The next big seasonal ‘nutritional step-change’ is on its way. As always, we look forward to the grazing season.
Spring offers an opportunity to make the most of grass – a relatively cheap, nutritious feed that can come with a lucrative boost in income over feed cost. Of course, critical to achieving this is the ability to maximise production and not suffer any setbacks.
Expectations from early grazing
There is often an unrealistic expectation of grazing intakes and the milk that cows can sustain early in the season. Whilst being natural, cheap and nutritious, fresh lush grass is not perfectly nutritionally balanced for dairy cows.
Many grazing studies have previously indicated that high grass intakes can leave cows prone to sub-acute rumen acidosis (SARA), which means that the rumen will not be converting food into milk as effectively as possible.
Another potential pitfall is a reduction in butterfat – partly from SARA and partly from the natural high unsaturated oil content of lush grass.
Don’t graze over the challenges
It is important to be aware of limitations and how you might conquer them. To really understand what your cows are gaining from grass, use a plate meter and paddock measurements to assess pre and post grass availability, and calculate intake.
Being completely realistic on this is a good step to ensuring you take advantage of grass without letting performance suffer.
Additionally, it is important to consider the use of a rumen buffer to counteract the risk of SARA. This will improve the digestive efficiency of the rumen – allowing food to be converted into milk more efficiently and help mitigate against reduced butterfats.
A buffer for all seasons
In 2019, Cargill developed the new Equaliser® 365 rumen buffer in pellet form for all feeding systems to tackle SARA.
The pellet form is palatable and applicable to any feeding situation with feed wastage limited.
Dr. Philip Ingram, Cargill’s ruminant technical manager for Ireland and UK, states that “feeding a rumen buffer at grazing is very important to ensure that performance is maintained during this season and to make the most of the value of grass”.
“We have previously struggled to provide a solution which is practical for the farmer and consumed at a consistent level by the cows at grass. This is why we have developed Equaliser® 365,” he said.
Proven performance
Published trial results by Cargill on its Equaliser® rumen buffer show an improvement of up to 0.53% in butterfat in SARA-challenged cows when Equaliser® was used.
This advantage was also seen when considering feed efficiency. Fat and protein corrected milk output per unit dry matter intake (FPCM/DMI) improved with Equaliser® rumen buffer addition, indicating that these cows converted their feed into milk more efficiently.
It is important to be aware of limitations and use knowledge and practical methods to take a stride forward rather than two steps forwards and one step back.
The use of Equaliser® 365 rumen buffer pellet will allow for the rumen environment to be supported during grazing and mitigate performance reductions.
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