Progressive feed compounders and premixers are being asked by their customers to provide the total carbon footprint of the feeds / premixes they are manufacturing. This demand is being driven by the industry’s need to reduce the total carbon footprint associated with the production of livestock to comply with a series of climate accords. Reports indicate that 27% of the total carbon footprint of a dairy farm are emissions from on-farm supply sources, including emissions from the production of feed supplied to the farm. So how can Trace Minerals help achieve these goals?
The Selko® IntelliBond® family of trace minerals is the first source of improved trace mineral nutrition to provide an independent verification for the total CO2eq values of its products. The availability of these values will allow feed compounders, premixers and nutritionists to better formulate their blends to comply with their customers’
need to reduce CO2eq emissions associated with livestock production.
To assist with the need to indicate their carbon emissions, Selko completed a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to verify the total carbon footprint of its Selko® IntelliBond® Copper, Zinc and Manganese trace mineral products (see Figure 1).
| Product | CO2 eq/ Mt Product | CO2 eq/ Kg Metal | %Metal |
| Selko® IntelliBond® C | 2.58 Mt | 4.78 Kg | 54% |
| Selko® IntelliBond® Z | 1.98 Mt | 3.60 Kg | 55% |
| Selko® IntelliBond® M | 2.57 Mt | 5.84 Kg | 44% |
Figure 1: CO2 equivalents per metric ton of Selko® IntelliBond® produced and per kg of metal for Selko® IntelliBond® C, Selko® IntelliBond® Z and Selko® IntelliBond® M.
The LCA is an accepted tool that organizes a comprehensive review of the ability of a product, ingredient, practice etc. to reduce carbon emissions under a well-defined set of conditions. The CO2eq number helps nutritionists and manufacturers to choose the best ingredients for their feed. They want to lower the total CO2eq of the feed without losing its nutritional value. IntelliBond is a trace mineral source that has a low CO2eq number. The LCA for Selko IntelliBond was done recently and verified by an independent reviewer. The CO2eq number for each Selko IntelliBond product is shown in Figure 1. Feed compounders and premixers can use this number to reduce the carbon footprint of their products.