Swine producers face numerous challenges that can significantly impact the health and performance of their herds. These challenges include heightened pathogen levels, escalating feed expenses, and less-than-ideal feed conversion rates, all of which can cut into the profits of swine producers.
Adding to the complexity, changing consumer preferences are becoming a significant factor. With a growing emphasis on clean-label alternatives and a heightened focus on food production and its impact on health, the use of antibiotics in swine production is losing favor among consumers and is even prohibited in certain regions. Swine producers are tasked with finding innovative and sustainable solutions to meet evolving consumer demands.
Amidst these challenges, eMAX™ is emerging as an effective solution, especially in Latin American countries. In this article, we’ll explain eMAX™ and how it’s revolutionizing the swine industry, helping producers safeguard their herds, enhance their operations, and adapt to the ever-shifting landscape of antibiotic free foods.
1. What is eMAX™ ?
eMAX™ is an enzyme probiotic that eliminates the need for antibiotics and other expensive feed additives by improving herd health and performance and improving Feed Conversion Rates (FCR).
2. How Does it Work?
eMAX™ is a spore forming bacillus that, unlike other probiotics on the market, is not live at time of purchase. Once the eMAX spore is inside the pig where temperature, moisture, PH, and food supply are just right, they germinate and become live. At Engrain, we’ve discovered how to make eMAX™ robust enough to survive sterilization over 100 degrees Celsius, so eMAX™ can be pelletized and used in feed and water applications.
eMAX™ improves intestinal health and reduces the presence of common pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella while increasing growth performance and improving health and energy reduction.
The outcome is a significantly reduced presence of pathogens and an increased net weight gain. These results are proven to save pork producers thousands of dollars a year.
3. Does eMAX™ Have an Expiration Date?
The Bacillus in its dormant, spore form used in eMAX™ can function in a dehydrated state indefinitely. When the product has been opened, depending on the storage conditions over an extended period, the effectiveness can vary. The product has more components than just the probiotic Bacillus. It also contains the carrier and anti-caking agents that could influence the longevity of the commercial product. For these reasons, the shelf life of eMAX™ is one year when following the recommended storage conditions.
4. Are There Benefits to Adding a Probiotic if a Prebiotic is Already Being Used?
A prebiotic is a nondigestible feed ingredient that can beneficially affect the host by stimulating the growth of different beneficial bacteria that can be present in the gut and they also prevent pathogens from attaching to the gut to prevent infections from happening. On the other hand, probiotics are live microbials that help the animal by improving intestinal health when administered in the correct amount. When put together, prebiotics and probiotics can work together to prevent pathogens from colonizing the gut. The probiotic utilizes the prebiotic as feed to promote their own growth. Probiotics can be more effective when accompanied by prebiotics because their growth will be enhanced. These two strategies can be stronger when working as a pair.
5. Can Antibiotics and Probiotics be Used at the Same Time?
The Bacillus spore forms can become vegetive under the right conditions which usually happens after they have been consumed by the animal. These spores can tolerate different conditions such as differences in pH, the presence of bile salts, differences in pressure, various temperatures, and the presence of antibiotics. In most cases, probiotics and antibiotics can be used at the same time. But with Bacillus based probiotics, they are known to secrete different antibacterial substances and known to enhance immune exclusion of different pathogens which eliminates the need for most antibiotics!
6. Can Engrain Provide Customized Feed Additives to Meet Specific Requirements?
We have several different registrations for the types of eMAX™ in different countries around the world. These registrations take a considerable amount of time to gain approval. Depending on the situation, we could be limited on how many different solutions we can offer. There is flexibility around the dosage units based on what is trying to be accomplished. The products we build are robust enough to cover a wide range of effects and in most cases, the dosage levels will simply need to be adjusted. It also depends on the country’s requirement on registration. We can adjust accordingly and combine other products to create a specific solution based on your needs.
7. Is eMAX™ Safe for Human Consumption?
eMAX™ contains a blend of Bacillus spores and enzymes, entirely natural ingredients that have received approval from the American Association of Feed Control Officials. These ingredients are considered safe and are commonly found in various human foods and supplements. It’s important to note that eMAX™ is produced on a feed-grade platform. While the bacterial strains may be identical to those found in human products, eMAX™ is exclusively formulated for animal and should exclusively be consumed by swine.
8. Is There Anyone Outside of Engrain Who Can Speak on Behalf of eMAX™?
While our Engrain experts can clearly convey the benefits of eMAX™ to producers who are interested in setting up free trials, the birds really tell the story, and the eMAX™ results speak for themselves!
We are fortunate to have individuals in the market who have extensively utilized eMAX™ and would be delighted to connect you! eMAX™ continues to be assessed in different environments such as commercial settings and university trials, offering multiple scenarios tailored to your specific interest.
9. How Do I Get Started with eMAX™?
If you’re interested in setting up a free trial to see how eMAX™ can help your swine operations, simply reach out to our team via our contact us page. Our eMAX™ experts will reach out to discuss your needs, set up a free trial, and walk you through the process.
Once the trial results are presented and you’ve seen improvement in your herd, simply submit a P.O to begin implementing eMAX™ in your swine operations. Like other producers using eMAX™, you could set the industry standard in your region for herd health and growth and realize increased profitability and cost savings while meeting customer expectations. Customers who use eMAX™ are on the forefront of innovation, as we suspect probiotics will continue to grow in popularity replacing the use of antibiotics in the industry.
