Nutritional Guidelines or Supplementing Cow/Calf Operations
thereof) varies wildly from year to year and to meet all amino acid requirement. season to season. Forages are not completely There are specific microbes that can devoid of nutrients during dormancy or digest fiber and very different species of droughts, but cattle will require access to microbes that digest grain. The proper enviadditional nutrients to meet their require- ronment in the rumen is very different for ments for growth, reproduction, and forage-based diets vs. grain-based diets, immunity. which makes feeding rations containing Following are some basic guidelines to both forage and grain a complicated process. remember when selecting nutrients to sup- Rumens and humans do not like change. plement on forage-based cattle operations. When we change the rumen’s diet from A rumen lacking sufficient energy, forage to grain, it takes time and expertise protein, or minerals is an environment to make this transition. where fibro lytic bacteria merely “hang on.” Fiber digesting bacteria, unlike the starch They do not turnover (reproduce) at a rate digesting bacteria (which require only optimal for both fiber digestion and bacterial ammonia or non-protein nitrogen), need protein production. Proper supplementation traces of ammonia plus amino acids, pepchanges this dynamic. tides, and intact proteins to grow and Let’s pause for a minute to add a very reproduce. When they “grow and reproduce”, quick reminder on the physiology (and com- they will produce the (volatile) fatty acids plexity) of the grazing ruminant. Each drop (VFA) that are the major energy source for a of rumen fluid contains millions of fiber grazing ruminant. If one increases the digesting microbes. There are about 20 drops growth and reproduction of rumen organin one milliliter, a thousand milliliters in one isms via supplementation, you in turn liter and just less than four liters in a gallon. increase the energy (VFA) and protein (bacFor a cow with a 50-gallon rumen, that’s a terial) available to the animal for growth, pile of microbes. reproduction, and immunity. We, as cattlemen, are microbiologists first. Natural protein sources, degradable in Initially we feed the rumen microbes which the rumen, are absolutely required. Corn then in turn feed the animal. Rumen fer- co-products, like DDGS and Corn Gluten mentation by these microbes produces both Feed, are good energy sources (highly digestenergy for the animal and bacterial protein ible fiber plus some fat) but are not great
by Gary Sides, Ph.D. and Blaine Corners, Ph.D., Zoetis Technical Service nutritionists
D
etermining the proper and effective supplementation of forages is one of the keys to ranch survival, especially in an economy like the present. The temptation to find something cheap to feed is a powerful temptation. Even seasoned producers will find and buy an ingredient that has little to no feeding value, and in some cases, will even make things worse. As nutritionists, we have a greater fear of buying an ingredient that is moderately, or even premium priced, but carries a nutritional aspect that will damage or reduce fiber digestion. In that case, we might as well have sent them to the Texas Panhandle to be grown on flaked corn. Forages in the Western United States, during a typical year, are wildly variable in minerals, energy, and protein. To further complicate things, our rainfall (and/or lack
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