Research highlights from Midwest ASAS

In this powerhouse episode of Coffee in the Barn, Casey Bradley sits down with three industry leaders to explore some of the most exciting research presented at the 2025 Midwest Animal Science Meetings: 

🔬 Dr. Yuan-Tai Hung (Davanesh) – Unpacks the power of lysophospholipid emulsifiers in swine nutrition, revealing how they boost performance on reduced-energy diets. 
 🧪 Morgan Hart (Hubart Feeds) – Breaks down the role of acidifiers in nursery pig diets, optimal titration rates, and how ABC4 helps calculate acid needs. 
 🌿 Ashley Wagner (ProBiotech) – Introduces PhytoZen, a plant-based anti-stress additive aimed at improving gut integrity through brain-gut signaling. 

From nursery trials and ROI calculations to innovations in stress management and microbiome protection, this episode delivers cutting-edge insights for every swine nutritionist, researcher, and ag leader. 

#SwineNutrition #GutHealth #AnimalScience #Emulsifiers #Acidifiers #PhytoZen #AnimalWelfare #CoffeeInTheBarn 

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Transcript

0:00:00
(Casey Bradley)
Welcome to Coffee in the Barn, where every cup tells a story. With a rotating lineup of hosts, we invite you to join us as we explore the diverse challenges and triumphs of modern life and the heart of agriculture. From the fields to the classroom, from innovators to everyday visionaries. Each episode brings a fresh perspective and a new voice. So brew yourself a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's uncover the stories that shape our lives, our farms, and our communities.

0:00:47
(Casey Bradley)
Well, it's really great to catch back up with you, Yuan. I know we talked at Midwest Animal Science, but we thought we'd get on here and do a formal interview. But before we get started, could you introduce yourself to our audience and tell us a little bit about your background and your role at Devonish?

0:01:01
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
No problem, Casey. Well, it's great to be here. My name is Wan Tai Hong. Sometimes people call me Yuan. Sometimes people call me Wan. My first name will be Wan Tai. And it's very easy to remember my name because I'm originally from Taiwan. So what I did my undergrad and MSc in Taiwan in 2021, I graduated with my PhD degree from the University of Minnesota under guidance of Drs. Jerry Sherson, Pedro Uriola and Malena Salki-Selcis.

0:01:40
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
So where I get my all applied swine nutrition training as well as my basic research in digestive physiology. And after school in 2021 I joined Davenish which is specialized providing all high quality nutritional technology. My role in Davenish as their swine research manager and currently focusing on all the SWI research project as well as to support technical team as well as customers requests.

0:02:10
(Casey Bradley)
Well great, well now I have two friends from Taiwan. I did not realize you were from Taiwan. So you're my YT and of course I have TC at the University of Arkansas. So that's how I'll remember it because I call TC by his initials.

0:02:27
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Correct, correct. And sometimes my wife also call me my initial YTH.

0:02:37
(Casey Bradley)
That's cool. So your paper I think was probably one of the most unique papers at Midwest Animal Science. It's not a new technology, but emulsification or emulsifier is not really something the swine industry has really evaluated or looked in compared to ruminants and other species. Can you tell us what an emulsifier is and the goal of utilizing it in nutrition.

0:03:05
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Correct. I mean, emulsifier is not a new technology, but in terms of technology, I think the key is to find a way to implement it and to see a measurable response. And the one emulsifier that we present at the Midwest meeting is Lysophospholipids. And remember, it's Lysophospholipids with S. That means it's multiple different Lysophospholipids in the product.

0:03:36
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
And that consists of four different main Lysophospholipids. Each one have their unique emulsification property. And the main reason we evaluate the emulsifier that we call dynamic NA is because in the field, we observe when animals consuming reduced energy diet,

0:03:58
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
typically we observe a reduced performance. And not all the farm or the feed meal have the capability to add additional oil in the diets. And not all the feed meal has access to a high quality fat source. And it all depends on the current fat to corn price ratio, I believe right now still greater than three. So indicating is not ideal or not justified to using fat into the diet. So our thought process to see how as an industry partner, how we can support animal performance from nutritional perspective.

