Feed Additives: Boosting Animal Health & Farm Performance

In the pursuit of meeting global food demands, modern livestock production operates at the intersection of efficiency, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship. At the heart of this complex balance lies a critical component: feed science. Optimizing nutrition is paramount for enhancing animal performance and ensuring robust health, and a key strategy in this endeavor is the precise use of feed additives. These specialized ingredients, though used in small quantities, deliver a powerful impact, unlocking the full genetic potential of livestock, improving feed efficiency, and supporting overall productivity while simultaneously addressing pressing environmental concerns.

What Are Feed Additives?

Feed additives are specific ingredients or compounds intentionally added to animal feed in small amounts to achieve a particular, non-nutritive (or supplemental) purpose. Unlike staple feed ingredients that provide primary energy and protein, a feed additive is designed to improve the feed’s quality, enhance the animal’s performance and health, or positively influence the final animal product. They are not medications used to treat disease but are functional components that support the animal’s physiological systems and optimize nutrient utilization.

The Growing Importance of Feed Additives in Modern Livestock Production

The role of feed additives has expanded significantly beyond their initial use in preserving feed quality. Today, their application extends to improving gut health, maximizing nutrient absorption, reducing environmental impact, serving as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, and managing production challenges such as heat stress. This expanded scope has become particularly critical following regulatory changes in major livestock-producing regions.

Since January 1, 2006, the European Union has maintained a ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed. This regulatory shift, driven by concerns over antimicrobial resistance development and transference of resistance genes to human pathogens, has fundamentally transformed the livestock industry’s approach to animal nutrition and performance enhancement. The United States has followed with comparable regulations, with the FDA historically restricting the use of certain antimicrobial growth promoters, particularly those related to human medicine.

As the industry faces mounting pressure to increase productivity sustainably while addressing antimicrobial resistance and environmental concerns, the strategic use of scientifically validated feed additive products has become an indispensable tool for producers, particularly in demanding sectors like cattle and beef production.

Demystifying Feed Additives: Functional Classifications, Types & Common Uses

Feed additives are categorized based on their function and mechanism of action into six primary functional categories established by European Union Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 and recognized globally. Understanding these classifications is essential for selecting the right product to meet specific production goals.

Nutritional Additives: Bridging Dietary Gaps

Nutritional additives supplement the diet with essential nutrients that may be deficient in the primary feed ingredients or required in higher concentrations during specific life stages, such as growth, lactation, or reproduction. They ensure animals receive a complete and balanced diet.

Vitamins and Fat-Soluble Nutrients: These organic compounds are vital for metabolic functions, immune response, bone health, and overall animal health. Common additions include Vitamin A for vision and growth, Vitamin D for calcium absorption and bone mineralization, and Vitamin E, which functions as a biological antioxidant and supports immune function.

Amino Acids and Proteins: As the building blocks of protein, specific amino acids like lysine and methionine are often added to optimize growth and muscle development, ensuring animal performance is not limited by dietary amino acid imbalances. This is particularly important in monogastric animals (pigs and poultry) whose digestive systems have limited capacity to synthesize certain amino acids.

Trace Minerals and Mineral Forms: Minerals like zinc, copper, selenium, and manganese are crucial for enzymatic processes, reproductive health, immune function, and metabolic efficiency. Modern understanding emphasizes the importance of mineral bioavailability—the degree to which the mineral is absorbed and utilized by the animal. Different forms of trace minerals show significantly different bioavailability profiles: organic forms such as amino acid complexes and proteinates typically demonstrate higher bioavailability (0.7 to 2.0 times) than inorganic forms like sulfates, while newer hydroxy mineral technologies provide optimal bioavailability with improved stability in feed premixes.

Zootechnical Additives: Optimizing Digestion, Gut Health & Nutrient Utilization

This category includes additives that favorably affect the gut environment, leading to better digestion, improved nutrient absorption, and enhanced feed efficiency. These are among the most heavily researched and applied feed additives.

Exogenous Enzymes: These proteins act as catalysts to break down complex components of feed that an animal’s own digestive system cannot efficiently process. For monogastric animals (swine and poultry) and young ruminants, exogenous enzymes are particularly valuable because these animals produce limited endogenous (naturally produced) enzymes capable of degrading anti-nutritional factors and complex feed components.

