Gene Goenner is a technical dairy expert with Alltech. Below is an edited transcript of his recorded comments on optimizing feedstuffs. 

Watch the full video here:

I want to talk to you a little bit today about feedstuffs: in particular, different ingredients and total mixed rations. We know that a herd’s diet is made up of multiple ingredients. For example, when we have a grain mix, a nutritionist is going to add up to 30 different ingredients that will mix together into a balanced diet for the animal.

A cow at a high production level is going to have the ability to consume approximately 50–60 pounds of the feedstuff a day. She has an outstanding ability for taste and smell, much better than we as humans have, so we are balancing this diet with all of these different ingredients to create a diet that is not only nutritionally balanced, but also palatable.

Maximize performance

When nutritionists look at a diet, we try to figure out the cow’s production level. This includes her milking performance, her reproduction performance and maximizing her overall health. Making a high-quality, balanced diet for a healthy animal will help her to perform, do well on a farm and be profitable for the producer.

TMRs

One of the problems we have when feeding a ration is that we include feed ingredients that animals prefer, and they will sort through to find individual ingredients. So, what we do to avoid that is running the feedstuff through a mixer to make what we call a TMR (total mixed ration), in which we combine all these ingredients together into one diet. We do that to create uniformity and to keep these cows consuming their diet consistently. Cows are great at finding the feedstuff that is more palatable to them and will look for that “goodie” or that “candy” in their diet.

It is crucially important to have the feedstuff in the TMR mixed effectively to maintain performance levels at high volumes and uphold good health.

Have a question or comment?

The following is an edited transcript of Tom Martin’s interview with Dr. Kristen Brennan, a research project manager at the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Click below to listen to the podcast:

                                    Dr. Kristen Brennan is a research project manager at the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville, Kentucky. In this interview with Tom Martin, Brennan helps us gain a better understanding of her field, nutrigenomics, and its role in sustainable agriculture.

Tom:                            What is the science of nutrigenomics?

Kristen:                        The easiest way to think about nutrigenomics is to break the word down into what it is: “nutri" and “genomics.” What we're aiming to study with nutrigenomics is how nutrition — whether that’s nutrients, forms of nutrients, diets, timing of diets — influences the animal's genome. So, we’re not changing the genome, but influencing the activity of all the genes of that animal’s genome.

Tom:                            Is this an outgrowth of the human genome project, or has it been around a lot longer than that?

Kristen:                        Nutrigenomics is something that's been around forever. From the time the first living organism evolved, it needed nutrients, and those nutrients had influence on the activity of the genes within that animal or cell. The thing that we've done within the last several years is to figure out how to capture that information. It's always been there, we just never had a way of measuring it before. Technologies like genome sequencing are the core foundation for measuring what we're seeing.

Tom:                            Is there a point in time when we realized that nutrients were having an impact on genetic expression?

Kristen:                        I think we’ve known for a long time the importance of nutrition. Centuries and centuries ago, they had an idea that nutrition had a vital role. I don't know if we knew at that point, really, what DNA was and what genes did, but we knew that nutrition could influence the outcome, or a phenotype of an animal — what we're seeing on the outside — and how important it was for good health.

Tom:                            What are the advantages of nutrigenomics in animal studies?

Kristen:                        What I think makes this field so exciting is that, first of all, when we’re dealing with actual sampling, we need a very small sample amount. We can do this with, for instance, a small draw of blood from an animal, or we can take a small biopsy. So, you're not having to euthanize an animal to get tissue.

                                       Even more of an advantage is the amount of information we get. If you think about most genomes, you're talking about thousands of genes. We can measure in a single snapshot how every one of those genes is behaving in response to a diet or nutrition. That is an amazing amount of information.

                                       The other advantage is that it can be really rapid. From the time we get a sample to the time we have an output of data, it can be as short as just a few days in the lab. So, a lot of information, small input and a ton (of data) in a very rapid way.

Tom:                            And are you able to understand why some animals respond differently than others to the very same nutrients?

Kristen:                        Yes. We can use this information to understand that. An example would be healthy versus diseased animals and why nutrition may play a role in how they respond to that illness. More and more, we're starting to understand how differences on a genetic level — different breeds of animals, different production states, things like that — can influence how that animal responds.

Tom:                            Are you able to dig down into it and figure out how nutrients and bioactive components in the food turn on or turn off certain genes?

Kristen:                        Yes. The biggest amount of information we get is just a simple “Do they or do they not turn genes on or off?” So, how does each individual gene activity respond to what you're feeding? As we’re understanding that more and more, we can take a step back and start to understand how they're doing it. They are what we call signaling pathways, which are like, if you set up a row of dominoes and you hit the first one, it sets everything off. It’s the same thing with gene activity. There is a series of molecules that are responsible for regulating or activating other ones. And we can start to decipher how we get from the nutrient that we’re feeding or the diet we're feeding to that endpoint, that last domino in the line.