0:04:45
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
And that's the main reason we want to evaluate these technologies to find a new way to utilize it.

0:04:54
(Casey Bradley)
How does LPL work in metabolism and digestion?

0:04:59
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
So there are different ways to explain it. I think the lipid digestion start with the emulsification, hydrolysis, and absorption. And we know the ability of lipids being able to miscible in the aqueous environment of the GI tract is a limiting factor or a key determinant for the lipids being able to digest because we have to consider all the digestive enzyme has to be able to attach to the lipid droplets and

0:05:33
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
consider lipids are water insoluble that requires an extra step, which is the emulsification. And emulsification is the process of breaking down large lipids into a smaller one, first increasing the surface area, and the second is to increase the ability to be visible in the aqueous environment. And that's one of the main reasons emulsification can support the fat digestion. And there's other research from the human side, emulsification can support the fat digestion. And there's other research from the human side

0:06:08
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
in emulsification improving lipolysis activity, increasing the fat digestion by measuring triacylglyceride concentration in the blood. And that's kind of like confirm what we observed in the animal trial.

0:06:23
(Casey Bradley)
And that's why emulsification is nothing new. The animal kind of somewhat does it naturally, but if we look at the shampoos, the soaps we use, different salad dressings that we like, we have to do emulsification to get those products to be usable.

0:06:43
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Correct. Like we rely on emulsification for all day activity. I mean when we do laundry, when we do dishes, it's all emulsification, right? Like improving those polar and non-polar interactions and being able to do all the chemical reactions.

0:07:10
(Casey Bradley)
So can you walk us through your trial a little bit, go through the materials and methods?

0:07:15
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Yes, so to be able to find the right way to utilize this emulsifier, in total we run two nursery trials. So the first trial that we just to see whether emulsifier. In total, we run two nursery trial. So the first trial that we just to see whether emulsifier can provide some benefit. So in that trial, we have our standard FFET control diets. And then we have our emulsifier treatment in a reduced energy diets situation.

0:07:43
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
The energy differences in the phase one, that's about close to 150 kcal per kilogram. Phase two is about 100 kcal differences. And in order to mimic what we observe in the field, we formulate based on our high fiber nursery base. That is one of our technology specialized to support the wing picks with entry challenge. So we increase all the functional fiber

0:08:14
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
with other technology. And we're using that base to formulate our reduced energy diets, as well as our effect control. And in the first trial, we see some preliminary data to support, yes, emulsifier can help animals

0:08:31
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
to improve or maintain the gain response, even they're on a reduced energy diet. And I know all the experienced nutritionists were questioning, were questioning that there's no pure negative control. So then we run a second nursery trial.

0:08:51
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Then in this trial, we include a real negative control. So we have our positive control that also contain standard ad fat diets in both phase. First phase is about 3%, and the second phase about 2%. In the base we have about 1% so total you can consider in the phase one total will be 4% ad fat and phase two will be 2%. Then we have our pure nectar control which is

0:09:22
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
exclude all the FI component. In the phase one, we just rely on 1% coming from our high fiber nursery phase. Then we're using this pure negative control to add emulsifier either at 1.5 pound per ton inclusion rate or three pounds per ton inclusion rate.