• Phytases: These phosphohydrolytic enzymes release phosphorus from phytate (inositol hexakisphosphate), which represents the primary phosphorus form in cereal grains and oilseeds but is largely unavailable to animals. Phytase supplementation improves phosphorus bioavailability, reduces phosphorus excretion into the environment, and decreases dietary dependence on inorganic phosphorus supplementation.
• Carbohydrases (Xylanases, Mannanases, Glucanases): These enzymes break down non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) and complex fiber structures, reducing digesta viscosity, improving intestinal morphology, and unlocking energy and nutrients that would otherwise pass through undigested.
• Proteases and Lipases: These enzymes enhance protein and lipid digestibility, though they represent a smaller proportion of the enzyme market compared to phytases and carbohydrases.

Probiotics (Direct-Fed Microbials): These are live, beneficial microorganisms—predominantly bacteria (Lactobacillus species) and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and related strains)—that, when administered in adequate viable quantities, confer health benefits. Their mechanisms include establishing a positive gut microbial balance by crowding out pathogens, producing antimicrobial compounds, maintaining intestinal barrier integrity, and modulating local and systemic immune responses. Yeast-based probiotics, in particular, have demonstrated the ability to bind mycotoxins (particularly aflatoxins) present in feed, reducing their toxic effects.

Prebiotics and Synbiotics: Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients (typically oligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides, or inulin) that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the gut. By feeding the “good microbes,” prebiotics help improve gut integrity, enhance intestinal barrier function, and support local immune function. Synbiotics combine probiotics with prebiotics to create synergistic effects, enhancing the establishment and efficacy of beneficial microorganisms.

Sensory Additives: Improving Palatability, Feed Acceptance & Intake

Sensory additives are used to improve the taste, smell, appearance, or other organoleptic properties of feed, encouraging consistent intake, especially during periods of stress, environmental challenges (such as heat stress), or when feed formulations change due to ingredient availability or cost considerations. This category includes flavorings, sweeteners, aromas, and colorants that make the feed more appealing to the animal, ensuring they consume adequate nutrients necessary for optimal productivity.

Technological Additives: Enhancing Feed Quality, Safety & Processing Efficiency

These additives are primarily used to improve or maintain the quality of the feed itself, ensuring nutritional stability, preventing spoilage, and optimizing physical characteristics.

Antioxidants: Compounds like ethoxyquin or natural antioxidants such as Vitamin E and botanical extracts are added to prevent the oxidation of fats and fat-soluble vitamins in the feed. This preservation action maintains the feed’s nutritional value, prevents rancidity and the development of off-flavors, and extends shelf life—particularly important for feeds containing fish meal or other lipid-rich ingredients.

Preservatives and Silage Additives: Mold inhibitors, acidifiers, and organic acids are used to prevent spoilage from bacteria and fungi, ensuring the feed remains safe and palatable. For silage specifically, lactic acid bacteria inoculants (particularly Lactobacillus plantarum), organic acids, and fermentation enhancers work synergistically to rapidly lower pH, inhibit undesirable microbial activity, preserve true protein and digestible fiber, and improve aerobic stability post-opening.

Organic Acids as Feed Acidifiers: Formic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, citric acid, and lactic acid serve dual purposes—as preservatives in stored feed and as digestive aids promoting gut health. These acids work through multiple mechanisms: reducing pH in the feed and gastrointestinal tract to inhibit pathogenic bacteria; maintaining cellular integrity of the gut lining; improving the production of digestive secretions; and enhancing protein, amino acid, and mineral absorption. Since the 2006 European ban on antibiotic growth promoters, organic acids have gained significant importance as non-antibiotic alternatives supporting gut health and performance.

Binders and Anti-caking Agents: Ingredients such as diatomaceous earth (food grade kieselguhr), calcium stearate, zinc stearate, and magnesium stearate improve the physical quality of pelleted feed, reduce dust formation, minimize caking during storage, and ensure uniformity of particle size—important for consistent ingredient distribution and additive incorporation.

