Willie Thomson talks animal nutrition and science behind it

After studying agriculture at university, Willie started his nutrition career at Harbro back in the summer of 1985.

“I grew up at Woodneuk, an upland beef and sheep farm known for its Highland cattle, and then went to study at Aberdeen University.

"I was extremely fortunate to be there at a time when the the university was a core part of the ‘School of Agriculture’ which brought together the university, the college and science institutes such as The Rowett and the McCaullay Institute (now James Hutton Institute). All worked interchangeably with each other ensuring students had access to leading researchers and advisors teaching at different levels. I specialised in animal science which had a strong emphasis on applied biochemistry and microbiology.”

At Harbro most of Willie’s initial work revolved around pig nutrition.

“Back then Harbro was the leading nutritional suppliers to the Scottish pig herd and so, when I joined Peter Kenyon in the technical department, it was a massive shock to the system – and made me wish I had paid attention to the lectures of Peter English and Vernon Fowler at university!

“Being taken out of my comfort zone was the best thing that happened to me. It was a steep learning curve but I was able to use my contacts from university to help me out. I quickly learned the value of expert advice and soon developed a great network of top specialists to help me get out the holes I often found myself in.

"Probably the greatest asset I, and Harbro, had were our brilliant customers. These guys were always looking to do better and, particularly in the late 80’s, relied extremely heavily on data and doing their own farm trials. It was a constantly evolving business which was exciting to be involved with.”

As the company expanded further into dairy, beef and sheep the lessons learned from the pig industry, formed the backdrop of Willie’s nutrition outlook.

“I was lucky Harbro gave me the flexibility to look at the overall farm situation when developing a feeding strategy for any species. The initial driver was always around performance and profitability first and foremost, and the actual products used primarily depended on balancing the home-grown cereals or forage available. I was only part of the equation, with a whole team of sales guys who were more like advisors than traditional feed representatives. These guys were the key interaction with the farmer and often were involved in all the farm decisions. I was just there to ensure the nutrition allowed them to meet the adventurous targets they had set with the farmer.”

As the company expanded Willie headed a technical team which had responsibility for designing and formulating all the company’s products, providing on-farm advice, training the sales team and monitoring all quality control.

“My many mentors, from university, farm and advisors, set me on a path where I tried to base all decisions on the best possible science available. This was fundamental to the development of key products which have stood the test of time and which have perhaps changed how we look at nutrition.

Whilst at Harbro Willie was part of the development of Maxammon

"Probably the best example of this is the work on rumen function which led to the development of products such as Maxammon and Alkacid but also changed our understanding of how feeds such as cereals are affected by processing.

"Harbro brought together Glasgow Vet School and the Rowett along with a great group of leading beef producers to investigate the mechanisms behind the rumen damage associated with acidosis. Over a three-year project it was demonstrated just how potentially damaging fine particles of cereals can be to the ruminant and how important hind-gut fermentation might be in creating the health impacts of acidosis. It is great to see that work is continuing at Glasgow to further develop this area.”

The development of Maxammon had a huge impact on the company and led to it opening up a distribution network in more than 20 countries from Norway to New Zealand.

“Maxammon was a real game-changer for ruminant nutrition. The product produces a moist, alkaline, lightly processed grain which improves performance, health and efficiency.

"Trials in multiple countries demonstrated that feeding Maxammon actually increased the digestibility of other feedstuffs, such as forages, in the rumen – so you got all the energy from the grain plus you gained extra energy from your silage.

The research also demonstrated the health benefits of feeding alkaline grain to fast-growing beef cattle. A trial against propionic acid treated grain showed a growth improvement of 300g per day when alkaline grain was fed.

However, when the data was analysed it became clear that the main impact of the alkaline grain was to prevent the acidosis which had a clear impact on a high proportion of the propionic acid grain-fed animals.

This ‘protection’ against acidosis has huge potential to help prevent many of the issues associated with feeding high levels of cereals to ruminants.

Sometimes the impact of nutrition was surprising.

“One of the most challenging problems I was faced with was cryptosporidiosis in young suckler calves. Producers could have mortalities of well over 20% in their calves through scour and dehydration and nothing seemed to be effective at solving the problem. A joint project between Harbro, Glasgow Vet School and the Moredun Institute offered some hope, but the biggest breakthrough actually came from feeding high quality by-pass protein to the cow before calving to boost the immunoglobulin content of the colostrum.

"The cryptosporidiosis was a symptom of inadequate cow nutrition, despite that all the required parameters were being easily met. It just shows that there is much still to learn of this complex subject.”

Latterly Willie began to harness new technologies to provide a more detailed understanding of the growth and output of livestock.

“In many ways science became detached from the needs of farmers and there is much less scope for non-commercial research. To get the data I needed to really understand what was happening with the animals I worked with colleagues at Innovent Technology to develop new systems for understanding the growth and output of livestock.

"Working with Strathclyde University, SRUC and others we have developed cameras which turn 3D images of cattle and pigs into accurate estimates of weight and yield. This has allowed constant growth monitoring and transforms our understanding of the impact of nutrition on performance and output.

"Nutrition has scope to become increasingly precise and targeted to the needs of individual animals.

"The detail of how we feed animals may change, but the need to embrace the best possible science and to constantly base our decisions on sound data will remain unaltered,” Willie concluded.