Podcasts about heifers

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. Dr. Laporta gives an overview of her presentation, focusing on the impact of heat stress during the dry period on the cow, her daughters and her granddaughters. She covers heat stress impacts on mammary gland involution, as well as fetal programming effects on the daughter and granddaughter. (3:37)Daughters of heat-stressed cows have fewer sweat glands located deeper in the skin, thicker skin and more sebaceous glands. This was observed at birth, weaning and puberty. They sweat more than heifers who weren't heat stressed in utero, but have higher rectal temperatures during the preweaning phase. Dr. Laporta hypothesizes that if those calves were exposed to additional stress, they would be more susceptible to illness because of the higher core temperature.  (6:34)The panel discusses heat stress impacts on male fetuses and the potential for epigenetic changes to be transmitted through semen. Dr. Gerloff asks about differences in the impacts of heat stress on first-calf heifers compared to older cows. Dr. Laporta describes the survival rates of heifers who were heat-stressed in utero. Heifers are lost from the herd even before first calving, with more following in first and second lactation.  (11:00)Dr. Laporta outlines the differences between heat-stressed and cooled treatments in her experiments. They measure respiration rates and rectal temperatures to assess the physiological impacts of heat stress in the cows. Scott asks how long the heat stress period needs to be in order to observe negative effects. Dr. Gerloff asks about calf mortality rates between the two groups. Dr. Laporta estimates a 12% death loss in the heat stress groups, who seem to be more susceptible to the usual calf illnesses. It appears that gut closure might occur earlier in heat-stressed calves - maybe even before birth, which does not bode well for their immune systems. (16:49)Dr. Laporta details how heat stress impacts mammary gland involution. Early in the dry period, you want a spike in cell death to build new cells for the next lactation. In heat-stressed cows, the spike in cell death early in the dry period is diminished, not allowing those cells to die. This results in less proliferation of the mammary gland, and the cow starts her next lactation with older cells that weren't renewed in full. Thus, producing less milk. Dr. Gerloff shares some of his experiences with heat stress in his area of Illinois. (22:17)Heat stress has negative impacts on other organs as well. Heifers who experienced heat stress in utero are born with larger adrenal glands with altered microstructure. Dr. Laporta describes some of the DNA methylation that has been observed in these heifers. The panel discusses whether the response would be similar for other types of stressors, like cold stress or social stress. (26:19)What can we do to mitigate these impacts? Cooling dry cows so they can thermoregulate during gestation is critical. Altering diets to account for heat stress is also an important strategy. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to “fix” cows who were exposed to heat stress in utero, but these negative implications can be prevented. Dr. Laporta has also focused on what she calls perinatal programming - after the calf is born, what can we do? She has been working to develop cooling mechanisms for calves and is interested in further investigating early life mammary development. (33:41)When a dry cow experiences heat stress, she has fewer and smaller alveoli. Daughters of those cows have smaller udders with altered tissue growth. Granddaughters of those cows have fewer estrogen receptors in their udders and negative impacts on mammary proliferation. (44:30)Panelists share their take-home thoughts. (47:52)Scott invites the audience to Bourbon and Brainiacs at ADSA in Louisville - a bourbon tasting with all your favorite professors! Sign up here: https://balchem.com/anh/bourbon/ (54:31)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. Dr. Grant gives an overview of his presentation at the conference, highlighting cow time budgets and the importance of natural cow behavior to health, welfare and productivity. The impacts of overcrowding, including rumen pH and de novo fatty acid synthesis, are a key component of his message. (7:07)Eating, resting and ruminating are the big three behaviors we've studied for decades. In addition to their obvious importance to cow welfare, they have a real health and performance effect. Dr. Grant suggests the recumbent rumination - just lying down and chewing her cud - is really the cow's superpower. Cows with the same rumination time who accomplish more while lying down have less subacute ruminal acidosis, greater dry matter intake, and higher fat and protein content in their milk. It all boils down to the balance between eating time and recumbent rumination time. (12:15)The panel discusses the definition of overcrowding. Spoiler alert: it depends. (15:50)Clay asks Rick if overcrowding of beds or feed bunks is more important. The easy answer is both, but Rick acknowledges he'd say beds if he were pushed for an answer. Resting is a yes or no; she's either lying down or she's not. From the feed bunk perspective, a cow can alter her behavior to a point for adjusting to overcrowding - eat faster, change her meal patterns, etc. A