Mycotoxin Binders: These technological additives include inorganic binders (bentonite, zeolite, diatomaceous earth) that adsorb mycotoxins in the digestive tract, preventing their absorption and systemic toxicity. Newer toxin-modifying binders employ enzymes and microbial agents to structurally modify toxins, rendering them non-harmful while potentially providing additional immune benefits.

Additives for Disease Control: Coccidiostats and Histomonostats

This category addresses specific parasitic challenges in livestock production, particularly poultry.

Coccidiostats: Used to control coccidiosis caused by Eimeria species parasites—a costly disease causing considerable intestinal tissue damage, inefficient nutrient absorption, increased mortality, and predisposition to secondary infections. Coccidiostats are divided into two structural classes:

• Polyether Ionophores (lasalocid, monensin, maduramicin, narasin, salinomycin, semduramicin): Fermentation products that alter the ionic balance in parasite cells, preventing their development while allowing host immunity to develop.
• Synthetic Coccidiostats (decoquinate, diclazuril, halofuginone, nicarbazin, robenidine): Structurally diverse synthetic compounds targeting different developmental stages of coccidia.

Coccidiostats remain authorized in the EU and elsewhere specifically for poultry; ionophores (particularly monensin) were banned as growth promoters on January 1, 2006, but continue to be authorized for disease prevention.

Histomonostats: These additives control histomoniasis (blackhead disease) caused by Histomonas meleagridis, though they are less commonly used than coccidiostats in modern production.

Ionophores in Beef Cattle Production: A Specialized Application

Beyond their role as coccidiostats in poultry, ionophores (particularly monensin) continue to be approved and widely used in beef cattle nutrition. These compounds selectively inhibit certain rumen bacteria while favoring others, altering ruminal fermentation dynamics to increase propionate production—a key gluconeogenic precursor. This metabolic shift results in more available energy from the same quantity of feed, improving feed efficiency by 3.5% to 8% in feedlot cattle and 8% to 12% in stocker cattle. Additionally, ionophores reduce ruminal proteolysis and ammonia synthesis, increasing the influx of protein into the small intestine, further supporting performance improvements.

Understanding the Nutritional and Performance Impact: Mechanisms of Action

The effectiveness of feed additives lies in their specific biological mechanisms. They go beyond simple nutrition to actively modulate an animal’s physiology, metabolism, and immune function for better performance and health outcomes.

Enhancing Digestibility and Nutrient Absorption

Many additives directly target the digestive process. Enzymes are crucial for monogastric animals and young ruminants, breaking down complex carbohydrates and proteins that would otherwise pass through the digestive tract undigested, making more energy and amino acids available for absorption. Similarly, probiotics and prebiotics foster a healthy gut lining and optimal microbial population structure, which are essential for efficient nutrient transport from the intestine into the bloodstream. Organic acids enhance digestive secretion production and maintain intestinal barrier integrity, further optimizing nutrient bioavailability.

Modulating Metabolism and Energy Utilization

Certain feed additives directly influence how an animal’s body allocates and utilizes energy. Ionophores in beef cattle exemplify this mechanism: by selectively promoting propionate-producing bacteria in the rumen, these additives shift fermentation end-products, resulting in more available energy from the same amount of feed and directly improving feed efficiency and supporting higher productivity levels. Similarly, organic acids influence ruminal pH and microbial composition, affecting substrate fermentation patterns and energy yield.

Boosting Immunity, Stress Resilience & Animal Health

A significant portion of an animal’s immune system resides in the gut, with the intestinal barrier and associated lymphoid tissue playing crucial roles in recognizing and responding to both pathogens and beneficial microorganisms. Additives like yeasts, probiotics, and prebiotics help maintain a robust gut barrier, preventing pathogenic bacteria and their endotoxins from entering the bloodstream. They also stimulate local immune responses (IgA production) and can modulate systemic immunity through mechanisms involving toll-like receptors and pattern recognition.

Heat Stress Management: Phytogenic feed additives containing essential oils, tannins, and phenolic compounds have demonstrated effectiveness in mitigating heat stress impacts. These compounds act as vasodilators and osmolytes, maintain cellular hydration, enhance heat shock protein expression and function, reduce oxidative stress through antioxidant action, and support feed intake maintenance during heat challenges—critical, as 50% of heat stress-induced production losses result from decreased feed intake, with the remaining 50% stemming from metabolic modifications.

