Spring is here and that means grazing season is around the corner. There are some things to look out for when starting to graze cattle in the spring. Cool-season grasses tend to be low in magnesium and when cattle become deficient in magnesium, we start to see signs of grass tetany. Grass tetany is a nutritional or metabolic disorder characterized by low blood magnesium. Grass tends to be low in magnesium when they are immature and have high potassium.
Fermenting forages is very beneficial to cattle nutrition and production. When forage is fermented it causes a breakdown of forage material, making it easier for animals to digest. Since the fermented forage is easier to digest, the bodies can digest forage quicker and releases more energy for the animal. The cattle can utilize the feed more efficiently and this will result in less waste in the undigested material that they excrete.
Breaking it down to the molecular level, microbes multiply and break down the forage through …
Winter Dysentery
Winter has arrived and as the colder temperatures have set in, Winter Dysentery may be affecting the herd. Winter Dysentery is a highly contagious GI disorder that affects adult dairy cattle primarily during winter. Current research indicates that it is caused by a particular strain of Coronavirus that attacks the intestinal lignin of adult dairy cattle. Winter Dysentery is typically spread through fecal-oral transmission, but viral particles present in respiratory secretions of affected animals may further enhance transmission.
A probiotic is defined as “live-organisms which, when consumed in adequate amounts, confer a health effect on the host.” There are two general classes of probiotics: fungi and bacteria. Fungal probiotics are primarily live yeast. Probiotic yeasts work within the rumen to improve fermentation, scavenge oxygen, stabilize rumen pH, improve fiber digestion, and increase microbial growth. Probiotic yeasts remove oxygen (scavenge oxygen) from the rumen and provide a better anaerobic environment for bacterial growth. The anaerobic environment helps in the protection of rumen bacteria from damage …
Gastrointestinal parasites cause significant economic losses and are listed in the top three fatal conditions in sheep and goats. Internal parasites in sheep and goats cause disease when they are present in large numbers or when the host animal is weakened by another disease or by poor nutrition. Damage to the host occurs when parasites attach to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and ingest blood – large numbers of parasites can create anemia from blood loss.
When calves are born, they start out as simple stomached animals. The change from one digestive method to another is a process that is called rumen development. The first two compartments make up one large fermentation vat, the third is an unusual-looking organ that absorbs water and minerals from digesta leaving the rumen, and the fourth is the true stomach that functions like the stomach of monogastric (people and pigs). All four of these stomachs are present at birth; however, only the abomasum is fully developed …