hungry cow will walk by the feed to recoup lost rest time. Cows should be comfortable enough to spend at least 90% of their rumination time lying down. (17:50)Dr. Grant thinks of overcrowding as a subclinical stressor. A cow has different “accounts” for different activities: lactation, health, reproduction, etc., as well as a reserve account. To combat the subclinical stress of overcrowding, a cow uses her reserve account, but that's hard to measure. If the reserve account gets depleted and another stressor comes along, the overcrowded pens are going to show greater impacts. The panel brainstormed ideas for how to better measure a cow's reserve account. (19:39)Clays asks if overcrowding is affecting culling rates. The panel assumes it has to be, though no one can point to a study. Dr. Grant notes there is data from France that shows decreased longevity in cows who don't get enough rest, which is a hallmark of overcrowding. Given the low heifer inventory, the panel muses if the industry ought to pay more attention to the culling impacts of overcrowding and have a more dynamic approach to evaluating stocking density as market and farm conditions shift. (25:10)Bill asks about nutritional and management strategies to reduce the stress of overcrowding. Rick notes that overcrowding tends to make the rumen a bit more touchy, so he talks about formulating diets with appropriate amounts of physically effective fiber, undigested NDF, rumen-fermentable starch, and particle size. (29:21)Dr. Grant talks about the differences in rumination when a cow is lying down versus standing. The panel discusses cow comfort, preferred stalls, and first-calf heifer behavior in mixed-age groups with and without overcrowding. Bill and Rick agree that having a separate pen for first-calf heifers on overcrowded farms would benefit those heifers. Dr. Michael comments on evaluating air flow and venting on-farm. (33:49)The panel wraps up the episode with their take-home thoughts. (47:55)Scott invites the audience to Bourbon and Brainiacs at ADSA in Louisville - a bourbon tasting with all your favorite professors! Sign up here: https://balchem.com/anh/bourbon/ (52:02)The paper referenced in this conversation from Dr. Bach can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030208711226Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

A listener shared a horrible Las Vegas movie, killing two hours of my day. Also, Hogs & Heifers is closing, downtown has a new Mexican restaurant... The post FHBM #963: Satan's Touch first appeared on Five Hundy By Midnight.

On Today's Menu:Opening chaos: Exploding water bottles, soggy notes, and John's retirement unraveling.Crudo Confessional: John's Italian seafood trip sparks a debate — true Crudo vs. Americanized ceviche.Burger Crawl Update: Final Four are locked — Delmonico, Mae Daly's, Peter Luger, and Nicco's. Who's ready to burger down?Closures Galore: Farewell to Hogs & Heifers, Chamana's Café, Mr. Chow, Cathédrale at Aria, and… Giada's?!New Openings: Pisces at Wynn stuns (and steals Ash's heart), plus Zaytiny by José Andrés, and Nudo Italiano in Southern Highlands.Where We've Been: Reviews of Pepper Club, Pisces, Chin Chin, Café Landwer, Bar Boheme (French-approved!), Eureka!, Monzù – Italian Oven + Bar, Laos Thai Street Food, & 00 Pie & Pub.Bread & Butter: Bar Boheme's sourdough croissant pull-apart bread? Life-changing.Pet Peeves Unleashed... Ash: Tap water ice in premium sparkling water — stop it. And plastic “cast iron” dishes — why tho?John: Pre-ground pepper in diners — a culinary tragedy since childhood.Sam: Paper table cloths on top of white linen table cloths. Booze Talk: Rum makes you happy, vodka makes you boring, and mezcal is just… no.Bonus Bites: Todd Avery Lenahan's luxe Pisces design, Greek family business warnings, and a teenager's podcast roast.Email us at cheers@eattalkrepeat.com: hate mail goes to John, praise goes to Ash, and Sam just wants his duck confit, thanks.Thanks for tuning into today's episode! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show, & make sure you leave us a 5-star review. Visit us at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eating Las Vegas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eat. Talk. Repeat.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on social:Twitter/X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatTalkRepeat⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatingLasVegas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AshTheAttorney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatTalkRepeatLV⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JohnCurtas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AshTheAttorney