0:09:43
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
So total will be four dietary treatments. And each treatment, we have 15 replicates and each replicate we house 18 pigs per pan. So in total, this trial is more than a thousand pigs on the trial. Then we run almost, the second trial we run

0:10:03
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
like about 36 days, that we finish all our feed budget. And in the second trial, we observe a very similar response compared to the first one. But then we also be able to observe the growth reduction

0:10:18
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
in animal consume a reduced energy diet without supplemental lipids and emulsifier supplementations. And then with the emulsifier supplementation, we observe, of course, a similar gain response compared to our standard FFAC control,

0:10:38
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
as well as a better response compared to a reduced NIH diet. So this confirm what we observe in the study one. It's not just one time success, we consistently see an improvement. And we also do economic assessment

0:10:54
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
because I think at the end of the day, we still need to know whether it pays to feed oil or reduce energy diet, but with emuls our supplementation. So we take growth performance into considerations and we know every pound coming from the nursery phase equals to two pounds in the marketing picks. So we take the overall gain response

0:11:22
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
into consideration and our dietary costs, we observe a significant difference in income over fee costs. Like pigs consume a reduced energy diet with our sales price using our emulsifier bring up almost I think more than a dollar per pig compared to both positive and negative control. So that kind of indicates that using emulsifier in a reduced NIH diet provides measurable improvements and that's the main experimental design and the positive response we observe. Now you're also researching other phases of production

0:12:07
(Casey Bradley)
as well using emulsification, correct?

0:12:10
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Correct. We have a trial using the same technology, emulsifier in a different scenario. So we have run in finisher pigs. We run in our Mexico research facility. In that case, we are using emulsifier on top of the control diet. So the control diet will be considered

0:12:35
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
standard fat diets in Mexico. When we talk to our nutritionists in Mexico, they typically using 2% FFAT. So in our trial, we run adding emulsifier on top of the controlled diets, and we still observe an improvement in gain as well as improvement in efficiency. And that also telling us that using emulsifier in a different application. You can either use it in a reduced energy diet or in your typical standard diet and to observe the efficiency response. So that is our growth initial trial. The other part we also observe is when we're using emulsifier in a reduced energy dieting during the growth finish phase, we observe a numerically lower morbidity and morbidity.

0:13:35
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
And our explanation is when pigs are on a reduced energy diet during the limiting space and they may have increasing those lows, more competition and that result in more and more morbidity and mortality. So when we using these response to calculate, we can also observe some positive income over fee cost during the growth finish phase as well.

0:14:10
(Casey Bradley)
Well, incredible. Besides your presentation, what, do you have a special paper or abstract that you enjoyed the most or any research data that stood out to you besides what you presented?

0:14:25
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
Besides what I present, well, I think the protein digestion kinetics what I really enjoy during the Midwest meeting. I know this is also not a new topic, but I think we as an industry or nutritionist, we start paying more attention now

0:14:45
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
how to synchronize protein digestion kinetic as well as those carbohydrate digestion kinetic to facilitate the growth of young animals. Because from Dr. Mike Tokash presentation, we know the improvements that we observe over the 35 years, nursery versus the growth finish peaks, we still have a lot need to do to improve the post-weaning, especially

0:15:14
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
post-weaning intake and post-weaning gain. And I think how we can synchronize those protein protein digestion and in carbohydrates and energy supply is the main factor to support all the post-weaning growth performance. So that's one I really enjoy.

0:15:35
(Casey Bradley)
Well, thank you. I really enjoyed your presentation. So I wanted to make sure that we shared it to the audience because 20 years ago or so, I became interested in it and looking at some of the stuff cattle was doing and different things of how we could incorporate similar technologies into swine diets.

0:15:56
(Casey Bradley)
So I really appreciate you taking the time after the meetings to catch up with me and our audience and sharing your data here on Coffee in the Barn.

0:16:06
(Yuan-Tai Hung)
No problem. It's my pleasure to share what we have learned into the audience too.

0:16:16
(Casey Bradley)
Well, Morgan, I think this is deja vu. We had that big video recording of our conversation at Midwest Animal Science while we were there and now we're recording again about your research that we didn't talk about.

