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.
“Sugar Beet Pulp improves butterfat”, “Feeding over 4kgs of wheat causes acidosis”, “Feeding straw reduces milk yield”
These are some of the many comments that you hear when discussing dairy nutrition, and although these are valid in many situations, these types of comments totally miss out on the potential of modern dairy nutrition. Historically, relying on certain ingredients has always ensured good herd performance with a typically predictable response, but with an ever growing drive for financial efficiency, there is a demand to push the boundaries of dairy nutrition.
Negative energy balance during early lactation is a demanding physiological state for the cow at the best of times, and can be made worse through the feeding of butyric silage. The cow’s liver requires optimal condition as the demand for glucose increases from 1kg/d in late gestation to 2.5kg/d 3 weeks post calving. A successful transition determines the success of the subsequent lactation, with energy levels crucial to immune function during the transition period. The feeding of butyric silage, however, can increase the risk of ketosis in cows at all stages of lactation. This is often referred to as type III ketosis, which is the focus of this article.
Cows do not have a Crude Protein (CP) requirement, Varga et al (2007). Yet, for many years CP has been used when formulating diets, and this often continues to be the case. Cow’s have a requirement for Amino Acids (AA), not protein, and the supply of the AA is predominantly produced by the cow herself in Microbial Protein (MicP) in the rumen. Together with Rumen Undegradable Protein (RUP) and Endogenous Protein (EP), this makes up the supply of Metabolisable Protein (MP) to the small intestine. Both MP and the component AAs are then absorbed by the small intestine and used for protein synthesis and meeting the needs of the cow for: maintenance, growth, reproduction and lactation.
Rumination and cudding are essential for efficiency and health. A beautiful example of this is the story of cow named Selz-Pralle Aftershock 3918. Interestingly her owner had not realised quite how special a cow she was.
It was only whilst looking through the production data of his 450-cow herd at the start of August did he realise that she was still producing 100kgs daily, eleven months after her 4th calving. Aftershock 3918 ended her 4th lactation with a record of 35,457kg, at 4% fat 3.1% protein. Her lifetime production after 1537 milking days is 100,870 kg, an average of 66kg per day. She is a cow that simply goes about her business; never sick, always back in calf quickly and never requiring special attention. Where she stands out from the herd (apart from her continuously high production levels), is her cudding rates. The herd’s cudding rates are routinely monitored and average around 8 hours per day. Aftershock 3918 was found to chew her cud for an average of 10 hours a day. For me this highlights the importance of cudding and how it influences cow performance. Recent studies by Kaufman et al. (2017) support my view, while others have found no relationship between milk yield and rumination time. However, I am sure that there are a number of factors that determine the extent of rumination time and cudding activity which are related to environment and diet.
Cudding indicates several positive signs of cow health, namely: adequate effective fibre fraction within the diet, correct rumen pH and the absence of acidosis. At herd level, 75-80% of cows that are lying down should be cudding at any one time. Where fewer cows are cudding, it is important to identify the underlying cause. In many cases this will more likely be sub-acute acidosis (SARA). Symptoms of SARA can include: hyper ventilation (rapid breathing), lameness, cows puddling on their feet, scouring, dirty backs (caused by tail swishing), low butterfat and rough coats.
Cud counting can also be a useful tool for assessing the adequacy of effective fibre within a cow’s diet. A cow should chew each cud around 65-75 times. For anything lower than 60, rumen function can be improved through increasing effective fibre levels within the diet. A combination of cudding to stimulate saliva production and correct dietary fibre levels will help lead to the production of 2-2.5kg of essential rumen buffer. This helps to maintain an optimal rumen pH of 6.2-6.8, where microbes are at their most effective and efficient.
With the latest developments in cow monitoring activity. Real time monitoring of rumination and cudding activity is available to all producers and provides an excellent way to monitor health and performance of the diet fed.
In summary, higher cudding rates improve both a cow’s health and performance, and can be achieved through close attention to diet formulations and careful management. The integration of the latest technology in dairy systems can help with this through the monitoring of hourly cudding rates and the flagging up of any issues warranting action.
