Smart Science Series™ Ruminant Podcasts

Soon – perhaps before the end of 2023 – we will see the release of CNCPS version 7. This much anticipated update will include many enhancements which should enable dairy producers and their nutritionists to formulate better diets that will improve dairy productivity and profitability.    This webinar will discuss CNCPS and the update to version 7 with Dr. Mike Van Amburgh and Dr. Andrew LaPierre f...

As the dairy industry actively works to reduce its contribution to climate change, a number of avenues are being pursued. While methane mitigation is grabbing the headlines today, one very important avenue is flying under the radar:  improving the efficiency of use of dietary nitrogen in ruminant rations. The end goal is to reduce nitrogen excretion into the environment by:    ·       Reducing cru...

The objective of this webinar is to create awareness of how different events that happen throughout the lactation cycle impact the herd’s make-up and affect the overall economics of the dairy.  Estimating the long-term effects of non-contemporary events is not an easy task considering all the moving parts happening daily at any given dairy.  This is why Dr. Cabrera has developed multiple tools to...

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison examined the effects on cow-calf performance when heat-stressed transition cows received supplemental RPM.  Fifty-three cows were fed either a control diet or a control diet with Smartamine M beginning six weeks before expected calving. Four weeks pre-calving all methionine cows and half the control cows received an electric heat blanket. The ot...

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison examined the beneficial effects of supplemental RPM during transition for dairy cows that were exposed to heat stress.   Cows were blocked by parity and milk production, and were assigned to either thermoneutral conditions, heat stress induced by electric heat blankets, or heat stress along with the inclusion of RPM in the total mixed ration pre...

Researchers at Virginia Tech assessed molecular changes in the livers of cows supplemented with methionine during solely a subclinical mastitis challenge. The trial was designed to determine the metabolic response of cows fed Smartamine M and that had been infected by infusing Streptococcus uberis in the rear right quarter of the mammary gland.  Thirty-two multiparous Holstein cows were enrolled i...

Abstract 1: Amino acid supplementation as a potential strategy to mitigate milk fat depression   Researchers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison also evaluated if they could help promote milk fat synthesis by supplying methionine and leucine during a milk fat depression that was induced by feeding dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids.  Supplying methionine and leucine in the diet has been obse...

Abstract 1: METHIONINE AND FATTY ACID SUPPLEMENTATION ON MILK N3FA PERCENT AND YIELD    Researchers from Cornell University investigated the effects of feeding RPM and calcium salts of fatty acids enriched with or without eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; i.e., n3FA) in transition cows.   Supplying methionine to dairy cows has been observed to improve milk fat production....

This webinar links nutrition with dairy health and reproduction.  Health, particularly after calving, impacts reproductive outcomes two-to-four months later.  Poor health and reproductive performance can each lead to undesirable cullings.     The challenge is to connect these two maladies. They don’t occur at the same time, so few people make the connection between them. During the webinar, the sp...

This webinar gives you an appreciation for the science behind the indexes (LFI, LAI, PIRI) used to gauge the liver health of cows during the transition period. The discussion includes how to use and interpret the indexes, and their importance in guiding management practices. The conversation closes with why it is important to assure that the pre-fresh diet contains enough methionine to help cows c...

This webinar will give you an appreciation for the history of the science behind amino acid (AA) balancing, the amino acids of most importance, and what improvements to expect in milk yield, fat yield and protein yield when effectively achieving target levels of lysine and methionine.   Dr. Chuck Schwab’s Ph. D. work was the catalyst for the development of AA balancing as we know it today. The fir...

Maximizing the nutrient levels available from feedstuffs advances the cow’s nutritional status. To optimize rumen function, stimulate fiber digestion, and improve production, feed Nutri®-Ferm a unique natural fungal fermentation product. The resulting higher level of fiber digestibility and higher rates of digestion stimulate a balanced beneficial rumen microflora population for a higher microbial...

Even low levels of mycotoxins in rations increase dairy cow problems at transition. Mycotoxin contamination is associated with an increase in the incidences of ketosis, retained placentas, displaced abomasums, mastitis, metritis, lameness, elevated somatic cell counts and decreases in milk production. These invisible, tasteless and odorless toxins accumulate from crop production through feed produ...