0:16:25
(Morgan Hart)
Yes, yes, I presented on Altec's AcidAid product. We've been working, this product's been around since 2015 and we have mostly been using it just within our

0:16:48
(Morgan Hart)
own products that Hubbard feed sells, but we've found some market opportunity to sell the product acetate by itself. And so we're now running it through our research barns and comparing it to commercial products that are similar to it, like benzoic acid, and looking to see how the product performs in commercial settings. And we've found that, you know, acidifiers are very important, especially during the early nursery phase of the pig's life. Due to those early weaned,

0:17:35
(Morgan Hart)
or those weaned piglets having low acid secretion and a higher stomach pH, it can lead to reduced enzymatic activity and opportunity for pathogens to survive because the pH is not optimal. So those issues can lead to poor performance, disease, mortality issues. And so by including acidifiers in the diet, we can lower the pH of the stomach and hopefully reduce pathogen growth as well as hopefully those pigs are able to digest the soy protein products and ingredients that are included in those early nursery pig rations.

0:18:17
(Casey Bradley)
When we talk about acidification in our diets the term ABC4

0:18:28
(Casey Bradley)
comes up and I'm thinking of alphabet soup. What does ABC4 mean when we talk about acids?

0:18:35
(Morgan Hart)
ABC4 stands for acid binding capacity and the 4 stands for the pH of a 4. And so when we're looking at the ABC4 of a

0:18:49
(Morgan Hart)
specific ingredient, we can very easily in the lab see how much acid is needed to bring the pH of that product down to a pH of 4. And so the more acid that is needed to get that product to a pH of 4, the higher the ABC4 value of that ingredient. And so each ingredient

0:19:14
(Morgan Hart)
has its own ABC4 value that has been tested at university level. And so not a lot of formulation companies or nutritionists use the individual ABC4 value of each ingredient. We know roughly what they are, but due to different manufacturing practices it can vary slightly for different ingredients. And so you can calculate the ABC4 value of the complete diet by taking the ABC4 value of every single individual ingredient and pretty much adding them all up to see

0:19:56
(Casey Bradley)
what the ABC4 value of that complete feed is going to be. 

0:20:01
(Casey Bradley)
And then that's how much acid you need to add to that diet to offset that.

0:20:12
(Morgan Hart)
Yeah, and so like acetate or benzoic acid or other acidifiers on the market are added to

0:20:19
(Morgan Hart)
that diet to help bring that ABC4 value down to hopefully make it more digestible for the pigs.

0:20:37
(Morgan Hart)
Walk us through your materials and methods of your trial. So the trials that I presented were, I would say, part one to a two-part series of to kind of grasp the full picture of acetate. The two trials that I presented on were the first two in our kind of trial of looking at acid in the commercial

0:20:46
(Morgan Hart)
setting. And so we looked at a titration of acid from 0 to 0.47% just to kind of make sure that what we were formulating with and recommending was within the

0:20:58
(Morgan Hart)
ballpark to optimize feed efficiency. And so we found with that trial, there was about 25,000 pigs on the first trial. And we had an improvement in gain numerically up to 0.32%

0:21:21
(Morgan Hart)
with a statistical improvement in feed efficiency up to 0.32%. So our current recommendation is 0.24% acetate, and that fell right in line with between the 0.16 and the 0.32, where feed efficiency and gain was optimized during that phase. Then the second trial,

0:21:41
(Morgan Hart)
we narrowed it down to that 0.24%, which is our current recommendation, and then fed pigs 0 or 0.24% acid-aided. And we only had two treatments, but we had, again, almost 2,600 pigs on the trial to increase our power to detect any statistical differences. And similarly, we did see an improvement in gain and feed efficiency in that trial and interestingly so we only fed these acidified diets for the first 17 days, 16 days, and at the end of that 16 day

0:22:20
(Morgan Hart)
period the pigs that were fed the acetate were .2 kilograms heavier than those pigs that were not fed any acetate at all. So we did have an improvement in body weight gain as well. It did not carry over into the late nursery, which it seems to be that when you're feeding acids, they're working. But as soon as you pull them, there's

