History

Since the 1940's, Landus Cooperative™ (formerly West Central Cooperative®) has been processing locally grown soybeans and adding value to them through the production of soy-based feed products for the livestock and dairy industries. Today, these products make up the Dairy Nutrition Plus family. In April 2016, West Central® and Farmers Cooperative merged to form Landus Cooperative, strengthening the economic well-being of farmer-owners.

Landus Cooperative, one of the largest grain companies in North America based on storage capacity, is a farmer-owned cooperative connecting producers of agricultural products to a vast network of processors and end users around the world. The company manages for success by deliberately pursuing fresh ideas and recognizing value opportunities at every turn. Headquartered in Ames, Iowa, Landus Cooperative’s agronomy, animal nutrition, grain, crop management and precision ag businesses span 26 Iowa and Minnesota counties with approximately 60 locations.

Dairy Nutrition Plus™

As a manufacturer, Landus Cooperative has a long-standing commitment for providing quality and consistency and that is not going to change. The Dairy Nutrition Plus family of quality products showcases the ways in which Landus Cooperative offers more to feed mills, nutritionists and dairy producers.

Landus Cooperative is continuously innovating to add value in a way that not only provides proven results, but provides supply chain reliability, access to the knowledge of industry experts, and tools that improve efficiency for our customers in what they do every day.

Supply Chain Reliability

Over the course of one year, Landus Cooperative agronomists recommend soybean seed to farmers in Iowa. More than 7,000 producers, including these Iowa grain producers, make up our cooperative's membership. Those farmers grow and nurture plants that produce higher quality at higher yields. When the time is right, farmers harvest those beans. Our grain team quickly unloads and stores massive bean volumes. Then, our soy center meticulously manufactures SoyPlus which is then marketed and sold to dairies around the globe.

Product History

Landus Cooperative™ began processing soybeans at its Ralston facility in 1942, decades before the term "value-added" had been coined. It's this dedication to innovation and creating more value for our customer's products that has earned Landus Cooperative its reputation as a leader in value-added processing.

After researching the bypass benefits offered to dairy cows by Landus Cooperative's soybean meal, SoyPlus® was launched in 1984. SoyPlus quickly became recognized as the gold standard of dairy nutrition, a product by which other dairy bypass products would be measured against. SoyPlus earned a reputation for providing consistent quality and consistent results, a reputation it still has today. In 2008, the SoyPlus manufacturing process earned ISO 9001 certification, guaranteeing customers a quality product and superior service with every batch.

Using revolutionary science discovered by Dr. Jesse Goff and Dr. Ronald Horst at the USDA Laboratory in Ames, Landus Cooperative began processing a dairy feed supplement capable of aiding in dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) balancing in 1997. Today this product is known as SoyChlor®.

Introduced in 2010, PasturChlor® is designed to offer a low calcium approach to DCAD adjustment.

Academic Relationships

Landus Cooperative, the manufacturer of the Dairy Nutrition Plus family of quality products, is proud of our long-term relationships with leaders in the dairy nutrition industry. Below are the academic consultants who remain engaged with our team and customers on bypass protein and DCAD management topics.

Dr. Jesse Goff

Dr. Jesse Goff, in conjunction with Dr. Ron Horst initially developed the formula for using chloride to aid in balancing DCAD and mobilizing calcium in transition cows. Their research determined a link between acid-base balance, diet potassium, and vitamin D metabolism that determined whether or not a cow would develop low blood calcium and, in turn, suffer symptoms of subclinical hypocalcemia at calving.

Landus Cooperative applied these ideas in its formulation of SoyChlor®. Goff previously served as director of research and development for Landus Cooperative where he improved and refined the product for commercialization.

Today, Goff remains a trusted partner and consultant for Landus Cooperative's Dairy Nutrition Plus product line while serving on the faculty at Iowa State University.

Dr. Charles Sniffen

Charles J. Sniffen, Ph.D.
President
Fencrest, LLC

Dr. Sniffen received his degrees at Ohio State, 1960, B.Sc. Dairy Science, and then became a 4-H county agent in New York and then worked with Agway, a feed cooperative in the northeast. From there he went on to receive an M.Sc. in Ruminant Nutrition, 1967 at the University of New Hampshire and then went on for a Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky, Ruminant Nutrition in 1971. He started his career at the University of Maine in research and teaching where he developed a respiration calorimeter laboratory while focusing on the amino acid nutrition of the ruminant as well as developing N assay methods.

In 1978 he moved to Cornell University where he was 50% in dairy nutrition extension and the remainder of the time in research. He continued to focus his research efforts in the amino acid area and continued in the development of N assay methodology. Also starting in 1979, he collaborated with a team at Cornell to develop the Cornell Net Carbohydrate system. In 1989 he moved to Michigan State as the first person in the Meadows Endowed Chair in Dairy Management. His research continued in the amino acid area, but with a greater emphasis on forages and whole farm systems. During his short tenure there, he provided support for and helped develop the Spartan 3 nutrition model, which became very popular both domestically and on an international basis. From there he accepted a position at Miner Institute in 1992 as President of Miner Institute, Chazy, New York. During this time, an integrated crops and dairy research program was developed, which today has international recognition.

He retired in 2002 to become a private nutrition consultant working with the dairy industry. During his career he has served on Editorial Boards, served on the NRC 85 Subcommittee on Ruminant Nitrogen Usage, and has had many graduate students and has been involved in publishing  over 100 peer-reviewed articles, 140+ abstracts, and 400+ proceedings and popular press articles.

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