microbial products including forage inoculants, animal feed additives and for ‘environmental remediation’. In the year to 31 January 2019, the company generated


sales amounting to £22.83 million, an increase of £3.89 million or, approximately, a fifth. After deducting direct costs of £12.98 million, the company’s Gross Profit rose by £1.19 million to £9.85 million, an increase of 13.7 per cent. However, although these data generated a Gross Profit ratio of 43.1 per cent, this was equivalent to a five- year low. The company appears to have experienced a significant increase in indirect costs during the year under review, particularly as regards


administrative expenses that increased by 8 per cent to £4.2 million. Despite this, the company’s operating profits rose by 18.4 per cent to £5.36 million. There being no other charges to the company’s published accounts, pre-tax profits for the year under review rose from £4.53 million in the 2018 accounting year to £5.36 million in the year to 31 January 2019. The company is a subsidiary of Lallemand UK Ltd. The ultimate


controlling party is Lallemand Incorporated, a company incorporated in Canada which the Directors regard as the ultimate holding company and controlling party. Between 1994 and 2014, the company traded as Biotal Ltd.


In, Out, Shake It All About


The Brexit Hokey-Cokey Continues


By Jane Brooks


After being stuck in a legislative rut for the last year the parliamentary reintroduction of ‘The Agriculture Bill’ in the Queen’s speech on the 14th October 2019 has given farmers some small hope that a new domestic agricultural policy will help provide some stability and clarity to plan for a post Brexit future. However, joined-up thinking is needed from Defra, because


whilst ‘public money for public goods’ may be a catchy motto, future agricultural policy must integrate food production and environmental protection. Still on politics, Prime Minister Boris Johnson convinced a majority


of MP’s to vote for his newly negotiated EU Withdrawal agreement Bill, but then his attempt to fast track it through the parliamentary process was rejected, leaving the Bill in limbo. Subsequently, the EU granted the leaving date extension request reluctantly made by PM Johnson, after which we have entered a General Election campaign. The nature of any post-Brexit agricultural relationship between


the EU and the UK has attracted a great deal of attention particularly regarding future trade arrangements and access to the single market.


However for the animal feed industry there are some significant


areas where agreement needs to be reached. The ‘transition’ period of at least a year, possibly longer, which both the UK and EU deem necessary, needs an obvious set of transitional arrangements in the area of food and farming.


Of particular importance to feed manufacturers is new EU


legislation, which will become EU law by 2022, containing restrictions on the use of antibiotics on healthy farm animals as part of legislation to equalise cross EU regulations and halt the spread of “superbugs” resistant to medical treatment. The new legislation quite reasonably bans the use of human


reserve antibiotics in veterinary medicine and the use of un-prescribed animal antimicrobials. Vets will have to provide data on volume and sales of antimicrobial


medicines, something they already do. Additionally imported foods will need to meet EU standards, particularly on growth enhancement, which is a very good thing. As well as prohibiting the use of antibiotics in feed as a


preventative measure (prophylactic use), the new rules also limit the use of antibiotics in medicated feed to a period of two weeks and vets can only prescribe antibiotics after a full clinical examination. The safest and most practical way to administer antibiotics is in


animal feed; currently 44% of all on farm antibiotics are administered this way. The production of medicated feed is undertaken by compound feed manufacturers for livestock farmers and is always based on the advice and prescription given by a qualified vet. Additionally, particularly in the poultry industry, around 29% of antibiotics are administered in water. The overuse of antibiotics is a growing concern throughout the


world as strong evidence suggests it has contributed to an increase in the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Currently preventative antibiotics can be routinely given to


farm animals – particularly to pigs and poultry to prevent infection in intensive housing systems. In fact the NPA have said that the EU’s ban is overly restrictive, whereas RUMA (Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture) doesn’t support routine preventative use, a position echoed by many of the UK’s professional veterinary societies. Restrictions on antibiotic use may be a challenge to some farming models; it’s been claimed limiting prophylactic use may lead


PAGE 26 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 FEED COMPOUNDER


Comment section is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd www.cfegroup.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68