Environmental Sustainability Considerations: Modern feed additive selection increasingly emphasizes environmental impact reduction. Trace mineral chelates and organic forms reduce heavy metal excretion compared to inorganic forms, while enzyme supplementation—particularly phytases—dramatically reduces phosphorus and nitrogen excretion, mitigating water eutrophication and environmental contamination. Emerging methane-reduction technologies represent a significant frontier: 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP, marketed as Bovaer) reduces enteric methane emissions by approximately 30% in dairy cattle with superior results compared to beef cattle at the same dose, while alternative approaches like red seaweed supplementation have demonstrated up to 99% methane reduction in controlled in vitro studies, though in vivo effectiveness remains more variable.

The Regulatory Landscape of Feed Additives: Ensuring Safety, Efficacy & Market Access

The global feed additive market is governed by stringent regulations to ensure animal safety, human food safety, and environmental protection. Producers must use only authorized products that have undergone rigorous scientific evaluation. Compliance with these frameworks is essential for market access and consumer confidence.

Global and Regional Regulatory Bodies

European Union: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), through its Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP Panel), is responsible for evaluating the safety and efficacy of each feed additive before market authorization. The regulatory framework operates under Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003.

United States: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates feed additives through the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). Historically, FDA relied on consultation with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), but this approach has recently changed. In 2024, FDA announced it would no longer renew the Memorandum of Understanding with AAFCO and instead exercise enforcement discretion for AAFCO-listed ingredients while establishing a new Animal Feed Ingredient Consultation (AFIC) process for reviewing new animal feed ingredients.

Authorization and Approval Process: A Rigorous Scientific Evaluation

Before a new feed additive can be marketed, manufacturers must submit an extensive technical dossier containing comprehensive scientific data. This submission typically includes:

• Product Identity and Characterization: Complete chemical composition, purity specifications, and quality parameters
• Conditions of Use: Proposed dosage levels, target animal species, intended duration of use, and specific claims
• Efficacy Data: Peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the additive’s ability to achieve its intended purpose
• Safety Assessment: Comprehensive toxicology studies proving safety for the target animal species, the person handling the feed (occupational safety), the end consumer (residue analysis and food chain safety), and the environment (impact on soil microbiota, aquatic systems, and nutrient cycling)
• Control Methods: Analytical methods to determine the presence and concentration of the additive in feed and potential residues in animal products

The EFSA’s FEEDAP Panel conducts a rigorous scientific evaluation including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. The regulatory process involves four main phases: pre-submission consultation, submission with completeness check, risk assessment, and post-adoption monitoring.

If EFSA’s scientific opinion is favorable, the European Commission prepares a draft regulation for European Union authorization. This draft is discussed and endorsed by Member States represented in the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed – Section Animal Nutrition, before final authorization.

Authorization Duration and Renewal: Feed additive authorizations in the EU are granted for 10-year periods. After this time, applicants must submit a renewal application demonstrating that the additive remains safe under the conditions of authorization, allowing for consideration of new scientific information and changing risk profiles.

Addressing Emerging Regulatory Concerns

Antimicrobial Resistance: Regulatory bodies are continually adapting to new scientific insights and public health concerns. This includes tightening regulations around antimicrobial resistance, leading to the confirmed ban of antibiotic growth promoters in major markets. The EU’s January 1, 2006 ban eliminated monensin sodium, salinomycin sodium, avilamycin, and flavophospholipol as growth promoters, while allowing their continued use in more restricted categories (coccidiostats in poultry, ionophores in cattle for specific purposes).

Environmental Impact Considerations: Regulatory agencies are increasingly requiring evidence of environmental safety, including impacts on soil microbiota, nutrient cycling, and aquatic ecosystems. EFSA has established specific nano-related guidance and is developing enhanced assessment frameworks for emerging nano-scale additives.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Feed Controls: Following the BSE epidemic resulting from feeding cattle with mammalian meat and bone meal, strict feed controls remain in place globally. Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 prohibits the feeding of most processed animal proteins to food-producing animals, with specific exemptions for non-ruminant-derived proteins fed to non-ruminants. The FDA maintains similar prohibitions in the United States under 21 CFR Part 589.2000.

