improvement of its pig facilities, which should be ready by 2012.
In total, some Euro 9 million ($12.2 million) is being invested.
The new layer farm and research facilities will be unique,
and comprise a commercial house equipped for research
with two separate areas each with 40 different groups of 330
hens, to enable accurate statistical nutrition studies.
The new dairy cow facilities, with 220 lactating dairy cows,
will result in a doubling of SFR’s dairy research capacity. In the
plans for this facility, there is the possibility of an extension of up
to 340 lactating cows.
Competing demands
SFR currently has contracts with the compounding
feed industry and suppliers in 14 countries, but calls on its
expertise are expected to increase.
Dr van der Aar says: “While local feedstuffs may always
be the preferred choice, we particularly foresee greater
interest from regions that are feedstuff importing, for
example Europe and Asia.”
SFR has developed feed additive formulation tables
that can be used for the development of commercial
feed formulations, and it also has methods to calculate
the nutritional value of raw materials that can vary in
composition and to measure other quality aspects of
animal nutrition related to feed composition.
Dr van der Aar explains: “We have built a data file for the
last 75 years. However, we have seen an increasing interest
in evaluation of raw materials, and there are several reasons
for this.
“Raw materials are not the same as they were in the
past. This can be either due to genetic changes in the raw
materials themselves, or due to changes in production
processes. Products with the same name may not have the
same nutritional value as they did 20 years ago. Because of
