[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":42},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-premiks-ve-tasiyici-en":3},[4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38,40],{"p":5},"A feed mill wants to switch the premix it has used at 0.5 percent for years to a more concentrated product at 0.25 percent, as the supplier suggests. Premix cost per tonne of feed drops a little, and freight and storage are halved. On paper it is an easy decision. But the formulation team asks a few questions. What happens to the feed's calcium when the carrier changes? Can the mixer spread such a small amount evenly? Can the scale weigh it accurately enough?",{"h2":7},"The carrier is an ingredient too",{"p":9},"Most of a premix's weight is not vitamins and minerals but the material that carries them. The carrier is often limestone, wheat bran or something similar. It adds some nutrients to the feed, however few, and if that contribution is left out of the formula, the feed differs from what is on paper.",{"p":11},"Take an example, with illustrative numbers. Say 60 percent of a premix used at 0.5 percent is limestone. That is 3 kg of limestone per tonne of feed. At 38 percent calcium, it adds about 0.11 points of calcium to the feed. If the premix is defined in the nutrient matrix with only its vitamin and trace element values, this calcium is a contribution the formula does not account for. It may look like a small gap in a layer feed, but in a broiler feed it can noticeably upset the calcium to phosphorus ratio.",{"p":13},"When the new product brings premix down to 0.25 percent, the calcium from the carrier is halved too. For a mill that has defined the premix in the formula with all its nutrient values, carrier included, this change balances itself. The missing calcium is made up from limestone. In a mill that has not, the feed's calcium falls quietly and nobody knows why.",{"h2":15},"Spreading a small amount evenly",{"p":17},"A concentrated premix asks more of the mixer. In a three-tonne mixer, 0.25 percent premix is 7.5 kg, and that amount has to reach every part of three tonnes of feed evenly. Mixing uniformity is usually measured by how a tracer is distributed across samples taken from different points, and is expressed as a coefficient of variation. A mix with a coefficient of variation below 10 percent is considered good.",{"p":19},"It is important to run this test regularly, and especially before and after lowering the premix rate. Mixing time, how full the mixer is, wear on the paddles and the order in which ingredients are added all have a direct effect on the result. Adding premix to the mixer before liquid fat also usually gives a better spread.",{"h2":21},"Scale accuracy",{"p":23},"The accuracy of the micro-dosing scale also needs to be considered. If the scale weighs to 50 grams, the error on a 7.5 kg weighing is around 0.7 percent, which is acceptable. With the same scale, an additive used at 0.1 percent, a three-kilogram weighing, carries an error of 1.7 percent. For some medicated additives and enzymes that level can be borderline. Before lowering the premix rate, check how much error the smallest weighing carries given the scale's accuracy.",{"h2":25},"Vitamins get lost on the way",{"p":27},"Vitamins, especially A, E and some B vitamins, lose some activity during storage and pelleting. Heat, moisture, light and contact with certain trace elements in the premix increase that loss. That is why premix makers add a safety margin above the value stated on the label.",{"p":29},"The point is that the target is the vitamin level in the feed the animal eats, not in the premix. For example, if the premix is stored for three months and 10 percent of its vitamin A is lost in that time, about 10 percent extra vitamin A should go into the premix to reach the target level in the feed. Plants that pellet at high temperatures or use expanders keep this margin higher. Knowing how long the premix is stored and under what conditions is a precondition for setting the margin correctly.",{"h2":31},"The form of trace elements",{"p":33},"Trace elements such as zinc, copper, manganese and iron can be supplied as inorganic salts or as organic, bound forms. Organic forms usually offer higher availability and in some cases make it possible to reach the same effect with a lower dose. Their unit cost is higher, though. Which form to use should be decided not on price alone but on an assessment that takes in the difference in availability and the interaction with other components of the feed.",{"p":35},"Legal maximums are another issue. The highest level allowed in feed for some trace elements varies by country and by species. Trace elements coming from the ingredients count toward that limit as well. Preparing the premix with these limits in mind matters especially for exported feeds.",{"h2":37},"Seeing premix as part of the formula",{"p":39},"Premix is often seen as an item that sits in the formula at a fixed rate. In fact, with its carrier, its vitamin margins and its trace element forms, it makes a real contribution to the feed's nutrient value and cost. In OptiFormula, defining the premix as an ingredient with all its nutrient values makes sure contributions such as calcium or phosphorus from the carrier are counted in every solve. Lab results and label printing run from the same data, so the feed label stays right when the premix changes.",{"p":41},"Inclusions of a few parts per thousand look small. But almost all of the feed's vitamin and trace element supply travels in that small share. Treating a premix change as a formulation decision rather than a purchasing decision keeps this small item from having large consequences.",1794234580314]