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada, during the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. The panel is reviewing a presentation given by Dr. Rick Grant, who was unable to be on the podcast. The presentation was based on the idea that crowding is a subclinical presence. If you manage it with people and resources, a dairy can do very well. But if something happens in that crowded situation, like a disease or heat stress, it can tip performance over the edge. Evaluating time budgets for cows can allow for the identification of places to improve. Beds are vitally important. If a cow doesn't have a bed due to crowding then she's not lying down, chewing her cud, which is what allows her to be as efficient as possible. (3:19)Jason thinks about time budgets as a tool for managing stress. Jim agrees and notes that crowding is part of every cow's day, but we can manage to minimize that time in most instances. Jason and Jim talk about some of their approaches to evaluating crowding when they work with a dairy, and where pain points are often located. (5:57)Jason liked Dr. Grant's takeaway message that the cow doesn't necessarily care she's overcrowded as long as she has a bed she doesn't have to fight for and room at the feed bunk she doesn't have to fight for. He describes a very successful client who is overcrowded, but everything else is managed well. All other stressors have been removed, so the only stressor remaining is the overcrowding. But when additional stressors compound crowding, then dairies experience issues. He adds there is a huge opportunity for error when feeding to slick bunks in an overcrowding situation. (16:15)Jim talks about different measures of efficiency. Is it milk per cow, milk per free stall, milk per parlor stall, or milk per pen? He thinks the real answer is “it depends,” and the answer might be different for each dairy. Jason notes that the bank wants to see assets on a balance sheet, and the cows are the assets. (19:24)The group discusses geographical differences in overcrowding. Jim's observations show crowding increases as one moves east in the US. Tom agrees and notes 20-30% of the available stalls are in his part of the world. Overcrowded cows eat faster, and this impacts rumen efficiency, probably leading to lower de novo fatty acid synthesis and overall lower components. The panel talks about whether or not there is such a thing as an “overcrowding ration.”(20:59)The panel relays some real-world examples of crowding where dairies would cull cows to decrease milk production, but production would remain the same because the cows were now less crowded. They talk more about other management strategies that need to be on point if a dairy is going to overcrowd. (27:50)The panel wraps up with their take-home thoughts for dairy producers and nutritionists. Jim and Jason share their contact information with the audience. (38:20)Scott invites the audience to Bourbon and Brainiacs at ADSA in Louisville - a bourbon tasting with all your favorite professors! Sign up here: https://balchem.com/anh/bourbon/ (45:02)The paper referenced in this conversation from Dr. Bach can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030208711226Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada for the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. Dr. Shabtai gives an overview of her presentation. Afimilk has a new technology that includes a feed efficiency sensor to determine eating, rumination, heat stress monitoring and more. The Feed Efficiency Service combined with the AfiCollar can estimate dry matter intake, which, when combined with Afimilk's milk meter data, yields an efficiency value of milk income over feed cost for each cow. She details how the algorithm works to predict intake and some of the challenges faced during the development of this technology. The algorithm was developed with Holsteins, but a Jersey algorithm is nearing completion. (5:33)Shane and Emily share some of their experiences with beta-testing the Feed Efficiency technology on-farm to evaluate, including animal-to-animal variation and variation in different stages of lactation. The panel discusses how genomics could pair with this data to aid in selection decisions. (9:21)Walt asks Dr. Shabtai to share how the company took the technology from research facilities to commercial farms, and asks Shane and Emily to share how the technology has proven itself on-farm. (13:11)Shane notes that they've had a handle on the milk side of the efficiency equation of individual cows for a while, but they didn't know much about the feed intake side of the equation. This technology allows for that. Shane also shares how this technology adds another tool to their dairy's sustainability toolbox.  (18:50)Walt asks both producers to share a metric that they thought was important before, but now that we have more knowledge and technology, it might not be as important as they thought. Shane's pick is starch level in corn silage, and Emily's is percent pregnant by 150 days in milk. (21:18)Dr. Shabtai shares the basics that a producer would need to implement this technology. She details a few things that have changed and will change about the product based on data from beta testing and notes there are always new things to see and find on-farm. (22:59)Scott asks Shane and Emily what metric they'd like to measure that they can't measure yet. Shane wonders if there would be a way for AI to compile weather and market data to assist with milk or feedstuff contracting decisions. Emily would like to be able to use more on-farm technology to help manage people. She shares how the data she has now allows her to see different improvements that could be implemented for different milking shifts. Shane talks about need-to-know information versus neat-to-know information. (26:35)The panel discusses how the technology is updated through software rather than hardware when new versions are available. They also share some tips for implementing the software on-farm. Walt