Martin Hope
Dairy Specialist
You can contact Martin, or find your local Dairy Specialist, by clicking here.
Transition periods for dry cows can create lots of issues post calving if not managed carefully. Looking at the vitamin balance of the transition diet is one factor that can influence how well fresh cows handle their body's increased demands for energy.
Forage quality is the biggest bottleneck on many farms, with every attempt made to improve the cheapest feed on the farm. Maximising milk production from whatever land you have available to you must be achieved to ensure sustainable margins from dairy production. For this reason, there has been a shift to more frequent and lighter cuts of grass silage, cutting every month through the growing season.
With the autumn/winter calving season upon us, it is important to consider ways to keep cows healthy at this crucial time. There are many challenges during the transition period but the biggest challenges can be the result of the metabolic changes that occur around calving and as the cow transitions into lactation. The main challenges are; trying to maintain hydration when water intake is reduced; mobilising calcium for colostrum and milk production; maintaining energy intake when dry matter intake is reduced.
Three important changes that occur during calving
1) Changes in fluid and electrolyte balance. Directly before and during calving, cows do not eat or drink, but during calving they can lose up to 50L of water and electrolytes. This may make them listless, which reduces their dry matter intake (DMI) post-calving.
2) Rapid increase in calcium demand. Colostrum and milk contain large quantities of calcium, so the amount of calcium a cow needs directly after calving increases dramatically. Their bodies try to meet this need by increasing the uptake of calcium from their diet and by releasing calcium from their bones. When calcium levels are low the cows may develop clinical milk fever which is severe calcium deficiency. However, there may also be cows in the herd with subclinical milk fever that do not show any visible signs, but can still have low blood calcium levels. These cows with low blood calcium levels are also at risk of decreased DMI.
3) Negative energy balance. At the start of lactation, most cows enter into a state of negative energy balance which is often unavoidable, but we should aim to reduce the period of negative energy balance as much as possible. Negative energy balance occurs when energy output exceeds energy intake. To meet energy requirements cows will mobilise their body fat which could lead to other metabolic diseases, such as fatty liver and ketosis.
To avoid these metabolic problems it is important for the cows to increase DMI as soon as possible post calving.
Figure 1: Graph showing that cows treated with Reviva 80/20 had a higher blood calcium level post calving compared to the control group.
Wynnstay Reviva
Wynnstay Reviva 80/20 is a complementary feed for cows with strong scientific evidence demonstrating the benefits in freshly calved cows. Reviva 80/20 is used to replenish water and mineral loss in freshly calved cows. It is rich in energy, using dextrose as the main energy source, electrolytes and calcium, and is extremely palatable. In a trial of 440 cows, when offered either control or Reviva 80/20, 95% of cows drank Reviva 80/20 without hesitation, vs. only 67% of cows drinking control.
Blood calcium levels and DMI post calving were also assessed in a further trial where cows were offered either 20L of warm water or 20L of Reviva 80/20. While every cow offered Reviva 80/20 drank all of it, only 82% of the cows offered water drank all of it. Results showed that there was an increase of about 1kg DMI per day for cows in the Reviva 80/20 group, compared with those in the control group. Most significantly, blood calcium levels were higher in the 48 hours immediately post calving in the cows offered Reviva 80/20 and calcium levels remained higher for the first four weeks post calving, this can be seen in Figure 1.
What do farmers think?
“I first saw Reviva advertised a few years ago and decided to try it on our cows. We had problems with milk fever and because this product had calcium in we decided to use it. We use it on every cow after second calving and any heifers that have a difficult calving. Since starting to use it we have noticed a reduction in the number of milk fever cases however still cover our back and put a bottle of calcium in some circumstances. The cows are back on their feet quicker and eating. We have noticed a better start to lactation on the cows that have received Reviva. I find that a majority of cows take it well but it must be mixed at the correct temperature. We mix 10L of very hot water with the 1kg of Reviva and then top it up to 20L with cold water. It is easy to mix and smells nice. The cows that do drink it, will completely finish the bucket.” Martin Sharp, Wolsty Hall Farm, milking 155 cows.
