Dairy One Cooperative | Ithaca, NY

Overview

Dairy One is a high volume commercial laboratory servicing the feed industry and modern agriculture. International in scope, samples are received from all 50 states and over 35 different countries. Crude Fiber (CF), although no longer used for routine ration balancing, continues to be the legal measure of fiber in the United States. A new feed company customer with a rigorous Quality Assurance program increased the demand for CF analyses over existing capacity.

Challenge

Analytical Chemist Paul Sirois explained that Dairy One was conducting CF analyses using the traditional burner/beaker/condenser set-up. This was a multi-step, multi-chemical, labor intensive process restricted by burner numbers, bench space and the number of cycles per day.  “We lacked the bench space to expand and accommodate the increase in our business. Plus an additional technician would be required.”

Product Solution

Dairy One was searching for an alternative that would fit their limited bench space and hopefully reduce the labor involved. They were already using ANKOM A200 systems for ADF/NDF analyses. They contacted ANKOM for more information and a demonstration of the A2000 automated fiber analyzer. The A2000 has a small foot print and fully automates the stepwise additions of chemicals and subsequent rinses. “Utilizing about the same amount of bench space, it reduced our labor requirement by about 70% and increased capacity by a factor of four.”