asks each panelist their “I wonder if…” question. (29:58)The panel wraps up with their take-home thoughts, and Dr. Shabtai shares where farmers can learn more about Afimilk's feed efficiency technology by visiting afimilk.com. (36:49)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada. Dr. Sabine Mann, Cornell University; Dr. Will Mustas, Progressive Dairy Solutions; Dr. Don Niles, Dairy Dreams LLC; and Joey Airosa, Airosa Dairy Farms, introduce themselves. (0:48)Dr. Mann outlines the high points of her presentation. Giving an adequate amount of high-quality colostrum quickly after birth is essential to equip the calf with the best chances to stay healthy. Colostrum is more than a solution of water and immunoglobulins, and we are continuing to learn more about other nutrients and growth factors that colostrum contains. (12:03)Dr. Niles and Mr. Airosa talk about colostrum and maternity protocols on their dairies. Each has dedicated maternity staff in charge of postnatal calf care. Don mentions they often have public tours of their dairy and shares some anecdotes. Joey's maternity staff try to get colostrum in calves within 30 minutes of birth and have worked out a good communication system to ensure seamless calf care when shift changes occur. (13:57)Dr. Mann emphasizes the timing of colostrum delivery is critical. But what about the amount? Should every calf get four liters? Joey notes they bottle feed and have settled on three quarts for Holstein calves and two quarts for Jersey calves. Sabine says research backs that up - calves will not voluntarily drink much more than 3-3.5 liters. Using esophageal feeders to give four liters could be overfeeding in some cases, which could cause slower emptying of the stomach and thus slower arrival and uptake of immunoglobulins at the small intestine. The four liter recommendation came from the idea that good quality colostrum probably had about 50 grams per liter of IgG, and at that time, we wanted to get 200 grams into the calf. Perhaps making a sheet with recommended amounts based on calf weights could be helpful for maternity staff.  Dr. Mann also clarifies that the 50 grams per liter of IgG is not really good quality colostrum. Most herds average about 90-100 grams per liter of IgG in colostrum. She recommends every farm find out how good their colostrum is and optimize feeding amounts from there. (22:45)Dr. Mann notes the importance of making sure dry cows are not deficient in protein supply and ensuring the dry period is long enough to create high-quality colostrum. While it's commonly thought older cows have better colostrum than young cows, she underlines again the importance of measuring colostrum quality to know for sure. She also highly recommends measuring colostrum quality from individual cows before pooling so that poor colostrum does not dilute good colostrum. (31:04)Dr. Mustas shares some of the challenges he's seeing on dairies where he consults. What can we do to control the bacteriological quality of colostrum? He notes there's no reason we can't get very low bacteria counts pre-pasteurization. Making sure maternity areas are clean and sanitary, udders are prepped very well, and harvesting equipment is not neglected are all great strategies. (35:53)Dr. Mann talks about individual cow variation in colostrum production and some factors that might influence including placental interactions, hormones, and genetics. (38:04)Scott and Sabine discuss some of the research around supplementing with choline during the dry period and subsequent colostrum production. (41:28)Dr. Niles comments that pasteurization of colostrum has been one of the most exciting technologies to come along. On his farm, the pasteurizer has given them much more control over colostrum quality and delivery time. Dr. Mann agrees storage of colostrum has given dairies the ability to be strategic about how they use colostrum, what colostrum they use, and to also plan for seasonal colostrum shortages. She agrees with Dr. Mustas that clean colostrum harvesting equipment is key to low bacterial counts. (44:13)Dr. Mustas talks about how the beef-on-dairy phenomenon has altered colostrum protocols. Calf ranches are giving deductions for poor colostrum scores when calves are received. Some operations even offer premiums or discounts on daily yardage depending on individual calf colostrum scores. (50:21)Joey, Don, and Sabine comment on the importance of finding the right people to work in maternity and instilling the idea that taking care of cows and calves is both a great responsibility and a great honor. (52:56)The panel wraps up with their take-home thoughts. (58:31)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada. Gregg Doud, National Milk Producers Federation, begins with an overview of his talk regarding recent and ongoing investments in the dairy industry. Dan Siemers, Siemers Holsteins, notes they were able to build a new dairy and find a new milk market because Agropur built a new plant in their area. Corey Geiger, CoBank, describes that the US is approaching $9 billion of new investment in dairy plants coming online through 2027, over half of that in cheese. High-quality whey protein isolates are in equal demand as cheese, so that has been a large part of the investment as well. He mentions investment in class one beverage milk and extended shelf life, as well as growth in yogurt and Greek yogurt. The panel also discusses milk in schools.  (1:35)Corey talks about the generational change on dairy farms regarding components. Dan mentions that in one generation, you can increase the fat percentage by 0.4 using bulls available today. The focus on pounds of fat and protein plus health traits has resulted in somewhat less milk. Dan feels that the industry needs to focus a bit more on pounds of milk as a carrier to get protein back in the business. Some plants indicate there might almost be too much fat, so a focus on protein pounds may be in order. (11:03)Corey states that 92% of dairy farmers get paid on multiple component pricing, and 90% of that milk check is butter fat and protein. While some cheese plants don't quite need all the butter fat that's coming from dairy farms, it's important to note that we are still not filling our butter fat needs domestically. There are definitely opportunities in the butter sector. The panel discusses some shuffling in domestic processing might also be needed to better use the sweet cream that's available. (13:01)Scott asks about export markets in developing countries. Gregg mentions that many Central American dairy products contain vegetable oil, so there is a lot of potential there. Corey agrees and states there is also similar potential in the Middle East and North Africa. He also notes that lack of refrigeration is still an issue in some parts of the world, so shelf-stable products are critical. Gregg mentions that drinkable yogurts are in demand in Latin America. (18:29)The panel dives into the way beef on dairy has changed the industry. Dan notes the baby calf market has been a huge profit center, where the dairy can essentially break even and the calves provide the profit. This may be creating a challenge where a lot of dairies aren't creating enough replacement dairy heifers. (23:16)Data and how we use it is the next topic the group discusses. Gregg shares a story of an MIT grad who is developing an artificial intelligence algorithm to combine cow genetics with different diet ingredients and feed additives to decrease methane production while improving cow productivity. (28:49)The panelists close out the episode with their take-home messages. Corey gives listeners a look at the impact of the domestic dairy market. Dan shares the sustainability story and climate impact of the dairy industry will continue to be important. Gregg is excited about new technologies, but asks for assistance in working with the federal government to get those technologies approved at the speed of commerce. The panel also discusses the impacts of tariffs on agriculture and how dairy farmers need to be communicating with their members of Congress. (32:56)Please reach out to your Congress members. Start the conversation, and  help them understand!Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Recent Cattle on Feed Report Tar Spot, Corn Stunt and Sudden Death Syndrome Leave Wildlife Alone   00:01:05 – Recent Cattle on Feed Report: Starting today's show is Oklahoma State University livestock economist Derrell Peel with a cattle and beef market update. He shares information from the Cattle on Feed report and a sign of heifer retention.   00:12:05 – Tar Spot, Corn Stunt and Sudden Death Syndrome: K-State row crop plant pathologist Rodrigo Onofre continues the show as he reminds growers of corn diseases and a soybean disease that their crops are susceptible to in the growing season. agronomy.ksu.edu   00:23:05 – Leave Wildlife Alone: Drew Ricketts, K-State wildlife specialist, wraps the show with why it is important to leave wildlife wild. He explains a few different safety reasons for wildlife and humans. ksoutdoors.com     Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to ksrenews@ksu.edu.   Agriculture Today is a daily program featuring Kansas State University agricultural specialists and other experts examining ag issues facing Kansas and the nation. It is hosted by Shelby Varner and distributed to radio stations throughout Kansas and as a daily podcast.   K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan

On this episode of Weekly Livestock Market Update, Brownfield's Meghan Grebner talks with University of Kentucky ag economist Kenny Burdine about March placements being up 5% in the latest Cattle on Feed report.Market highlights:The 5-market average fed steer price was up by just under $4 this week at $211.62. April live cattle futures gained over $7 from last week, settling Thursday at $209.83. Choice boxed beef price was actually down more than $5 on the week, coming in at $331.52. May feeder cattle futures were up more than $8 per cwt on the week, closing at $286.85 yesterday. The national base hog carcass price was down by a little more than $1 at $84.13 for the week. Pork cutout values were up about 6% for the week at $97.97. May lean hog futures were up 4% this week, closing at $90.40 yesterday. Weekly Slaughter:Cattle slaughter was 2% higher this week, estimated at 576,000 head for the week, but still over 5% below last year, year-to-date. Hog slaughter was down 4% from last week at 2.38 million head and that's down about 3% year-to-date. April Cattle on Feed:On feed inventory came in about 1.6% below year-ago, which was close to pre-report expectations. March marketings were 1% higher than March of 2024. March placements were up 5% from 