0:22:48
(Morgan Hart)
no carryover benefits observed when the acidates are pulled from, or when acids are pulled from the rations. Now, in your studies, do you look at mortality and morbidity and number of treatments? Yep, so we did look at mortality and removals for these two experiments,

0:23:09
(Morgan Hart)
and we did not see any differences between the treatments. Overall, both trials had less than 2% mortality, so the pigs were of very high health status to start with. But my colleague, Jamil, presented on, I would say, part two of the AcidAid story. And he did find that the pigs that were fed an acid, the response seems to be dependent on pig health, as well as the weaning age and weight. So it seems

0:23:46
(Morgan Hart)
that those pigs that are coming in healthy and heavy don't seem to have any benefit to being fed acidifiers, but those pigs that are health challenged or come in a little bit lighter, there does seem to be a significant

0:24:02
(Morgan Hart)
improvement in full value pigs when those pigs are fed acidifiers.

0:24:07
(Casey Bradley)
But usually the FCR is enough to justify using acids anyways, correct? From an ROI perspective?

0:24:13
(Morgan Hart)
Yeah, I would say the majority of the industry is already using acids.

0:24:17
(Casey Bradley)
Now what is your recommendation of a acid in the water versus the feed?

0:24:23
(Morgan Hart)
I mean, the acids in the water are going to act on the water.

0:24:29
(Morgan Hart)
And it's probably going to get to the stomach a lot faster than the feed is going to. I know that when acidifiers are used in the water, it's more as to help combat anything that might be carried from the well water or the water source and helping try to neutralize that and I would say that if you don't feed acidifiers in the feed but just

0:25:00
(Morgan Hart)
feed acidifiers in the water they they're not going to act, you're not gonna get the best benefit by just using acidifiers in the water. You need to have acidifiers in the feed as well to get that symbiotic improvement in digestibility. Definitely gonna be more effective in the feed to help lower the pH of the stomach to

0:25:28
(Morgan Hart)
digest the food that's currently there. You know, the pigs are going to drink probably more often than they're going to eat during the day. So, if they're drinking water that's acidified and there's no food currently in the gut for it to work on, you know, it's probably not going to be as effective. It's going to be great at lowering the pH of the water lines, but as far as improving

0:25:53
(Morgan Hart)
digestibility of the feed, you know, you need to make sure that the feed is there and the acid is there at the same time.

0:26:01
(Casey Bradley)
And you just gave the perfect regulatory answer.

0:26:03
(Casey Bradley)
Good job, Morgan. Because in our world, we can't say that we're killing bacteria with acids, but we may have an effect on that as well.

0:26:16
(Casey Bradley)
Right. But no, wonderful. You mentioned, and I noticed in the abstract book, Alltech Hubbard had like 10 plus abstracts. What else did your group present on at Midwest?

0:26:31
(Morgan Hart)
Yeah.

0:26:31
(Morgan Hart)
So we had within Alltech and companies that we've collaborated with, we had six oral presentations and four poster sessions. Um, so we had a lot of coverage, I would say, at Midwest this year. And we've been pushing really hard over the last couple years to be seen as a research entity within the swine industry and trying to bring as much information as we can to the researchers

0:27:07
(Morgan Hart)
and the students and the people that attend and the industry at and allied industry individuals that are at Midwest. And so we had a poster session on a probiotic product that we have with an Alltech as well as our Alzheimer's spectrum swine phytase, xylanase product. We had a couple oral presentations on that product as well.

0:27:36
(Morgan Hart)
And then we have done a couple trials with Kansas State. So there was a couple of students that were presenting on some different formulation strategies that we've worked with with them as well. Well how cool. 

0:27:50
(Casey Bradley)
So I guess I'll hear another 10 presentations next year because Morgan's not on maternity leave anymore.

0:27:55
(Morgan Hart)
Nope. 

0:28:04
(Casey Bradley)
So you are a busy busy person doing all those research and visiting customers.