Tom:                            You can actually target issues that call for some kind of nutritional intervention?

Kristen:                        Yes. And that's obviously one of the most exciting applications of this research. We can use this to define precision nutrition.

                                    One of the challenges with feeding animals, or people in general, is that there are so many environmental factors that influence how an animal responds to diet — things like illness and disease, but also production state, where they're living, what their basal diets are. And so, we can use this technology to get precise information on how we can use nutrition to get the best performance or best health out of that animal.

Tom:                            How do you carry out your research? What goes on in Kristen Brennan’s laboratory?

Kristen:                        It’s magic! This research is done in several steps. It’s really a team effort. The simplest study we have is between two groups of animals, and because so many things could influence gene expression, we want to make sure that those two groups of animals are as identical as possible — same breed, sex, age, production state, and they’re housed in similar environments. The only thing we want different between those two groups is the nutrient we’re interested in.

                                    For instance, if we’re looking at a form of a mineral like selenium, we might have one diet that contains selenium in the form of sodium selenite, and we might have the exact same diet for the other group that has selenium in the form of organic selenium like our Sel-Plex® product. Once we have fed these diets for a given amount of time — it just depends on what we're interested in looking at, what tissues and what nutrients we’re evaluating — then we obtain a sample. It can be as simple as just a very tiny muscle biopsy or a few milliliters of blood. We bring that to the lab, and our laboratory technicians will essentially take that tissue, rupture the cellular membranes and then the nuclear membranes and purify what we call the mRNA, or the transcripts, that are located within the nucleus. We make sure that transcript, or a total RNA, is of super high quality and purity because these assays are so precise. We have high standards for what we can use.

                                       And then we use a commercially available DNA microarray. And what that allows us to do is profile. It has probes for each gene on the animal's genome — for example in the case of a chicken, it has something like 18,000 probes — and that allows us to measure whether the mRNA, or the transcript, for each of those genes has been increased or decreased in response to the nutrient that we fed.

                                       At the end, we get a long spreadsheet that says gene A is increased, gene B unchanged, gene C is decreased.

                                       Then the tough part comes, and that is the data analysis. So, we have all of these data points — you’re talking about thousands — and it is sort of like taking one of those huge puzzles. If you took that box of puzzle pieces and threw it on the ground, you would just have a giant mess, right? When I get that Excel spreadsheet of thousands of rows and columns, that’s what it’s like, essentially. So, we need help to try to piece those puzzle pieces together. If we took one piece out, we might find a corner and that's really important. Just like if I look at that spreadsheet, I might find a gene that's very important, that's very highly increased or decreased. That's a starting point.

                                    What we really need to do to see the big picture is piece those puzzle pieces together. We use what we call bioinformatics — essentially biological statistics — and we use software programs that say, okay, these 100 genes are related, they all have a common biological function, and based on their activity, we predict that biological function to increase or decrease. And that helps us make sense of this information.

                                    So, just like piecing those puzzle pieces together, we get that big picture of what's going on inside an animal that results in what we're seeing on the outside like improved growth, or improved feed efficiency, or improved markers of health.

Tom:                            I'm under the impression that the “Holy Grail” for you would be to find and establish a link between nutritional genomics approaches and applied nutritional research. Can you explain?

Kristen:                        Sure. The ultimate goal, at least in my view, for nutrigenomics is when we do traditional nutrition studies, we take an experimental diet, we feed it to an animal and we look at a phenotypic output. So, what do we see in the whole animal? That might be body weight change, growth rates, feed efficiency — things we can measure in the whole cow or by just looking at the animal. We might look at blood markers, stuff like that. What often is lacking and what we can use nutrigenomics for is, how do we get from point A to point B? How do we get from feeding this diet to the response in the whole animal?

                                       What nutrigenomics gives us is a tool to look at a molecular reason for those changes. We can use nutrigenomics to figure out, are we affecting energy expenditure in the cell? Are we affecting protein translation in the muscle? Things like this can help us explain what we're seeing in that animal instead of just guessing on how something works.

Tom:                            Does this technology, nutrigenomics, reduce our reliance on large-scale animal studies, and is it less invasive than the traditional approach?

Kristen:                        I think so. When we do these studies, we can work with a much smaller number (of animals) per treatment. So, where you might need hundreds of animals to get, say, carcass quality measurements that are significant, we can use six or 10 animals per treatment and still get some of the same information that would explain why we see changes in a large animal. Obviously, they're complementary, but we use this technology to minimize the number of animals we need per treatment.

