The transition period is the most critical time in a cow’s lactation due to its lasting effect on the subsequent lactation. It can be one of the biggest bottlenecks on farm and one of the best places to find opportunity for improved herd performance.
It’s been a difficult season to say the least! The drought of 2018 has had a drastic effect on forage stocks which have been reserved for winter feeding with Dry Matter (DM) yields of grass on farm estimated to be down up to 50% compared to 2017.
Whatever the use and however much maize is going to be fed in the ration, optimising dry matter, starch yield and fibre digestibility is the key. The latter of the two being more significant, yet harder to measure.
Getting your cows and heifers out of negative energy balance sooner and getting them gaining weight earlier is the key to improved conception rates. A large-scale study of over 1887 Holstein dairy cows by Professor Paul Fricke of Wisconsin University, looked at the effect changes in liveweight on conception rate to first service.
Dietary fats are an essential element in dairy cow nutrition. Traditionally, fats have been fed to increase the dietary energy, due to their high energy concentration; around 2.25 times higher than other nutrients, molecules react with a glycerol molecule.
During late gestation and early lactation, the mammary gland produces large numbers of secretory cells with the ability to secrete milk.
This is done in response to changes in circulating hormones and growth factors. The demise of the secretory capability of the mammary gland during mid to late lactation is unavoidable in the pregnant cow and ends with the process of involution when the cow is dried off. The rate of decline is known as persistency.
Starch levels are often seen as a measure of milk potential and rumen stability in diets, thus used as a benchmark when formulating diets.
In reality, starch levels in diets do not matter, because in isolation they don't tell you a great deal. Starch is only one of four energy sources to the rumen and furthermore, the degradability of starch sources greatly influences rumen dynamics.
The transition period for the dairy cow; three weeks prepartum, into three weeks postpartum is the most important phase in the lactation cycle. Rightly, transition management is receiving much greater attention and more importantly so is the nutrition.
The AminoMatch nutritional approach is based on characterising the amino acid profile of your forage and then reducing dietary crude protein (CP) levels by ensuring an adequate supply of the first limiting amino acids; methionine and lysine.
Whilst developed several decades ago, research into high sugar grasses and their proposed benefits has been continual. But where do they differ from normal grasses? Firstly, their “higher sugar” levels are delivered through greater water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) levels within the grass. These WSC’s are present within the plant’s cells as opposed to the cell walls, where they take longer to be broken down for energy in the rumen. Higher WSC content within the grasses offers a greater amount of readily available energy within the cow’s diet, allowing for more efficient utilisation of dietary proteins in the rumen.
