Evaluation of Condensed Algal Residue Solubles as an Ingredient in Cattle Finishing Diets and the Effects on Digestibility and Fatty Acid Flow

Dec 28, 2023

By G. E. Erickson and A. K. Watson

Cattle are tremendous up cyclers, and by-products such as wet distillers grains, sugar beet pulp, soyhulls, cottonseed hulls and many others and have successfully and economically added to their diets. The marine microalgae production industry is another industry in need of an outlet for a by-product.

Marine microalgae have the ability to harvest sugars and carbon dioxide converting them into metabolites such as n-3 fatty acids. Because of this, marine microalgae have been proposed as a sustainable solution for reducing pressure on wild-caught aquaculture. Production of algae oil from these algae results in a by-product known as condensed algae residue solubles (CARS). As production of CARS increases, availability of up cycling increases.

Four hundred and predominately Angus, British crossbred steers were fed for 148 days. Treatments were designed with 3 inclusion levels of CARS at 0, 2.5, and 5% of the diet.

Carcass-adjusted final Body weight, average daily gain, and feed efficiency increased with CARS inclusion at 2.5% of diet dry matter. However, feedlot performance decreased when CARS was 5% of diet dry matter.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Four Star Pork Industry Conf - Back to Basics: Fundamentals drive vaccine performance

At a time when disease pressure continues to challenge pork production systems across the United States, vaccination remains one of the most valuable and heavily debated tools available to veterinarians and producers.

Speaking at the 2025 Four Star Pork Industry Conference in Muncie, Indiana, Dr. Daniel Gascho, veterinarian at Four Star Veterinary Service, encouraged the industry to return to fundamentals in how vaccines are selected, handled and administered across sow farms, gilt development units and grow-finish operations.

Gascho acknowledged at the outset that vaccination can quickly become a technical and sometimes tedious topic. But he said that real-world execution, not complex immunology, is where most vaccine failures occur.