Practical Application and Best Practices for Livestock Producers

Successfully integrating feed additives requires a strategic, science-based approach that extends beyond simply adding an ingredient to understanding its specific purpose, mechanism, and expected return on investment.

Choosing the Right Additive: A Decision-Making Framework

Selecting the appropriate feed additive depends on careful analysis of multiple factors:

Identify the Primary Goal: Are you aiming to improve feed efficiency, enhance growth rate, manage heat stress, support young animal development, enhance immune function, reduce environmental nutrient excretion, reduce methane emissions, or address a specific nutritional deficiency? The objective dictates the category of additive needed and the specific product characteristics to evaluate.

Consider Species and Life Stage Physiology: The digestive physiology and nutritional requirements vary dramatically between species (poultry vs. beef vs. dairy cattle vs. swine) and even within a species at different ages. Monogastric animals require exogenous enzymes; young ruminants benefit from enzymes; adult ruminants rely more heavily on their endogenous enzyme systems. Mature animals have different probiotic requirements than growing or stressed animals.

Evaluate the Basal Diet Composition: The composition of the primary feed ingredients will determine potential nutritional deficiencies, the degree of challenge from anti-nutritional factors, and the most appropriate additive category. High-fiber diets benefit from enzyme supplementation; grain-based diets may accumulate mycotoxins requiring binder inclusion; diets heavy in inorganic phosphorus sources may not benefit from additional phytase.

Assess Scientific Evidence Quality: Choose products backed by peer-reviewed, published research demonstrating efficacy in conditions similar to your own operation. Be cautious of marketing claims lacking supporting data. Consider the quality of research methodology: randomized, controlled trials with appropriate statistical analysis provide stronger evidence than observational or preliminary studies.

Calculate Expected Return on Investment: A feed additive is a capital investment. Carefully evaluate its cost against expected gains in performance metrics (average daily gain, feed conversion ratio, milk yield, egg production) or reductions in health-related costs (reduced mortality, decreased antibiotic use). The economic impact should justify the investment under your specific production conditions.

Proper Handling, Storage & On-Farm Mixing for Efficacy Maintenance

To maintain their efficacy, additives must be handled correctly. Many vitamins, enzymes, and probiotics are sensitive to heat, light, moisture, and oxidation. Storage recommendations by manufacturer should be strictly followed; products should typically be stored in a cool, dry place, protected from direct sunlight, with appropriate humidity controls.

Given the small inclusion rates of many feed additives (often measured in grams per ton or even milligrams per ton), ensuring homogeneous blend throughout the feed is critical for every animal to receive the correct dose. This requires:

• Appropriate premixing with a carrier ingredient before addition to complete feed
• Use of properly calibrated premix scales
• Adequate mixing time in the feed mixer to ensure uniform distribution
• Quality control testing of representative feed samples to verify additive concentration

Monitoring and Evaluating Additive Efficacy

After introducing an additive, it is crucial to establish a monitoring protocol to validate its effectiveness and confirm that it is delivering the expected return on investment. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:

• Growth Performance: Average daily gain (ADG) or body weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and days to market
• Production Efficiency: Milk yield and composition, egg production and shell quality, reproductive parameters
• Health Indicators: Mortality rates, morbidity (disease incidence), feed intake during challenge periods (heat stress, disease exposure), and reduced need for therapeutic antimicrobial use
• Product Quality: Carcass characteristics, meat color and shelf life, milk composition and quality scores

This data-driven approach allows producers to confirm the additive is delivering the desired results and justifies continued investment. It also provides valuable information for refining future feeding strategies.

Emerging Trends and the Future of Feed Additives

The feed additive industry is dynamic and innovative, with ongoing developments driven by scientific advancements, regulatory evolution, environmental consciousness, and the industry’s commitment to addressing global challenges.

Focus on Sustainability and Environmental Impact Reduction

A major trend is the development and adoption of additives that help reduce the environmental footprint of livestock production. This includes products that improve nitrogen and phosphorus utilization efficiency, thereby reducing their excretion into waterways and soils. Enzyme supplementation—particularly phytase and carbohydrase combinations—directly reduces phosphorus and nitrogen excretion, supporting environmental sustainability.