2024, which was on the upper end of pre-report estimates. Steers on feed were essentially unchanged from last year, while USDA-NASS estimated a 4% decrease in the number of heifers on feed. Heifers as a percentage of on-feed inventory came in a 37.6%. This is about a percent lower than both January 1 of this year and April 1 of 2024. Next week's reports:» Livestock Slaughter» Cold StorageConnect with Brownfield Ag News:» Get the latest ag news: https://www.brownfieldagnews.com/» Subscribe to Brownfield on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrownfieldAgNews» Follow Brownfield on X (Twitter): https://x.com/brownfield» Follow Brownfield on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrownfieldAgNewsAbout Brownfield Ag News:Brownfield Ag News is your trusted source for reliable agriculture news, market trends, weather updates, and expert interviews. Get comprehensive coverage and stay ahead in the ever-evolving agriculture industry.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Panelists Dr. John Goeser or Rock River Laboratory, Inc.; Dr. Bob Kozlowski, PAS of Dairy NExT, LLC and Dr. Tom Overton of Cornell University introduce themselves and give an overview of their backgrounds. (0:10)Dr. Goeser begins with three different ways to define forage quality: energetic potential, particle size as an interaction factor, and anti-nutritional components. He asks Dr. Kozlowski if these are the hot topics for his consulting clients. (6:53)When evaluating the energy potential in feed, Dr. Goeser states there's nothing new as far as measuring the nutrient content of feeds, but capturing the nutrient digestion potential in fiber, starch, and fatty acids is an area where we could stand to make sizable strides. We've been studying fiber and starch digestion for more than 50 years, and they're still really hard to measure because nutrient digestion potential is not linear. In the laboratory, ruminal fiber digestion is measured at many different time points to create curves, but if we want to get a good handle on the energy potential in feeds, we need to take a total digestible nutrients approach.  (9:31)Dr. Goeser feels there are more similarities between laboratories in quantifying fiber digestion potential, but there is little agreement among labs for starch digestion. Research shows that seven hour starch digestion is dramatically affected by laboratory technique and starch digestion curves also vary widely among labs. Dr. Overton commends the lab for diligently working to understand these dynamics. (14:31)From a fiber standpoint, Dr. Kozlowsk states that uNDF has probably been one of the most significant improvements in the tools he has to work with. He gives an example of cows on a 45% forage diet in the Southeast and cows on a 60% forage diet in the Northeast, both with similar uNDF concentrations. Those two groups of cows perform very similarly in terms of volume, fat and protein. (18:43)Dr. Overton asks both guests for their take on feed hygiene. Dr. Goeser feels that there is at least 10 times more to learn about feed hygiene compared to fiber and starch digestibility. Merging veterinary diagnostics with commercial nutrition laboratory work shows promise for solving undesirable mold, yeast, mycotoxin and bacteria issues in feeds. In case studies, he states there is never just one issue at play; there are two or three that may have negative associative effects with one another. Dr. Kozlowski has been seeing varietal-dependent corn silage DON toxin levels in the last few years. Dairies are now looking at all aspects of the agronomy program in addition to all the other assessments of NDF digestibility and starch. (20:33)Dr. Goeser goes on to describe some work on large dairies where they're finding hidden nutrient variation and starch and protein flux that happens within a 1-2 week period that we aren't able to capture with our current sampling techniques. For dairies feeding 2,000-15,000 cows, a diet formulation is on point today, but within that 1-2 week period at the volume of feed they're going through, the diet is now out of spec. However, it's not so out of line that the cows are giving feedback in terms of components or deviation in production or intake. (30:08)On the cow side, new technologies like SCR are allowing insights into rumination dynamics, which can be applied to feed formulation. Some silage choppers now have NIR units measuring silage quality during harvest. The panelists discuss what other technologies might be on the horizon, including on-farm NIR units on front-end loaders or mixer trucks. Dr. Goeser mentions some of the challenges with these technologies, including feed moisture levels interfering with equipment and lack of trust in technologies. (34:21)The panelists close out the episode with their take-home messages. (42:03)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Drackley begins with an overview of his presentation at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium, focusing on the NASEM requirements for pre-weaned calves. He mentions some differences in energy and protein requirement calculations compared to the NRC system, as well as increased vitamin E recommendations and a more biologically based factorial approach to calculating mineral requirements. (5:59)Dr. Overton notes that milk replacements can be formulated differently to account