Ralco has announced that Josh Knapp has joined the company as an associate swine nutritionist on their growing swine technical team. Knapp will be responsible for working with Ralco's customers and sales team to formulate diets and solve customer problems using patented natural approaches.

"I'm excited to be a part of such a strong swine technical team," said Knapp. "Ralco is at the forefront of innovation to meet the new demands and challenges swine producers are facing in the industry. Their products are uniquely positioned and created to waste less energy in digestion, promote gut health and improve performance."

Knapp earned his B.S. in animal science with an emphasis in bioscience and biotechnology at Kansas State University. He then received his M.S. from the University of Arkansas and finished his academic career with his PhD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Knapp's academic work aligns well with the natural approaches Ralco has been leveraging with customers for years. His PhD dissertation focused on prebiotics and probiotics and how the diet influences cecal and fecal microbiome across various stages of swine production.

"One of my many reasons for choosing Ralco was their EnMAX formulation approach. The three pillars they use to formulate swine diets - net energy formulation, supplemental enzymes and crystalline amino acids - are all things I wondered why more people in the industry haven't used because it’s more efficient," said Knapp.

In 2004, Ralco's breakthrough in swine nutrition led to the EnMAX formulation approach which helps overcome waste in digestion and provides more efficient energy to pigs. While other standard swine diets use high levels of soybean meal and fat, EnMAX diets typically use 28% less.

In his new role, Knapp will provide expert technical and nutritional support to Ralco's swine customers helping them formulate EnMAX diets to meet their production goals and use patented essential oils and prebiotics to overcome health challenges.

"So far, my favorite part about Ralco has been the people and learning about their wide array of research backing their products," said Knapp. "It's been exciting to work with such a talented group of people with a strong set of tools to help producers solve problems."

"The unique skill set and knowledge Dr. Knapp brings to our swine technical team will complement us and advance our approaches," said Russell Fent, director of Ralco's swine technical group. "Most recently, through his research work in prebiotics and probiotics, Dr. Knapp will be a significant addition to our team to support our essential oil and prebiotic work and further our nutrition programs by looking at diets in a different way."

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