                                      The other advantage is the obtaining of samples. We don't need a whole kilo of skeletal muscle to do our analysis. We need a tiny amount. So, that really is noninvasive. We can use a simple blood draw that is noninvasive and get this information out of that.

Tom:                            The 21^st century farm is a changed place compared with that of the previous century. A big reason for that is the arrival of a lot of science, technology and big data. If we were to take your science, nutrigenomics, out of the laboratory and into the farm, how would producers use what you've learned?

Kristen:                        I think one of the major ways they can use it is precision nutrition — really formulating diets to meet the actual needs of an animal. And also to understand the form versus function of different nutrients. So, how do we get the best that we can get out of an animal through nutrition? Nutrigenomics gives us that tool to understand how.

Tom:                            To carry that further, beyond helping to determine what will work for an animal's genetic type, is nutrigenomics helping explain why we need to find what works for a given animal?

Kristen:                        Absolutely. And I think it really helps push the idea of precision behind nutrition. For so long, we've overfed nutrients. We haven't really paid attention to form versus function. Nutrigenomics is giving us reasons why form is so important in nutrients, and why precise levels are important. We're taking the guessing game out of animal nutrition.

                                       I think as our population grows and the need for food continues to increase, that really optimizing nutrition based on an animal’s genetic potential is going to be really, really important.

Tom:                            How can this genomic information help us better understand nutrition and nutrient science?

Kristen:                        That’s a great question. This gives us a good understanding of the hidden effects of nutrition — the things that we don't really understand; why we see the changes. Why are we seeing increased energy efficiency with different forms of selenium, for instance? If we just look at our traditional nutrition research, we have no idea. But we use nutrigenomics to say, “Okay, well, the genes that control, say, mitochondrial growth in the skeletal muscle in the animals are turned on by Sel-Plex, and that explains why we see changes in energy expenditure.”

                                       That’s the type of stuff that we can get through traditional animal nutrition research, and nutrigenomics really helps push that information ahead and gives us a better understanding of how nutrients function — things that we can't see by just looking at an animal.

Tom:                            One final question: Among the things that you're working on right now, what really interests you and excites you?

Kristen:                        Everything, as a true scientist! One of the areas that I'm completely fascinated by, and have been for years — and we've done quite a bit of work on it, but it's just something that I start to think about and almost gives me a headache — is the idea of nutritional programming. This is the concept of how early life nutrition — whether that's in a neonatal animal or even in the gestating diet, looking at offspring — how nutrition early in life influences an animal throughout its lifespan.

                                    We've done a lot of work to look at some of the things that happen, like gene expression changes that occur. When we change the diet of an animal in the first 96 hours of life, those patterns and the changes stay with that animal throughout its lifespan, and that completely fascinates me.

                                       I think that's an application that is something that can be applied through all different species of animals, whether that’s livestock or even humans. We think about how you are what you eat, but you're also what your mother ate and what her mother ate and then maybe what her dad ate. It starts to really fascinate you. So, that’s probably one the most exciting areas that we work on.

Tom:                            Dr. Kristen Brennan is a research project manager at the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Thank you for joining us.

Kristen:                        Thank you.

Looking for more information on the science and business of agriculture? Click here. 

Storm Emma has hit Ireland and the United Kingdom with blizzard conditions overnight. Temperatures have plummeted, and snowmen are popping up around the countryside. No matter where in the world you might be having a snow day, looking after calves properly in a winter wonderland will ensure growth rates do not decline.

Remember: The heifer calf is the future of the dairy herd and will determine the potential future production of the herd, no matter what the weather! During this cold spell, calf management should be a priority on-farm.

The InTouch Calf Programme offers focuses on four key areas for healthy growth in cold weather, including:

1. Colostrum
2. Early nutrition and energy intake
3. Environment
4. Immunity

1. Colostrum

We only have one opportunity to maximise the benefits a calf receives from colostrum. Colostrum is a nutrient-rich material containing immunoglobulins (antibodies) that are necessary for the newborn calf. A calf’s immune system is not fully functional until 1 to 2 months of age, so calves are dependent on the passive transfer of antibodies from the cow to protect them until this time.

The ability to absorb colostrum is at its highest in the first hour after birth and ceases at 24 hours. It is important, especially during cold weather, to bottle feed or stomach tube feed at least 3 litres of colostrum and give a second feeding eight hours later before transitioning to milk or calf milk replacer.

