A feedlot’s success is largely dependent on cattle health and productivity. Innovation and technology has come a long way since the early days of feedlots. Animal well-being has significantly increased and knowledge of raising a productive herd is better than ever. Companies, like Elanco Animal Health, have been ahead of the curve in this regard for decades.
Elanco, of Greenfield, Indiana, is one of the pioneers in animal health and productivity for the beef industry. Founded in 1954, the company has developed an extensive list of vaccines, feed additives, and agtech solutions to push the global beef industry forward. With over 200 brands sold across 90 countries, Elanco continues to pursue their goals of innovating animal health and productivity.
In 1975, Elanco introduced one of its most impactful products, called Rumensin. Rumensin is a feed additive to help cattle gain more energy from their feed. When fed Rumensin, cattle are 4% more efficient at turning feed into weight gain — lending an incredible improvement to feedlot profitability. Not only is it effective for productivity, but it is also known to kill parasites associated with coccidiosis. In the 8 years prior to Rumensin’s release, mortality from coccidiosis decreased by 92% across feedlots in Kansas and Nebraska. Rumensin allows feedlots to improve their animal’s productivity while simultaneously improving their well-being.
Elanco’s Benchmark Database is an agtech system, giving feedlot operators the power to compare their operations against regional benchmarks. It provides industry data on things like mortality, weight gain, and disease so operators can pinpoint the areas that they are lacking compared to the competition. For example, the system can track the prevalence of Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) country wide. Feedlot operators can then see the trends year over year. If the industry BRD rate is stable, but their BRD rate is increasing, they know something must be wrong with their operation and can take steps to correct it.
Elanco’s most recent acquisition is a new agtech system called PenPoint. The system is designed to objectively sort cattle as they arrive on the feedlot so they can be placed into pens accordingly. Cattle entering the feedlot come from all different genetics, breeds, health, and nutritional backgrounds. PenPoint uses science-based methods to accurately sort each individual animal. Feedlot operators then have the data to stock their pens more effectively, reducing the diversity of the animals. A more uniform pen leads to better weight gain and profitability for the operation.
Elanco has been a leader in cattle health and productivity for over 70 years, and believes that healthy animals are key to solving some of the world's most pressing issues.