0:28:06
(Morgan Hart)
Yeah, do what we can.

0:28:09
(Casey Bradley)
What's your main takeaway for professionals at Midwest Animal Science?

0:28:15
(Morgan Hart)
Well I know I did have an interesting meeting on the, on Tuesday of Midwest and with a genetic

0:28:21
(Morgan Hart)
company and they do some of their own internal research and look at their nutrition strategies based on their genetics.

0:28:32
(Morgan Hart)
And so we got linked up to hopefully have some meetings with them to kind of learn more about what are their nutritional recommendations for their genetics. And I think there's a gap that could possibly be filled because as swine nutritionists, we're providing nutritional recommendations for a variety of different

0:28:56
(Morgan Hart)
genetics. And for the most part, I'll get the nutrient guidelines or nutrient recommendations from those genetic companies maybe once every couple years but as they're updated I don't think they're I don't necessarily know if their websites are updated specifically but if you don't as a nutritionist don't have those relationships with those genetic companies you might not necessarily have the most updated nutrient recommendations for those genetic

0:29:30
(Morgan Hart)
for those specific genetics, so I think and I'm working also working to try to build those connections with those genetic companies to make sure that the nutrient recommendations that I'm providing for those specific genetics are the most accurate and up-to-date. So I think

0:29:49
(Morgan Hart)
that's a I guess that was one of the takeaways that that I took from the

0:29:52
(Morgan Hart)
conference of a gap that I think can possibly be filled a little bit better.

0:29:56
(Casey Bradley)
Get out of your box and talk to other people in it in the industry. Very wisely said.

0:30:02
(Casey Bradley)
Well thanks Morgan I think that's gonna have a wrap on our Midwest Animal Science research summaries and hopefully you guys will be back to listening to regular fun episodes of Talking in the Barn. All right, thank you.

0:30:21
(Ashley Wagner)
Hi I'm Ashley Wagner, I'm the Director of US Business and Technical Sales at ProBiotech International. I've been with the company for 10 years and through the process of being with ProBiotech, I went from just strictly R&D, innovation, technical sales, and then was promoted to the director of US Business. ProBiotech International is a company that's been in business for approximately 30 years. We're based in St. Hyacinth, Quebec, Canada.

0:30:47
(Ashley Wagner)
We are a functional feed additive company. We believe that innovation is in our nature, and we do lean on nature for many of our ingredients. We lean on nature for providing animals better ingredients to combat various challenges that we face in the animal feed industry.

0:31:04
(Casey Bradley)
And what brings you to Omaha, Nebraska for Midwest Animal Science Meetings?

0:31:08
(Ashley Wagner)
Well, so both to meet with clients, but also we have four presentations that ProBiotech has submitted to the Midwest Meeting.

0:31:15
(Casey Bradley)
And how did you get to start working with Animistic?

0:31:19
(Ashley Wagner)
Oh, so we did partner on one of our trials that we've submitted for the Midwest meetings.

0:31:26
(Casey Bradley)
Well, let's go back in time.

0:31:28
(Casey Bradley)
We don't have Casey on the camera here.

0:31:30
(Casey Bradley)
Oh.

0:31:33
(Casey Bradley)
Ashley and I cut our teeth together for CRF.

0:31:37
(Ashley Wagner)
Many moons ago.

0:31:39
(Ashley Wagner)
Yes.

0:31:40
(Casey Bradley)
Will you tell us a little bit

0:31:41
(Casey Bradley)
about the PhytoZen product?

0:31:43
(Ashley Wagner)
Absolutely. So PhytoZen is a blend of monoterpenes that have been specifically selected for their role in anti-anxiety and stress relief.

0:31:51
(Casey Bradley)
And what did the abstract that you submitted on that this year, what was the discovery

0:31:57
(Casey Bradley)
of the research?