2. Early nutrition

Milk

In order to maintain growth and achieve a target of up to 0.6 kilograms of weight gain per day, aim to feed 15 percent of bodyweight (for a 40-kilogram calf, this equals 6 litres of milk per day). Calves require approximately 325 grams of milk solids for maintenance in thermoneutral temperatures. Calves weighing 40 kilograms on 4 litres of milk per day (which is 10 percent of their bodyweight) can achieve 200 grams of growth per day. However, calves weighing more than 40 kilograms will struggle to maintain weight on this amount. Milk replacer has lower fat and energy content, and a larger volume is therefore needed.

Calf milk replacer

When mixing milk powder, always remember that it takes 125 grams of powder to make up to 1 litre of milk replacer, not 125 grams of powder added to 1 litre of water. Milk replacer should be matched to growth targets.

In cold weather, milk solids should be increased 100 grams per day for every 10 degrees that the temperature drops below 20 degrees. Milk can be fed more frequently and at higher concentrations.

Calves require more milk for maintenance in cold weather. The thermoneutral zone for calves less than 3 weeks of age is 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. For calves that are older, the low critical temperature is 5 degrees Celsius. Every degree below 10 degrees Celsius requires 2 percent more energy in the newborn calf; a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius requires 20 percent more feed.

Fat content in calf milk replacer can be increased 2 to 3 percent in cold weather. Below freezing, daily energy requirements can increase by up to 30 percent. Draughts or wind chill can exacerbate this and will have the same effect as a drop in temperature.

Water

Ensure water troughs are not frozen. Water should always be freely available for calves in addition to the water that is consumed through liquid milk feeding.

3. Environment

Environment is a crucial factor in cold weather. Rest and space are a priority for calves, as they spend 80 percent of their time lying down.

Housing

Ensure calves are comfortable in their environment, with plentiful dry bedding and shelter from draughts and breezes. Thermal calf jackets can be a very useful addition to keep calves warm and maintain body heat. If calves are huddling in corners of the pen, adjust shelter accordingly and use bales to create shelter corners in the pen if necessary. Pen or group changes should be kept to a minimum to reduce stress.

4. Immunity

Adequate colostrum, as explained above, clean calving areas and a well-ventilated, hygienic calf shed environment will go far in preventing scours and respiratory diseases, along with using correct vaccinations.

Have a question or comment?

There's no average cow, says Jay Johnston of Fermentrics Technologies, so it's time for us to marry today's science to old-fashioned cow sense and observation.

Discussion topics to include increasing milk’s market value, robotics on the farm and feeding organic trace minerals

Register before March 31 at one.alltech.com for savings of $400

[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE18), held May 20–22 in Lexington, Kentucky, will provide dairy producers with a unique opportunity to participate in a global conversation about the innovations, challenges and solutions facing their industry. Focus sessions designed to educate and inspire will allow producers to gather insights from leading dairy experts and exchange ideas with peers from around the globe.

ONE18 dairy topics:

• Get More From Your Milk: Increasing Milk Value

What can the dairy industry do to strengthen milk’s position in the market? From organic varieties to cheese, milk has the potential to create new opportunities all along the food chain.

• Why Does Organic Matter?

Feeding trace minerals in organic form has been proven to increase uptake and achieve a greater response than inorganic trace minerals. As we continue to seek better performance in dairy cows, can we explore new ideas for delivering nutrition more efficiently?

• A Voice for Agriculture

Dairy farming has changed considerably in the last 20 years, but consumer perception of the industry has not adjusted accordingly. What does it mean to be an “agvocate,” and how can we effectively educate the public about our passion to provide a safe product with healthy, happy cows?

• Robotics on the Farm

Are we ready to embrace the inevitable change as today's farm goes robotic? How will you implement the next idea at your dairy operation? Hear how to prepare today for the technology of tomorrow.

• Digital Detox: Data to Ensure a Safe, Healthy and Sustainable Food Chain

Our farms are being invaded by connected instruments and devices that make up “the internet of things." What technologies will ensure our daily meal?

• Bytes: Tech That Feeds Us

Stakeholders in our food supply chain are becoming inextricably linked, blurring the lines between science, farming, food and retail. Let's imagine how the food chain will link in the future.

*Topics subject to change as the schedule evolves.

Now in its 34^th year, Alltech’s conference is attended annually by nearly 4,000 people from over 70 countries. Whether producers are navigating a fundamental change within the dairy industry or just need a little inspiration, they’ll learn about real-world opportunities and solutions at ONE18.

Learn more and register at one.alltech.com for a savings of $400 before March 31. Join the conversation with #ONE18 on Twitter, and follow the ONE18 Facebook event page for updates.

Big data is ready for the farm. But is the farm ready for big data?

84 percent of U.S. farmers who responded to a recent Stratus Ag Research survey said they have high-tech equipment that captures reams of data from livestock, planting, harvesting or crop protection operations. Yet, only 42 percent of them are transferring this information to a field data management software program for further analysis. 

