22 Jun 2024
Global animal production insights leveraged locally for Latin American farms
Whether you’re a nutritionist, farmer or supplier, you face real-life challenges every day in animal production. It’s your job to find a solution to complex issues like disease, environmental pressures and more. Now, you can rely on the trusted expertise of Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production representatives in Latin America to proactively protect your animals from these threats.
Guilherme Minozzo, LATAM Business Development Manager and Jesús Mejia, LATAM Business Manager with Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production share their experiences working for Arm & Hammer and how they can help solve today’s challenges on Latin America’s dairy, poultry and swine operations.
Who is Arm & Hammer and what do they do?
| Guilherme: Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production is a global business owned by Church & Dwight Co., Inc., which was founded in 1846. Church & Dwight owns many popular consumer brands from deodorizers and cleaners to personal care and pet care – products you likely have in your home today. Specific to animal production, we’re known as food chain experts. We provide innovative animal nutrition solutions focused on building a safer food supply.
These solutions also have a positive impact on animal productivity and are designed to reduce the need for costly interventions, improve animal performance and increase profitability. As new pressures and market factors influence the ability to produce safe and affordable food, the need for effective alternatives to traditional approaches grows. |
Why is Arm & Hammer focusing on Latin America?
Jesús: Mexico will manufacture 50 million tons of feed by 2030. Brazil will produce double that. Animal production tends to grow alongside of grain production, so it makes sense to be present in South America and other heavy grain producing countries.
At the same time, consumer consumption of eggs, poultry, pork and milk is also growing. Available land remains the same, so we need to help dairy, poultry and swine farmers be as productive as possible.
Arm & Hammer is addressing global challenges – from farm to food supply – and developing solutions that will work at a global scale for the future.
What is the perception of Arm & Hammer globally?
Guilherme: Arm & Hammer is very well known in North America, and it starts at the consumer level. For example, a U.S. or Canadian farmer might wake up, brush their teeth using Arm & Hammer toothpaste and then get a visit from an Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production representative. Before the representative says anything, the farmer already knows that Arm & Hammer stands for quality because they use Arm & Hammer products in their personal lives.
Our efforts today are focused on making Arm & Hammer more internationally recognized, extending the same positive company perception to other countries, and bringing forward new products and technologies that help dairy, poultry and swine farmers in Latin America. When a farmer in Mexico or Brazil sees the Arm & Hammer logo, we want them to think quality.
Arm & Hammer is already known in Mexico. Tell us about the perception of the company there.
Jesús: We’ve been in Mexico since 1988, so for more than 30 years. Arm & Hammer is known as a company with great products, high integrity, quality and consistency, and we’re consistently recognized in Mexico as an honest company. We’re seen as pioneers in technical support, both with products and exploring ideas that improve animal production.
Why does Arm & Hammer have such an honest reputation?
Jesús: Arm & Hammer is a public company and, as a public company, we hold ourselves to high standards. We don’t test products in the field and hope they work. Before we launch a product, we know the product will work because we’ve done the research.
We hold our animal products to the same standards as our human products because there’s so much crossover. We make sure our animal products work well before we bring them to market because we need comparable products on the human side to work well. And if we put a product on a supermarket shelf, it must work.
What is Arm & Hammer’s role in animal nutrition?
Guilherme: Arm & Hammer’s role is to deliver on a new era of animal health, bringing forward solutions that work for the environment and animal performance. We’re pioneering efforts to control environmental challenges in natural ways, like through an animal’s diet. We’re focused on using an animal’s diet beyond just delivering nutritional value – but impacting other areas of animal production.
What unique challenges do farmers in Latin America face?
Guilherme: We are always looking for the challenge our farmers are experiencing and the best option to control the challenge. It’s not about a product. We strive to uncover what’s happening on farm and then find the right tool to correct or fix the challenge. The solution may be prevention or mitigation, or something else.
Right now, the top challenges in Latin America are Clostridium perfringens, E. coli and salmonella. It’s a large region, so even between two locations, the strains of these pathogens may be different. Salmonella in one region can be different than salmonella in another region. Combatting these pathogens takes a microscopic-level approach and a customized solution specific to the region. That’s something we’ll help farmers and nutritionists with, along with other potential solutions to help solve the problem.
What solutions does Arm & Hammer offer?
Jesús: We focus on solutions that improve gut health. Proactively building up gut integrity helps stop some of these pathogens from getting through the gut and having a negative impact on animal performance. Animals with stronger guts are better equipped to stay healthy and, if they do get sick, they can recover more quickly.
Our gut health products for dairy, poultry and swine farmers are CELMANAX™ and CERTILLUS™.
CELMANAX™ uses Refined Functional Carbohydrates™ to prepare the immune system for disease challenges, so animals can recover quickly. It also minimizes feed quality variation for consistent intake to help achieve target production and weight goals.
CERTILLUS™ uses proprietary Bacillus strains to target harmful pathogens unique to a farm or region. Microbial testing first identifies a farm’s risk for pathogens including Clostridium perfringens, E. coli and salmonella; then specific Bacillus strains are selected and used in CERTILLUS™ to help combat the challenge.
Other regionally-available products:
- DCAD Plus™ replenishes potassium used in everyday maintenance of dairy cattle and poultry; keeps cows and birds hydrated to better combat heat stress
- BIO-CHLOR™ supports dry matter intake in dairy cattle prepartum to reduce time spent diagnosing postpartum off-feed issues
- FERMENTEN™ uses metabolizable protein to support heifer growth rate and cow milk and component production
Why are you proud to work for Arm & Hammer?
Guilherme: Science, ethics and respect. I know our products work and customers will be happy with the results. The science is there, we do things the right way and we’ve earned consumer respect in humans and animals alike.
Where can I learn more about Arm & Hammer?
Guilherme: Visit the Arm & Hammer website at ahfoodchain.com to learn more and find your local representative.
