Producers urged to optimise nutrition to prevent lameness
There’s a identified link between nutrition and lameness…
Rumisaf
Last year, dairy Farmer David Walker, was concerned about milk yields and fertility performance, but couldn't get to the bottom of what was causing the issue with his herd.
"The support we've had from Advanced Nutrition has been fantastic and we will continue to focus on growing high quality forages and using as much home grown forage as we can"
David Walker - High Woodifield Farm
Last year, dairy Farmer David Walker, was concerned about milk yields and fertility performance, but couldn't get to the bottom of what was causing the issue with his herd. Forage quality was excellent and yet the cows were not performing to their potential and the calving intervals were slipping.
Working with Debby over the past year, these issues have been turned on their head, using a "whole farm approach". Looking at the farm's management system, Debby investigated forages, purchased feeds, cow health and all other inputs into the business. Bottlenecks were identified and a strategy produced to increase efficiencies on farm.
Results after a year
| Feb 2012 | Feb 2013 | |
| Litres/cow | 25 litres | 27.5 litres |
| 305 day average | 7,625 | 8,390 |
| Calving to conception | 137 | 110 |
| Calving to 1st service | Reduced by 11 days | |
David has high quality home grown forages, but we suspected they could be leading to rumen acidosis. Straw and rumen buffers were added to the diet as the silage was felt to be too powerful. Straw was increased gradually to 4kg per cow per day where the milk peaked, to try and control rumen acidity.
Rumisaf contains protected live yeast, easy to use through a mixer wagon. David fed the double recommended rate for 3 weeks which had a huge impact - improvements were visible within a couple of weeks. He then fed at the recommended rate of 50g/cow/day to maintain the benefits.
The 110-cow herd, milked at High Woodifield far, near Crook in County Durham, were fed a TMR ration comprising grass silage, wholecrop silage, Alkagrain, as well as rolled barley, sugar beet pulp and molasses. Feed is topped up to yield in the parlour.
The positive impact that Rumisaf made was reinforced for David when he inadvertently ran out of the product. "We had three days when we didn't include Rumisaf in the ration as we'd run out and cows just crashed - yields went down by 2-3 litres/cow/day and were only restored when we put the rumisaf back in - that gave me confidence that it was having a big effect," David explained. As well as having an impact on milk output, fertility has also improved, with calving to conception down from 137 days to 110 days since Rumisaf was introduced, and calving to first service down by 11 days. "We still have some way to go with our fertility, as you can't change things overnight, but we are definitely moving in the right direction," said David.
And, he is so convinced of the benefits of Rumisaf, that he has also started feeding a tailored farm pack to his dry cows. "We used to find that cows went a bit loose and 'hollow' after calving when they joined the highs but now they don't seem to go back".
Based on current performance, milk yields are expected to be running at nearly 10,000 litres for a 305 day average and milk quality is good at 4.1% butterfat and 3.15% protein. David doesn't see himself making any changes in the near future. "The support we've had from Advanced Nutrition has been fantastic and we will continue to focus on growing high quality forages and using as much home grown forage as we can," he concluded.
Rumisaf Farm Pack
The Farm Pack contains Actisaf Sc47 live yeast and should be fed to dairy cows and beef cattle at 50 grams per head per day. 50 grams of Rumisaf provides 75 billion CFU's per day.
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