The question is: How can producers harness all of this information to drive efficiency and profitability once it has been collected?

KEENAN, a technological entrepreneur of diet feeders, stepped up to this challenge by expanding into farm data analysis with InTouch technology, which delivers solutions on-farm in real time.

“We've been involved with the internet of things (IoT) since about 2011,” said Conan Condon, director of KEENAN’s InTouch system. “At that stage, there wasn't much connectivity. There were about 12 million connected devices. Today, there are about 6.4 billion connected devices.” 

At present, more than 2,000 livestock operations, ranging in size from tens to thousands of cows, use the InTouch system, a live review and support service that helps producers apply actionable intelligence to their operations, giving them the benefit of KEENAN’s access to data on more than 1.3 million monitored cows.

InTouch technology: Acting on data today

KEENAN InTouch is a simple, cloud-based communications platform that offers real-time performance monitoring. The system allows for all feed ingredients to be added to the diet feeder in consistent orders and ratios, thereby promoting feeding consistency and improving livestock performance and profitability.  

​

Producers are looking for easy alternatives to interpreting and actioning data. InTouch supports that process, as data is automatically transferred and received after completion of every load. Not only are paperwork and time delays eliminated, but the InTouch platform also allows for instant feedback. This means that producers can make informed decisions on maintaining and/or improving ration accuracy, consistency and presentation, thereby maximizing livestock performance. InTouch can also incorporate data from other herd management software programs and services such as the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, resulting in better quality analysis. 

Convenience is also a key feature of InTouch. Ration changes can be made from a computer or smartphone, through the InTouch customer service center or programmed directly to the KEENAN diet feeder. Nutritionists can also send ration changes directly to the weigh scale on the diet feeder.

The pre-self-loading order and mixing time takes the guesswork out of loading accuracy, suggesting a mixing order based on type, length of cut and moisture levels of the ingredients. It also calculates the required number of mixing revolutions needed to maximize effective fiber and delivers a consistent, uniform mix, based on 17 years of data gathered from farms all around the world.

To maximize profits for producers, InTouch’s support services help them monitor everything from feed costs and diet feeder performance to proper inclusion rate accuracy in order to maximize profits. Daily, monthly and annual performance reports for feed efficiency, the cost to produce 100 pounds of milk, profit margin per cow and production trends are automatically produced. This means no more combing through data or handwritten notes to find patterns that might unlock efficiency — using InTouch, farm consultants can generate benchmark summary reports that can reveal management practices to improve livestock performance and profitability.

The MechFiber difference

Based on years of data from more than 1 million cows, KEENAN has developed a range of products tailored to the needs of farmers, including reel, self-propelled, vertical and static machines for small- to medium-sized farms and pro-mixers for high-volume feed manufacturing and larger farms. These machines are designed to improve rumen health, resulting in improved feed efficiency and livestock production.

They are durable and easy to maintain, with a low daily operating cost and stationary blades for controlled chopping. They have a simple drive system, with no gearbox required and they empty completely, so no ration ingredients intended for one group of animals are fed to another.

Each diet feeder has two chambers (mixing and dispensing) and, together with a six-paddle reel and patented fixed-knives system, is engineered to produce a consistent, uniform, fluffy mix called MechFiber, which is unique to KEENAN machines.

Independent trials have consistently shown that MechFiber retains the fiber structure needed to stimulate rumination, allowing greater absorption of energy and maximizing feed conversion efficiency.

​

KEENAN diet feeders produce consistent rations from as little as five percent capacity up to 22,000 pounds. They easily handle and deliver a consistent, uniform mix for smaller dry cows, post-fresh cows and heifer groups. KEENAN customers can purchase separate ingredients to prepare their own premixes.  

Additionally, the low-power requirement design saves up to 50 percent in fuel consumption and reduces tractor and KEENAN diet feeder maintenance costs. Larger, more expensive tractors are not required compared to equivalent capacity vertical mixers, as a 120-horsepower tractor will operate a 1,000-cubic-foot diet feeder at recommended speeds of 1,200–1,500 revolutions per minute.

KEENAN started manufacturing quality diet feeders with cutting-edge designs and technology in 1978. In 2016, Alltech acquired KEENAN and is re-establishing the diet feeder in the U.S. market with a fresh approach to innovation that builds on KEENAN’s strong reputation for quality and performance.

Manufactured in Borris, County Carlow in Ireland, KEENAN products are available for purchase in the U.S. For more information about KEENAN, visit www.keenansystem.com. 

Have a question or comment?

In recent years, there has been growing public concern about the welfare of livestock. Dairy farmers are, and should be, chief among those concerned about the well-being of their animals. Uncomfortable animals are not productive animals.