for changes in mineral or vitamin requirements. In herds that feed whole milk, is there any reason to think about supplementing those calves? Dr. Drackley suggests that Mother Nature may have been smarter than us all along, as the composition of whole milk matches very well with the nutrient requirements of calves. (9:43)Dr. Lundquist asked what the impetus was for the increase in vitamin E requirements. Dr. Drackley refers to a series of studies examining the role of vitamin E in immune function that have shown the previous requirements were too low to achieve optimum health outcomes. Many dairies give a vitamin injection after birth to help boost young calves. (11:45)The panel discusses improved colostrum feeding efforts and the variation in successful passive immunity that still exists in the industry. (13:51)Scott asks Dr. Overton what gaps he sees in calf nutrition from his Extension specialist perspective, and he suggests that best management for weaning is still a big topic. Dr. Drackley agrees this is an area that needs some attention. He feels the industry is doing better on the baby calf side by feeding more milk, but then that almost makes weaning more difficult because people are not changing their mindset about how to step calves down from milk or what age to wean calves. (16:39)For people feeding more milk than the traditional 1.25 lbs of solids, Dr. Drackley recommends extending weaning time to eight instead of six weeks. He also recommends at least one step down in the amount of milk, which could be a week of feeding just once a day. Calf starter formulation and quality are also critical. Research shows that providing a small amount of forage, preferably grass hay or straw, before weaning is beneficial for buffering and rumination. (18:47)Dr. Overton asks about the research gap in our understanding of transition cow management and how that impacts the calf in utero and after birth. The panel discusses heat stress and season of birth impacts on calf growth and first lactation performance. (26:08)The panel wraps up with their take-home messages. Discussion includes pelleted versus texturized starters, sugars in a starter to promote rumen development, the value of increasing the quality and quantity of calf nutrition, the thermoneutral zone in baby calves, and outsourcing calf raising.  (33:10)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

RED HEIFERS are back in Israel! But what does that mean, exactly? Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, writer for Israel365News.com and author of the new book Return of the Red Heifers (israel365store.com/products/red-heifers), joins us to explain the significance of the heifers, why they're important, and why a Third Temple isn't necessary to begin the sacrifices on the Temple Mount. We also discuss the historical context of the relationship between Jews and Christians, the role of the Messiah, modern misunderstandings surrounding these topics and the potential for future collaboration between the two faiths.Follow Adam's Substack here: AdamEliyahuBerkowitz.substack.com.

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Dr. DeVries' research focuses on farm-level decisions and modeling. The University of Florida dairy has implemented the use of beef semen. Dr. DeVries describes some of the factors that go into a partial budget for this system as well as details some of the factors involved in implementing beef on dairy. The UF dairy genomically tests all their cows and the panel discusses some differences in beef and dairy selection based on genomics. (5:58)Dr. Felix asks how the beef sires are selected for the UF dairy. Calving ease and fertility are key, as well as low cost. Dr. Johnson asks if spending a little more on beef semen might pay off in the longer term regarding beef quality. The panel agrees that in the current market, dairy producers are getting $800-$1000 for a day-old calf regardless of the beef sire, so perhaps beef sire selection has not been a major focus. (15:07)Dr. DeVries describes some of the data he evaluates when deciding how many cows to breed with sexed dairy semen. Given the current beef prices, heifer retention has not been as high in either the beef or dairy sector as previously predicted. (19:22)The panel discusses the importance of cow longevity in the dairy sector. Dr. DeVries explains the pros and cons of keeping cows in the milking herd longer. Dr. Nelson reminds listeners of the current cull cow market and how that also plays a role in decision-making for dairy and beef producers. (24:16)Dr. Nelson describes the heifer development program for the UF dairy. Week-old heifer calves are shipped to Kansas for development and return to UF at about 200-220 days pregnant. This approach is very common in the southeast. Many of the beef on dairy calves will also be shipped to calf ranches out of state. (30:59)Dr. DeVries' model concluded that switching from conventional dairy to beef-on-dairy resulted in about $150 advantage per cow per year. On top of that was another $50 per cow because of the switch to sourcing your heifers from your best cows. (34:13)The panel discusses the idea of transferring beef embryos into dairy cows. Could there be a day when this approach creates beef calves less expensively than the cow/calf sector can? They also delve into whether there will be any long-term negative impacts of breeding dairy cows with beef semen. (38:44)Dr. Johnson mentions another paradigm shift of the beef-on-dairy system is feeding dairy-influenced heifers in the feedlot, which has not happened before. Technologies used to promote growth in the feed yard can induce spontaneous lactation in some of these heifers. Milk is considered an adulterant in the packing plant and requires trimming if it splashes on a carcass. Dr. Nelson suggests that until there is a discount for heifer beef on dairy calves, there won't be a shift to using sexed male semen to create predominantly beef on dairy steers. (48:33)The panel wraps up with their take-home thoughts. (57:46)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