0:31:59
(Ashley Wagner)
So the project was really looking at weaning stress. So if we think about stress in swine production, I really feel there are several major areas. Weaning is one that is inevitable though for every single animal. They're going to face it and we know that weaning is both a psychological and physiological stressor for these animals. And what we were really looking at is, you know, if we're able to mitigate the stress from a brain perspective, are we then able to have a brain to gut access

0:32:27
(Ashley Wagner)
and increase intestinal integrity? Many folks talk about the gut brain access, but with the way this product works on the brain, increasing serotonin and reducing cortisol during a stressful event, which then downstream could impact intestinal integrity.

0:32:41
(Ashley Wagner)
That was the goal of the project. And what we did find was indeed, we were able to improve intestinal integrity. That was the goal of the project. And what we did find was indeed, we were able to improve intestinal integrity. So we looked at tight junction proteins at day seven after weaning, and we saw that every one of them that we looked at was numerically increased.

0:32:56
(Ashley Wagner)
And we had a tendency for increased average daily gain and body weight at day seven. So very promising results.

0:33:03
(Casey Bradley)
So how can producers use it out in the field? 

0:33:08
(Ashley Wagner)
So the product could be used to combat weaning stress and in our trial we didn't, the piglets were not exposed to the product until they arrived at the nursery. So they just were received

0:33:18
(Ashley Wagner)
it in the water. It is also available in a feed form but it could be put in that first phase diet and then again helping just get over that weaning slump. This is going to protect if we have better intestinal integrity from pathogens as well.

0:33:34
(Casey Bradley)
Well definitely, I think we had a whole symposium this morning on the microbiome and talking about gut integrity and how everything plays a role into that.

0:33:43
(Ashley Wagner)
Exactly. So I mean the way we look at the fight is in product. If we can combat stress and we can keep the animal in homeostasis rather than in a stress response, then if there is a product in the the feed that's really targeting, you know, an like an antimicrobial that could be from an alternative or possibly an antibiotic, whatever is being used, it's gonna allow that product to work better because we're not fighting against the body

0:34:09
(Ashley Wagner)
from that stress response. And so that's really where the place that fight is and sits. And the results again were just very exciting for us.

0:34:17
(Casey Bradley)
Besides your research here at Midwest Air and Hull Science,

0:34:19
(Casey Bradley)
what is the, maybe one key thing that you've learned

0:34:23
(Casey Bradley)
that's been new this year?

0:34:24
(Ashley Wagner)
So one of the trials that I went and listened to was looking at heat stress in animals, and specifically, can we overcome heat stress with A, phytogenics, and again, we've seen some potential with phytozin, but looking at fertility following heat stress in boars.

0:34:46
(Ashley Wagner)
So, you know, the boar, I think, doesn't get thought about very much, right? Because it's coming from our genetic suppliers. But-

0:34:54
(Casey Bradley)
Well, it's such a small feed volume,

0:34:55
(Casey Bradley)
you're gonna get pissed loud, right?

0:34:57
(Ashley Wagner)
Well, well, but the trial that I went and listened to, they were looking at what heat stress does on that sperm quality. And we know that heat stress in the sow plays a major role in her fertility hormones. And we have used Phytozin to combat some heat stress. But what I found interesting was thinking about that boar,

0:35:14
(Ashley Wagner)
again, a small area, but just another way to possibly use our Phytozin, but things we should be thinking about.

0:35:24
(Casey Bradley)
Well, I could say, from doing a lot of boar research myself in my day is that if it works in the boar it shows in the sow but it's a lot cheaper and quicker to do a boar fertility trial.

0:35:39
(Ashley Wagner)
Yeah so that was one of the things that I did find interesting. Of course the research has been great. I mean there's been a lot of of focus on looking at the microbiome and intestinal integrity. And of course, if we have a healthy gut to start, we're going to have a healthy animal. Again, there was a few welfare trials that I thought were pretty interesting like that Again, there was a few welfare trials that I thought were pretty interesting like that PEP4 one, but it's been a great meeting so far.