Dairy producers are faced with volatile market pressures, rising feed costs and the urgent need to address nutrient waste and emissions.
Their goal? To enhance dairy cow performance, efficiency and profitability. Protein supplementation represents a significant expense in dairy rations.
Unfortunately, dairy cattle struggle to efficiently convert feed nitrogen (N) into milk and metabolisable protein.
The challenge lies in optimising feed digestion and utilisation within the rumen to maximise microbial protein yield and energy capture for milk production or growth.
“Rumen fibre-digesting bacteria rely on isoacids, also known as BCVFAs (branched-chain volatile fatty acids), to digest fibre in feedstuffs,” explained Jonathan Huxtable, a ruminant specialist from Zinpro.
These essential nutrients are combined with rumen ammonia and carbon to produce microbial protein and energy. Isoacods are vital for amino acid supply through microbial production which drives milk production by the mammary gland.
“Under certain dietary conditions, fibre-digesters may face an inadequate supply of isoacids, lower microbial protein synthesis and fibre digestion.
“Factors such as drought and cold weather can impact grass growth and as a result, grass quality. During periods of stress, grass can tend to head out making it less digestible and reducing its protein content and energy levels.
“This in turn provides less building blocks for isoacids for the microbes,” he added.
Dairy producers
Jonathan continued to describe a solution to optimise rumen function: “In the past, we had to supplement additional RDP to bridge the gap, however now there is another solution – Zinpro IsoFerm offers a game-changing alternative.
“By directly supplementing isoacids, rather than relying solely on RDP, dairy farmers can enhance efficiency of the rumen and optimise the nutrients being fed.”
A first-of-its-kind on-farm trial in Co. Kerry found that feeding 40g/head/day of Zinpro IsoFerm increased milk production by 1.3kg/day (4.1%). This improvement came with no negative effects on fat, protein or fertility.
The trial was carried out by Roche’s Feed’s in Limerick in collaboration with Zinpro on the farm of Johnny O’Hanlon in Co. Kerry.
Johnny is milking 140 pedigree Holstein cows on two robots. Each robot has two separate bins that can provide custom feeds which gives the opportunity for cows to be allocated two different feeding groups.
The cows were split into randomised groups of 35 animals based on days in milk, yield, and lactation number. Both groups were fed the exact same 15% dairy nut with the trial group receiving 40g/head/day of Zinpro IsoFerm.
Average production of both groups at the beginning of the trial was 28kg of milk, with 4.39% fat and 3.29% protein.
The trial ran from the May 20 to August 1. Cows were grazing full-time in an ‘A, B, C’ system, receiving concentrates through the robot.
Cows were allocated 17kg DM of grass/day with an average supplementation of 6kg/head/day through the robot.
Speaking about the trial, Shane Burns, nutritionist with Roches Feeds, said: “Seeing an increase in milk production like we have seen on Johnny’s farm is very encouraging.
“Every year now we are encountering periods where grass can become stressed leading to huge variability in grass quality and availability.
“As a result, maintaining yields mid-season is becoming more and more difficult. By feeding Zinpro IsoFerm along with a high-quality nut we can get cows to achieve higher peaks and maintain these peaks for longer, ultimately improving overall farm profitability.”
When asked about the difference Zinpro IsoFerm made to his cows, Johnny responded: ”After observing the day-to-day yield differences of both groups of cows during the trial period this summer, Zinpro IsoFerm is a product I will continue to use.
“It has been included in the diet of the close up autumn calving group to aid transition and improve their overall performance once they calve down.”
Zinpro IsoFerm is a blend of isoacids which are naturally occurring in the rumen, produced by starch and sugar fermenting bacteria.
As explained above, isoacids are an important nutrient for fibre-digesting bacteria, who use them to produce additional microbial bacteria.
Research at Cornell University has shown that under many dietary conditions, there is a deficiency of isoacids which prevents fibrolytic bacteria from achieving their full potential in terms of fibre digestion and microbial protein synthesis.
The addition of isoacids to deficient diets has shown increases in NDF digestibility, microbial protein production and milk production.
Outside of Ireland, field observations were conducted in more than 50 herds representing over 70,000 cows.
Of these, cows receiving Zinpro IsoFerm for 60 days or more had on average, a 2% reduction in DMI (when looking at the entire lactation) with 4.3% greater energy-corrected milk, resulting in a 5.5% improvement in feed efficiency (ECM/kg DMI).
Optimal responses were seen when cows received isoacids beginning in the dry period and continuing throughout lactation.
Recent work has also shown that feeding during the dry period can help cows better manage the challenges of calving and maintain body weight during the freshening period.
Supplementation of dairy cow diets with Zinpro IsoFerm is the new frontier in dairy nutrition and diet formulation leading to significant advances in feed efficiency, sustainability and greater farm profitability.