The first and best way to care for your herd is to reduce discomfort and stress caused by husbandry procedures, and this requires early recognition of any pain. Since cows do not communicate verbally, veterinarians and dairy producers have to pay close attention to changes in cow behavior. Teeth grinding, vocalizing, head pressing or, less frequently, colic behavior are clear signs of severe discomfort. Earlier identification of less severe behavioral changes in the cow will help detect illness, leading to better treatment options and improved health outcomes, including milk yield.         

In this video, Dr. Silivo Miranda explains his 5-minute facial assessment. To hear it in Spanish, click here.

Understanding cow discomfort by facial expression

We are developing new guides to facial expression to help farmers detect if their cows are experiencing pain. This program is based on identifying and recognizing specific features on the cow’s face. Cows change their facial expression when stressed, and this spontaneous facial expression is considered an innate response, which is very difficult to suppress.

With a little practice, this evaluation can be done quickly in five minutes, and the farmer, with help from his veterinarian, can decide if the cow needs treatment or not.

Nose: It is a good sign if she lets you get close to the nose. If the facial muscles are relaxed, it means she isn’t in pain.

Strained nostrils dilated with lines above the nostrils and tension of the facial muscle suggest pain. Also, an increase of tonus of the lips could indicate pain.

Eyes: A cow has incredible peripheral vision and relies on vision for many things, from navigating the barn to finding feed. That is why bright, clear eyes, free of any crusting, are important for a healthy cow. A stare/withdrawn appearance and tension of the muscles above the eyes that may be seen as “furrow lines” indicate pain.

Ears: Should be forward. If the ears are tense and backward or low, also called “lambs ears,” this might indicate discomfort or pain.

Pain evaluation is an essential tool to ensure animal welfare in the modern dairy industry. Remember, happy, pain-free cows mean more milk and better reproductive health.  

The pre-weaning growth of a dairy calf is a powerful predictor of long-term productivity and profitability. However, diarrhea is one of the most common antagonists resulting in poor digestion and less than optimal weight gain in calves.

A unique product derived from a selected strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to enhance performance, including intake, growth and overall health, by improving gut health and digestive function.

A recent meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Anna Catharina Berge of Berge Veterinary Consulting BVBA has put Alltech’s product, Bio-Mos®, to the test.

Berge’s trials revealed that pre-weaned dairy calves fed Bio-Mos in milk or milk replacer had significantly improved average daily gain by an estimated 0.14 pounds per head per day, which corresponds to an 8.37-pound higher weight on average for calves weaned at two months of age. The long-term improved performance in heifers with enhanced pre-weaning growth would be equivalent to 220 pounds more milk in the first lactation!

“The results are a significant improvement in average daily weight gain,” said Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech. “This improvement leads to greater returns for the producer through enhanced milk production, health and development, and long-term productivity.”

The meta-analysis included 23 cohort studies performed in the U.S.A., the United Kingdom, Brazil, Chile, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, Peru, Poland, Spain and Turkey between 1993 and 2012. Bio-Mos was supplemented from 2–10 grams per day, with an average inclusion of 3.8 grams per day. Twenty-one of the studies reported an increase in daily weight gain for calves fed Bio-Mos in milk or milk replacer compared to control calves.

As new restrictions come into play on antibiotic use, producers across the globe are beginning to take a closer look at natural approaches to improve animal health and performance. Choosing an alternative that is backed by substantial research is a sure bet for a smart start on any dairy operation.

For more information on Bio-Mos, visit http://alltech.com/bio-mos.

Silage samples from across the U.S., Canada and Europe have shown high levels of mycotoxins, according to the Alltech 2017 Harvest Analysis. The high reading comes on the heels of similar findings in 2016.

As the name implies, mycotoxins are toxic. They can negatively affect the health of animals if contaminated feedstuffs are ingested. The symptoms can be many and varied, but the outcome in all cases will be reduced performance and lost profits.

Produced by certain molds, more than 500 mycotoxins have been discovered to date. Each affects the animal or human in a certain way. Some mycotoxins are carcinogenic, neurotoxic and immunosuppressive.

Climate change and feed storage practices are starting to influence the range of molds occurring in farm feedstocks. And with traditional tilling and crop rotation practices diminishing in many developed countries, mold contamination is persisting year-on-year, making the multiple mycotoxin threat very real.

U.S. sampling shows high mycotoxin count

Samples from American farms submitted to the Alltech 37+^® mycotoxin analytical services laboratory in Kentucky between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, 2017, show that grains contained mixtures of mycotoxins, including deoxynivalenol (DON), fusaric acid and fumonisin.

