One part of the diet that might get overlooked due to its small size is minerals. Trace minerals are essential to the diet. This is where free choice minerals can help.
Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN)
Milk processing plants and DHI can provide dairy managers with milk urea nitrogen (MUN) values on bulk milk and individual cow milk samples. MUN tests are useful tools that can allow the dairy managers to monitor changes in the feeding and management of their herd. Milk urea nitrogen is the fraction of milk protein that is derived from blood urea nitrogen (BUN). In Holstein’s MUN normally represents about 0.19 percentage points of the normal 3.2% total milk protein.
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 …
Heifers are the future of your herd and your long-term success as a dairy producer. Heifer raising makes up 20-25% of the total cost of milk production. A successful pre-weaning calf program has been proven to increase first lactation milk yield by 1,000 lbs – 3,000 lbs. Genetic selection can account for 150 lbs-300 lbs greater milk production per lactation, but pre-weaning management can increase this 5-fold.
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 …
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 …
