A large portion of calves in New Zealand are reared on Ancalf™ but how many farmers are aware that the product can help them lower carbon emissions on-farm?
Ancalf™ has been a staple on New Zealand farms since the 1960s and is famous for its full-curding formula, having a nutrient profile almost identical to raw whole milk.
What’s unique about Ancalf™ and other products produced by NZAgbiz is that it is created in a ‘circular economy’, meaning nothing goes to waste.
NZAgbiz, a subsidiary of Fonterra Co-operative Limited, recycles materials from milk processing plants into useful animal nutrition products like milk replacers, animal feeds, and specialist animal health supplements such as probiotics. Loss-stream ingredients from Fonterra manufacturing sites that cannot be sold are sent to NZAgbiz to be reworked into quality products.
Each recipe is carefully blended and tested for guaranteed consistency every time. Any product that cannot be recycled is on-sold as ingredients for stock feeds, soaps, and biofuels.
NZAgbiz General Manager Sam Allnutt says a circular model seeks to maximise the lifecycle of materials, optimise usage, and reuse materials.
“Going circular means designing products to help create a circular economy in New Zealand, and that’s exactly what NZAgbiz does. We’ve worked hard to reduce the number of layers in our supply chain, selling a large portion of our product directly back to our farmers. We’ve also positioned our North and South Island plants strategically to keep our carbon footprints as low as possible,” he says.
This is all good news for farmers seeking to increase efficiencies and maximise profitability from every drop of milk. “Our products are designed to offer animals the very best start to life and help farmers futureproof their herd."
"By swapping to Ancalf™ from whole milk, farmers can improve their returns by ensuring that every drop of good milk goes to the factory. We’re able to turn downgrade/loss streams into useful animal nutrition products that the farmer can then put to good use on-farm,” says Sam.
All NZAgbiz products’ packaging is fully recyclable and the company partners with rural recycling programme AgRecovery.
It also recycles plastic, metal, and paper packaging produced during the manufacturing process that would otherwise become landfill. For example, infant formula that cannot be released to market is de-canned and everything from the plastic lid to the plastic scoop and aluminium seal is recycled. The tin itself is crushed into big slabs of aluminium that get collected by aluminium recyclers. All NZAgbiz’s cardboard goes to Oji Fibre Solutions in Hamilton, where it is pressed into bales of paper at Kinlieth mill while plastics (lids, scoops etc.) go to JJ Recycling.
NZAgbiz recently removed one-use plastic scoops from circulation in its products and switched to recyclable plastic for its Anlamb™ bottles. All its retention product samples from labs and the Fonterra sample library are used for pig food or on-sold (rather than sent to landfill).
Initiatives at NZAgbiz’s sites in Hamilton, Waharoa, and Temuka to reduce emissions include reducing power usage, lowering the LPG usage on-site, introducing an electric forklift truck fleet, bailing its own recycling for sale back to industry for re-use, re-using pallets and pallet caps and removing the landfill skip from sites, and switching to more efficient air compressors that are more energy efficient for greater output.
By focusing on sustainability and circular economy practices, NZAgbiz is passionate about helping farmers maximise the value of every drop of milk and creating quality products, designed to give animals a great start to life.
“We are proud to support the sustainability efforts of the wider Fonterra Co-operative, delivering value to our shareholders by reducing waste and creating products, designed to grow healthy future-producing animals,” says Sam.
Have a question? Get in touch with the NZAgbiz team to discuss how they can help your animals and business today.