Emerging methane mitigation technologies represent a particularly promising frontier. 3-Nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP, commercially marketed as Bovaer) specifically targets the methanogenesis pathway by inhibiting methyl-coenzyme M reductase, reducing methane production without significantly affecting animal health or performance. Dairy cattle show approximately 30% methane reductions, with dairy showing superior results compared to beef cattle at equivalent doses. Alternative approaches using plant-based compounds (red seaweed/bromoform, essential oils, tannins) and other rumen modifiers continue to be researched, though with more variable and inconsistent results across production conditions.

Precision Nutrition and Individualized Approaches

Advances in technology, data analytics, and sensing systems are paving the way for precision nutrition strategies, where feed formulations and additive inclusion rates are tailored to smaller groups of animals or even individuals based on real-time data including body weight, body condition, health status, and production metrics. This approach promises to optimize animal performance and resource efficiency far beyond what is currently possible with herd-level management.

Natural, Bio-Based, and Plant-Derived Additives

There is growing consumer and producer interest in natural alternatives to synthetic compounds. This trend is driving substantial market development in phytogenic additives—plant-based extracts and essential oils derived from herbs, spices, and botanical sources. Phytogenics demonstrate antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties and are being extensively explored for their potential to support animal health and productivity while reducing antimicrobial resistance development. This category includes essential oils (containing terpenes and phenolic compounds), botanical extracts (containing tannins, saponins, and flavonoids), and fermentation products derived from plant materials.

Emerging Science on Bioactive Components

Beyond their basic functional categories, there is increasing recognition that feed additives—particularly yeast-based products and botanical extracts—contain complex bioactive components with multiple functional properties. Yeast derivatives, for example, contain beta-glucans and mannan oligosaccharides with immunomodulatory effects, ergosterol with antioxidant properties, and various fermentation metabolites with antimicrobial activity. This deeper understanding is driving the development of more targeted products with well-characterized bioactive components and documented mechanisms of action.

The Strategic Role of Feed Additives in Modern, Sustainable Livestock Farming

Feed additives are no longer a minor consideration but a central pillar of modern, efficient, and responsible livestock production. They are sophisticated tools that enable producers to fine-tune nutrition and metabolic function to meet the precise needs of their animals while addressing broader challenges of productivity, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship.

Recapping Key Benefits: Performance, Health, Sustainability & Food Safety

From enhancing digestion with enzymes and probiotics to ensuring complete nutrition with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, from preserving feed quality to supporting animals during stress or disease challenges, feed additives directly translate into improved animal performance. The result is better growth rates, superior feed efficiency, enhanced immune competence, and improved animal welfare, all while contributing to a more sustainable food production system by minimizing nutrient waste and environmental impact.

The strategic selection and use of feed additives supports multiple production objectives simultaneously: enhanced performance metrics, reduced health challenges and therapeutic antimicrobial use, improved product quality and food safety, environmental impact mitigation, and ultimately, improved farm profitability and resilience.

The Evolving Regulatory Landscape and Scientific Foundation

The feed additive market continues to evolve, driven by a deeper understanding of animal physiology and microbiology, coupled with a global commitment to sustainable agriculture and antimicrobial stewardship. Regulatory frameworks, centered on rigorous scientific evaluation and continuous post-market monitoring, ensure that approved additives meet stringent safety and efficacy standards before reaching producers.

The future of feed additives lies in data-driven, precision applications informed by ongoing research; the development of novel, natural solutions addressing the interconnected challenges of productivity, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship; and continued innovation in understanding how bioactive components within additives contribute to animal performance and health.

A Call to Action for Responsible, Informed, and Evidence-Based Use

For livestock producers seeking to harness the full potential of feed additives, success requires a commitment to informed decision-making grounded in science. This means working closely with animal nutritionists and veterinarians, staying current on peer-reviewed scientific research and regulatory developments, and carefully monitoring performance data on your specific operation to validate the effectiveness of any additive intervention.

By taking a strategic, evidence-based approach to feed additive selection and use, producers can build healthier, more productive herds; improve their operational efficiency and profitability; contribute to the responsible stewardship of antimicrobial compounds; and play a meaningful role in building a secure and sustainable food future for generations to come.