This is warranted; after all, the average horse weighs around 1,000 pounds and is supported by four relatively thin legs with very little protection.

Understanding equine joints becomes increasingly important for each horse owner, as musculoskeletal injuries are classified as the number-one reason for loss of performance.  

What’s really going on in the horse’s joints?

There are three types of joints in the body, but the type that is most influenced through nutrition (and the type that we typically think of when we think of a joint) is called the synovial joint.

Synovial joints are those that allow for movement and help transfer the load between bones, including the elbow, knee or wrist — or, in the horse’s case, the knee, hock or fetlock joint.

Synovial joints are composed of:

• Cartilage, which covers the ends of the two bones that meet at the joint.
• The joint capsule, which is the space encompassing the entire joint with an inner synovial membrane housing synovial cells and synovial fluid.
• Ligaments, a type of connective tissue that connects bone to bone.

Cartilage is one of the most important aspects of the joint

We hate to play favorites, but when it comes to joints, we are partial to cartilage for the role it plays in handling the compressive and concussive forces that joints deal with on a minute-to-minute basis. Cartilage is a metabolically active tissue composed of chondrocytes, the main cells in cartilage, as well as type II collagen and a proteoglycan network.

You can think of cartilage as a small, remote town — “Joint Town,” perhaps.

In basic terms, the chondrocyte cells produce collagen fibrils, which undergo an extensive cross-linking process during development. Collagen is the road system of “Joint Town.”

Proteoglycans are molecules that aid in the shock absorption properties of cartilage. They are made up of a core protein linked to a glycosaminoglycan chain, such as keratin or chondroitin sulfate. 

Proteoglycans are similar to the houses and buildings that comprise a town.

Cartilage is a largely avascular structure, meaning that it receives a limited blood supply, and as a result, repair and renovation is a slow process. This is a small, remote town, after all.

While the proteoglycans can be replaced completely after 300 to 1,800 days, the collagen network is considered to be a once-in-a-lifetime building process — in fact, it is estimated to only be replaced every 120 years in dogs and every 350 years in humans!

You know how road construction goes. Can you even imagine how long it would take to completely replace a town’s road system? Let’s just say that remodeling a home or building (i.e., the proteoglycans) is enough of a task for the construction workers (i.e., the chondrocytes), who receive limited resources.  

That being said, it is important to understand that cartilage, being a metabolically active tissue, will vary based on its location within the joint and how much of a load that area experiences. The load in different areas is dependent on the type of exercise that the horse does on a regular basis, as well as on that animal’s unique conformation.

Daily “wear and tear” impacts the horse’s joints

When a foal is born, it is believed to be born with “blank” joints. The foal’s bone, cartilage and overall joint makeup will develop based on its activity level, and the foal’s early life will set the animal’s joints up for a lifetime of success (or not).

This is where balancing the exercise cycle comes into play.

Based on this information, we know that exercise is a critical component of equine joint health. On the one hand, exercise builds strength and stimulates blood flow and the “pumping” of synovial fluid in and out of the joint.

Synovial fluid not only acts as lubrication in the joint, but it is also an important communication medium between many pieces of the joint, carrying nutrients into the cartilage and waste out. More movement means more nutrients coming in and waste being removed. Think of exercise as traffic control; it helps keep the one-way street in and out of the remote town working, so that resources can continue to be brought in or traded out.

On the other hand, too much or chronic, repetitive exercise can strain certain areas of the joint, resulting in “wear and tear” of the cartilage, inflammation, damage and, in the worst-case scenario, osteoarthritis.

While some of these effects may be unavoidable, there are certainly preventative measures that can help protect the joints and maximize performance — and nutrition may be one of the least invasive ways to protect horse joints.  

Which joint supplements for horses actually make a difference?

There are many questions about whether joint supplements are useful, and frankly, conducting research that investigates the effects of joint nutraceuticals is challenging, to say the least.

While there is always more research to be done, we can honestly say that the evidence does support the fact that joint supplements provide many benefits — especially if you choose the right ones.

When shopping for a joint supplement for your horse, consider four key nutrients:

1. Glucosamine

Glucosamine is an amino sugar that is a natural component of the horse’s cartilage. Glucosamine is a precursor to building glycosaminoglycans, which, as you know from earlier, are important players in the proteoglycan network.

Glucosamine is like “joint food”; it is believed to help prevent cartilage degradation, inflammation and pain in the joint while also supporting cartilage growth.

2. Chondroitin sulfate

While glucosamine is a precursor to glycosaminoglycans, chondroitin sulfate is an actual glycosaminoglycan, which bolsters the strength and resistance capabilities of the joint. Research has found that using a combination supplement of glucosamine and chondroitin in horses with osteoarthritis improved flexion tests while decreasing joint volume and lameness scores.    

3. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)

Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an organic sulfur compound necessary for the production of connective tissue. Perhaps one of the lesser-understood joint nutrients, research in horses has shown that MSM may help protect the body from free-radical damage due to exercise, and it also appears to play a role in the glutathione pathway, which is an important antioxidant in the body.

4. Hyaluronic acid (HA)

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is most well-known for its lubrication and comfort-inducing properties as a major component of synovial fluid. HA is also found in cartilage and helps aid in absorbing shock. Studies have found that HA plays an important role as a protective and anti-inflammatory agent in the joints, decreasing the breakdown of cartilage and synovial fluid. 

Key points to remember

Performance horses are prone to joint disease as a result of their normal activity. While some of this may be inevitable, especially as the joints’ regenerative ability decreases with age, there are various therapies and technologies that can help promote equine joint health.

First and foremost, asking your horse to perform a variety of different exercises at various intensity levels and on different surfaces can help keep your horse moving and can help balance the load on the horse’s joints, as well as the inflammation cycle associated with training.

Additionally, do not underestimate the power of nutrition. While it is human nature to always seek new information, research offers convincing evidence that high-quality joint supplements can help protect and restore joints throughout a horse’s life.

Alltech’s new Lifeforce Joint supplement was designed to provide all four key joint nutrients in one scoop, helping support and maximize your horse’s joint health and long-term performance.

I want to learn more about nutrition for my horses.