VIC Group and MEGAMIX Group held a conference at the MVC Expo
As part of the MVC Expo in Moscow, VIC Group and MEGAMIX Group held a conference on New challenges and practical solutions in the field of import substitution for animal protein producers.
The speakers noted that VIC Group has been supporting the import substitution trend for many years, not only developing its own factories, but also localizing the production of its international partners in Russia. 
The most essential topics for animal protein producers are reducing the cost of production, rational consumption of antibiotics and biosafety. In order to solve these tasks, VIC Group has developed appropriate comprehensive programs for poultry, pig and livestock enterprises.
When implementing partner programs through VIC specialists, the return on investment for poultry enterprises can range from 4-5 rubles to 1 invested ruble, a reduction in the recipes' costs can reach 250-300 rubles, a reduction in conversion – starting from two points, an increase in live weight – from 100 grams, and an increase in the safety of livestock – from 2% or more.
An important factor in cost reduction is also obtaining the highest quality product that can be sold with a higher margin. The set of measures taken by the specialists of VIC Group guarantees an improvement in the carcass quality in categories by 33.5%, the yield of broiler chicken legs - by 29%, as well as an increase in the meat yield per square meter (+3.45 kg).
In order to reduce the cost of eggs, quality solutions are applied to the issue of eggs dirtiness. One can certainly expect the return on investment in this area of 2:1 and, at the same time, the products of very high quality. There are innovative developments that help increase the yield of hatchery eggs and thus reduce the hatchery eggs cost. Thanks to the improvement of the intestinal health of poultry, specialists of poultry enterprises will receive better offspring, and the return on investment will start from 6:1 ratio.
The VIC Group specialists achieve the following results in the issue of production cost reduction in pig breeding:
- 2-4.5% decrease of feed formulas costs (annual profit at a pig complex of 5,000 sows can be up to 3 million rubles);
- 3.8-4.2% increase in average daily weight gain;
- fattening time reduction by 1-3 days;
- 2.8-3.2% reduction in conversion;
- increase in viability by 0.7-2.5 %.
The basic subroutine is the introduction of immunological castration. Its goal is to increase the average daily weight gain, reduce conversion and shorten the fattening period. For example, the average daily weight gain when using the IMPROVAC product is 4.8-5.2 kg per head.
In dairy farming, the issue of cost reduction is all too relevant, since more than 60% of the costs are spent on feeding animals.
For dairy farming, the specialists of VIC Group have developed a program that reduces the cost of feed and increases the herd productivity. With program implementation, the company can additionally receive more than half a million rubles per month (> 5-6 million rubles per year) only when working with feed formulas.
Another key issue is the reasonable consumption of antibiotics in agriculture. The international trend of obtaining finished products free of antibiotics is also being introduced in Russia. On March 1, 2022, Order No. 771 of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture came into force, regulating the use of veterinary drugs of the first and second level.
The essence of the program for the rational consumption of antibiotics in pig breeding is their partial replacement, which is especially important for the final fattening. Such products as probiotics, prebiotics and phytobiotics combined with antibacterial therapy help to achieve the enterprise's objectives.
In poultry farming, the regulator has defined the possibility of antibiotic treatment, excluding prevention, which now is subject to fines. The use of feed antibiotics and ionophoric coccidiostats is also prohibited.
The program for the rational use of antibacterial drugs in poultry farming was developed by the VIC Group's team, based on international experience. It provides opportunity to give up antibiotics when using probiotics, organic acids and phytobiotics. Furthermore, the program results also in safety increase, a 50% decrease in Salmonella spp detection and an improvement in the carcass quality tp be eligible for working with such chains as 'Vkusno i tochka' and KFC.
In dairy farming, the major problems are mastitis (33%) and hoof diseases (20% - lameness). When treated with incorrectly selected antibiotics, antibiotic resistance of the animal's body occurs, and the company suffers losses due to the drugs found in milk and meat. Therefore, it is cheaper to prevent these diseases.
The antimastitis program of VIC Group is aimed at dealing with an animal before it gets sick. Practical experience of its implementation shows, for example, that thanks to it, the company reduces the mastitis morbidity by half and receives an average of 9,000 rubles per head per year. In addition, productivity increases by 8% and the quality of milk improves. The work is performed within the current veterinary budget with own veterinary products of VIC Group.
Biosafety and risk-based approach are certainly among the top priorities for every company, since biosafety also means safety of investments.
The scoring system for assessing risks in pig breeding biosafety processes, developed by VIC Group based on the methods of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Administration of Netherlands, recommendations of the Rosselkhoznadzor and All-Russian Research Institute for Animal Health, includes 17 evaluated processes in the field of hygiene and sanitation and consists of checklists containing more than 500 questions.
The solutions implemented by VIC Group in the field of biosafety of enterprises were adopted at the state level: the checklists were sent out by Rosselkhoznadzor for use at all pig breeding enterprises.
Concluding their presentation, the VIC Group specialists noted that import substitution is an important, but not the key task that the company solves. The competencies accumulated by VIC Group solve the ultimate task of animal protein producers to achieve their production performance indicators.