Fumonisin is commonly found in corn at levels of 2 parts per million (ppm) or less, but this year, testing has confirmed levels well above 30 ppm, and some above 100 ppm.

Forages such as corn silage, barlage and haylage samples also contained multiple mycotoxins in 2017, including DON, fusaric acid, type A trichothecenes (T-2) and fumonisin.

“It’s particularly high right now,” said Dr. Max Hawkins, nutritionist with the Alltech^® Mycotoxin Management team. “In the Wisconsin-Minnesota area, we’re about seven-tenths of a mycotoxin-per-sample higher than a year ago. More of the samples we’re seeing have the mycotoxins in them, and the major toxins that are present are four to five times higher than they were a year ago.”

The Canadian findings are much the same

Samples submitted for the Alltech 2017 Canadian Harvest Analysis indicated high levels of DON and zearalenone (ZEA) in grain and forage.

Submitted between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, 2017, the samples show that grains contained mixtures of mycotoxins, including DON and ZEA. Forages such as corn silage, barlage and haylage samples also contained multiple mycotoxins in 2017, particularly from mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species of molds, such as DON, ZEA and T-2/HT-2 toxins.

Mycotoxin risk levels high in Europe, as well

The Alltech 37+ lab in Dunboyne, Ireland, analyzed samples of wheat, barley, corn, corn silage and grass silage submitted from across Europe. The grain crops are showing risk levels of trichothecenes from DON and T-2 to swine. Silages are showing risk levels of not only DON and T-2, but also high levels of Penicillium and, to a lesser degree, aflatoxin, according to Alltech’s 2017 European Summer Harvest Analysis.

What’s causing this?

Weather conditions can be a major influence.

“Some areas have seen record levels of rain, some areas are experiencing record drought conditions,” Dr. Alexandra Weaver, Alltech Mycotoxin Management technical specialist, said of the European findings. “That’s going to play a big role in the level of mycotoxins you see as well as what types of mycotoxins.”

Weather factors are also suspected in the United States.

“A lot of areas have gone through a cool, wet summer, and cool, wet weather is the preferred environment for Fusarium mold,” said Hawkins. “Fusarium is the mold that produces DON, T-2, ZEA and fusaric acid. Those are the mycotoxins that can become very problematic, and they already appear to be very problematic this year in the corn silage crop.”

Higher levels of mycotoxins appear to be a lingering legacy of the havoc Hurricane Harvey delivered to the Texas Gulf Coast in mid-August.

“In Texas, we have really dramatically high levels of fumonisin,” said Hawkins. “You can track it northward from where that rainfall came up from the Gulf and across the Texas panhandle into Kansas and Nebraska. The levels of fumonisin will begin to decrease, but they’re still much higher than we would typically see in those areas.”

Weather’s important, but there are other factors

While weather is linked to the higher mycotoxin rates of recent years, Weaver suggested that other important factors are contributing to the scope of the findings, including better detection methods as well as increased awareness among farmers.

“We have better ability to test for these toxins now; different agronomic practices play a role — the idea of ‘no-till’ versus ‘till’ has an influence; the use of fungicides may have an influence,” she said. “So there are things that play into this whole topic rather than just the weather, but certainly weather events with excess moisture are going to have a big impact.”

Watching for co-occurrence of mycotoxins

The Alltech 37+ analysis examines over 40 individual mycotoxins in minute levels: parts per billion. The laboratories are especially vigilant for samples containing more than one type of mycotoxin.

“We have a fairly thorough understanding of the additive effects of mycotoxins,” said Hawkins. “But many mycotoxins can have synergistic effects for DON and for fusaric acid. When you have those two together in the same feed or the same ingredient, one plus one does not necessarily equal two. One plus one may equal three, four or five in terms of magnified or synergistic effects.”

Mycotoxins present researchers with challenging paradoxes. Feeding multiple mycotoxins at low levels can be as detrimental or worse than feeding one mycotoxin at a high level, explained Hawkins. One mold species may produce many different mycotoxins, and several species may produce the same mycotoxin.

Hawkins wants people to be aware of multiple mycotoxins and the risk that they present.

“As you make more complex feeds with more ingredients, you’re bringing more and different combinations of mycotoxins into one place, where the animal will have the opportunity to consume it, so the opportunity for risk goes up,” he said.

Helping farmers gain the advantage

The Alltech^® RAPIREAD^TM  tool delivers an integrated system of tools and technologies to the farm to enable quick on-site analysis.

“It’s a handheld lateral-flow device,” explained Hawkins. “We can take samples on-farm for feed ingredients — corn, grain, distillers grains, corn silage — and we don’t check for a broad array of toxins, we’re looking for one, two or three toxins that could be on a very problematic level.

