Livestock Food / Feed Applications

BioViscid technologies have also been used for the inclusion of sustained action actives into cattle feeds, with the intent of slowly releasing in the rumen or bypassing the rumen to protect specific probiotics or enzymes.

Another invention involved creating a sustained release urea nutritional product for cattle – a product which never existed. Urea has always been of interest to cattle producers, because for every pound of urea consumed, it is equivalent to consuming 2.8 pounds of protein in a normal protein supplement. While prices vary from year to year, $.25 worth of urea replaces $.70 worth of feed protein; a significant financial benefit. Unfortunately, urea can be deadly, because it produces ammonia in the rumen and if released too quickly, is fatal to cattle. Slowly releasing urea is a safe way of providing ammonia to the bacteria in the rumen that then grow rapidly creating the protein needed to replace the feed supplement. This technology can also be applied to other drugs or compounds which would otherwise be destroyed in the rumen.