An enhanced immune performance at transition is one of four ways in which vitamin A helps dairy cattle. The other three are enhanced respiratory, digestive, and reproductive performance. Vitamin A, an essential nutrient, is stored in the liver and released according to the needs of target organs. The world’s most bioavailable vitamin A product Microvit® A Supra Ruminant is stable in premixes and p...

During the transition period, dairy cows experience increased disease risk due to oxidative stress factors such as environmental stress (e.g., heat stress), nutrition, body condition score, disease challenge, obesity, and increased plasma NEFA concentrations. Oxidative stress is associated with diseases such as mastitis, acidosis, ketosis, enteritis, pneumonia along with respiratory diseases. It’s...

When the cows’ nutritional requirement for methionine, an essential amino acid, goes unanswered, the incidence of metabolic disease increases. A methionine shortage is also associated with low dry matter intake, lower-than-optimal milk and milk component levels, reduced reproductive performance, and an increase in involuntary cullings. Methionine is heavily involved in the metabolic pathways of da...

Researchers from Unesp, Jaboticabal, Brazil, sought to evaluate the effects of essential amino acids on de novo milk fat synthesis in bovine mammary epithelial cells. They noted that increased milk fat yield has been observed when dairy cows are supplemented with essential amino acids. Milk fat is one of the most important components considered in establishing milk price. The researchers exposed t...

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin – Madison hypothesized that glucogenic energy, by stimulating insulin secretion, may increase the effect of amino acids on the production of milk components. Using a Latin square design with four 28-d periods, they fed two energy sources — glucogenic (27.5% starch, 3.2% fatty acids) or ketogenic (20.0% starch, 5.8% fatty acids) — and two amino acid leve...

In a study led by South Dakota State University, researchers evaluated the effects of rumen-protected methionine (Smartamine® M) on lactation performance and liver glutathione of lactating dairy cows during a subclinical mastitis challenge. Cows either received a control diet or one supplemented with 0.09% rumen-protected methionine, and mastitis was induced in one quarter of each mammary gland. T...

Podcast only in Portuguese! Go to our website to have the english spoken video: https://www.adisseo.com/en/products/smartline/smart-science-series-ruminant-videos-and-podcasts/. Researchers at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil evaluated duodenal development of Holstein calves supplemented with 4 g/d of sodium butyrate (Adimix® Easy) at 15 and 30 days after birth. Intestinal villi length...

Cornell University researchers delivered two abstracts that investigated the effects of feeding rumen-protected methionine and calcium salts of fatty acids enriched with or without C20:5 and C22:6 (n3FA). For the studies, 79 multiparous Holstein cows were assigned to one of four treatments: (1) methionine unsupplemented with calcium salts of palm oil not enriched in n3FA, (2) methionine supplement...

Research from France evaluated the cradle-to-farmgate environmental performance of dairy production using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculations performed in the dairy module of the Animal Production Systems tool from Blonk Sustainability Tools. A theoretical methionine-balanced diet was simulated by substituting mainly soybean meal (typically imported into France) with cereals relative to the c...

European researchers described how the EU Project Dy+Milk investigated better efficiency of metabolizable protein use by reducing dietary metabolizable protein content through less use of soybean meal from Brazil and balancing the profile of digestible amino acids in diets for lactating cows. This investigation confirmed that better balancing methionine and lysine using rumen-protected amino acids...

Two studies were conducted to investigate amino acid requirements in sheep. The first study found that supplementation of rumen-protected methionine to high and low crude protein diets (14.8% and 16.6%) in Lacaune dairy ewes during early lactation did not alter intakes, milk yield or milk protein. Increasing crude protein also did not improve performance, but an excess metabolizable protein supply...

Researchers compared the effects of supplementing sodium butyrate, monensin, or both to post-weaned heifers. The addition of either additive conferred positive effects in terms of greater dry matter intake, body weights and lower coccidia oocysts compared to the use of no additive. Based on 2021 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) abstract:   P244 Sodium butyrate and monensin supplementation...