“So, for example, if we’re in Texas, we might be checking corn grain for high fumonisin levels; if we’re in Wisconsin, we might be checking corn silage for high DON or high T-2 levels,” he continued. “And we can give them that answer on the spot within 10 to 20 minutes.”

Based on the information produced by RAPIREAD, the Alltech team can put together a basic management program to help the farmer mitigate the risk of animals going through a period of stress or suffering.

“When the analysis comes back showing extremely high levels of mycotoxins in corn silage — to the point that they didn’t think that they would be able to feed that corn silage — the Alltech team can show them how they can continue to feed the silage they’ve invested in,” said Hawkins. “Alltech puts together a program, monitoring and tweaking as they go along. We can show them that, if they manage it properly in the right program setting, they can still use a feed that has mycotoxins present.”

Alltech^® MIKO, a program based on HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), identifies the mycotoxin risks within a farm or feed mill and creates a plan to minimize the risks to the animal and protect the profitability of operations.

Alltech’s Mycosorb A+^® reduces the threat of mycotoxins in animal feed. The technology reduces mycotoxin absorption within the animal, negating the damaging effects of mycotoxins on its health.

“Farmers should carefully consider if and how feed with mycotoxins is used,” cautioned Weaver. “Even minimal changes in feed quality can have a big impact on an animal’s production over time.”

Effective mycotoxin management is about seeing the whole challenge, from the farm to feed mill and from risk assessment to feed management.

The Alltech Mycotoxin Management team has produced a number of species-specific fact sheets, which explain the impact of mycotoxins.

For more information about mycotoxins and to view a collection of case studies, visit knowmycotoxins.com.

[GREEN BAY, Wis.] – More than 220 dairy farmers, nutritionists and industry professionals gathered at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, on Nov. 30 to discuss preparing for the next generation of dairy farming. The theme of the event was “Traditions That Last: Finding Your Team’s Competitive Advantage.”

The day kicked off with a pre-conference breakfast, during which three dairy producers and one industry professional from the Midwest shared how they use technology within their operations:

• Zoey Brooks of Brooks Farms presented on the advantages of the operation’s automatic calf feeder barn. This automated system has resulted in healthier calves and provides opportunities for public education and a youth apprenticeship program. 
• Craig Fietzer of Fietzer Farms discussed the collar-mounted cow identification, rumination and activity tracking sensors used on his dairy. The data from these sensors is used to determine the best times to breed each cow, resulting in improved labor efficiency on the farm.
• Craig Finke of Finke Farm spoke on his farm’s automated feeding system, which delivers fresh feed six times a day. Feeding and milking automation systems allow him to spend more time with his cows in a herd management capacity.
• Jack Hippen, North American and European Sales Director of STgenetics, shared how sexing technology and genomic testing allow for production of higher-value products and services.

Dr. Bob James, owner of Down Home Heifer Solutions and professor emeritus in the dairy science department at Virginia Tech, opened the main conference, speaking on strategies to care for calves and heifers. He encouraged the audience to adopt new technologies that can improve calf care, calf health and labor management.

Dr. Roger Hagevoort of New Mexico State University’s Agriculture Science Center focused on how best to train the next generation of farm workers. He encouraged producers to work with third-party resources such as extension and industry organizations to provide the necessary training. Hagevoort stressed the importance of hands-on training and having managers spend time with their on-farm employees.

Robert Walker, CEO of KEENAN, closed out the morning session with a discussion on how technology is disrupting agriculture worldwide. Walker explained that agriculture is in the midst of a technological revolution that will disrupt current business models.

The afternoon continued with Dr. Roger Scaletti, who supports the Alltech^® Mineral Management team, addressing the crowd on mineral use in the diet to capture more profits. Scaletti provided research results indicating that the inclusion of organic trace minerals such as those in Bioplex^® and Sel-Plex^® improves milk production and the transfer of immunity from cow to calf as well as increasing heifer performance.

Carl Babler concluded the main conference with a market update. He shared his insights on the future of the dairy market in the Midwest, the United States and the world. According to Babler, the United States is positioned to be the animal protein provider of the world, and dairy products will play a factor in this position. There is a need for dairy producers who produce milk as a product and milk as a commodity, but it is important for operations to determine to which group they belong.

Larry McCarren, former Green Bay Packer and current host of “The Mike McCarthy Show,” then shared insight into past and current Packers team members, and how the team’s veteran players take it upon themselves to guide rookie players on how to be successful in Green Bay both on and off the field.  

Held each year in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Alltech Wisconsin Dairy School is a long-standing tradition within the Wisconsin dairy industry. More than 2,700 dairy industry professionals have attended since it was first held in 2003.