It's The Ranch It Up Radio Show! Join me Jeff Tigger Erhardt, Rebecca Wanner AKA BEC and my crew as we learn how the online only live auction format is what works for Wulf Cattle and their upcoming Limousin, Lim-Flex and Angus Bull & Heifer Sale.  Plus news updates, market recaps, and a whole lot of the cow stuff that you will only get on this all new episode of The Ranch It Up Radio Show. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel. Season 5, EPISODE 229 Wulf Cattle: Superior Genetics Why Wulf Cattle Genetics Deliver Superior Performance & Profitability When it comes to elite seedstock genetics, Wulf Cattle sets the bar high with a commitment to performance, efficiency, and real-world data. Our Limousin, Lim-Flex, & Angus cattle are backed by industry-leading evaluations, ensuring profitable, reliable, and predictable genetics for your operation. What You Get with Wulf Cattle Genetics Complete Data Collection for Proven Performance Comprehensive weight traits & measurements recorded with North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) in large contemporary groups Carcass ultrasounds performed using EZ Ultrasound technology Genomic-enhanced EPDs through Neogen, ensuring accurate genetic predictions Feed efficiency testing for the majority of bulls via Vytelle, maximizing profitability Actual carcass data incorporated into our genetic development program Customers feeding cattle in our program receive carcass data tracking through Telus Ag Breeding Soundness & Fertility Guaranteed Semen tested and backed by fertility evaluations Scrotal measurements recorded to ensure reproductive performance Physical soundness exams conducted by Sweetgrass Veterinary Services SALE DETAILS & CONTACT INFO Wulf Cattle invites you to visit the Sandy Ridge Ranch for their open house, enjoy lunch and see this year's offering firsthand.  On April 3rd, tune in to Superior Livestock, DV Auction or place bids through any of the Wulf Cattle sales team to secure your selections!   OPEN HOUSE:  March 25 – 26, 2025  OPEN HOUSE LOCATION: Sandy Ridge Ranch, Atkinson, Nebraska RanchChannel.Com Now Has The Futures Markets & New Listings Futures Markets RanchChannel.com now has futures markets at your fingertips!  Feeder Cattle, Live Cattle, Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Soybean Oil, Milk Class IV, and Ethanol.  Information is provided by DTN and market information may be delayed by as much as 10 minutes.  Click Here for more information! UPCOMING SALES & EVENTS MIller Angus Farms:  March 24, 2025  Vollmer Angus Ranch:  April 1, 2025 Wulf Cattle: April 3, 2025 CK Bar Ranch:  April 4, 2025 Heartland Cattle Co.:  April 7, 2025 Jorgensen Land & Cattle:  April 21, 2025 Wilson Angus: April 28, 2025 World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale: May 15 - 18, 2025   BULL SALE REPORT & RESULTS Click HERE for the latest Bull Sale Results https://ranchchannel.com/category/past-bull-production-sales-archive/   FEATURING Casey Fanta Wulf Cattle https://www.wulfcattle.com/#/?ranchchannel=view https://www.facebook.com/WulfCattle#/?ranchchannel=view Mark Vanzee Livestock Market, Equine Market, Auction Time https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ @LivestockMkt @EquineMkt @AuctionTime Kirk Donsbach: Stone X Financial https://www.stonex.com/   @StoneXGroupInc    Shaye Koester Casual Cattle Conversation https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ @cattleconvos   Questions & Concerns From The Field? Call or Text your questions, or comments to 707-RANCH20 or 707-726-2420 Or email RanchItUpShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @RanchItUpShow SUBSCRIBE to the Ranch It Up YouTube Channel: @ranchitup Website: RanchItUpShow.com https://ranchitupshow.com/ The Ranch It Up Podcast is available on ALL podcasting apps. https://ranchitup.podbean.com/ Rural America is center-stage on this outfit. AND how is that? Tigger & BEC Live This Western American Lifestyle. Tigger & BEC represent the Working Ranch world and cattle industry by providing the cowboys, cowgirls, beef cattle producers & successful farmers the knowledge and education needed to bring high-quality beef & meat to your table for dinner. Learn more about Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ #RanchItUp #StayRanchy #TiggerApproved #tiggerandbec #rodeo #ranching #farming References https://www.stonex.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://gelbvieh.org/ https://www.imogeneingredients.com/ https://alliedgeneticresources.com/ https://westwayfeed.com/ https://medoraboot.com/ https://www.tsln.com/ https://transova.com/ https://axiota.com/ https://axiota.com/multimin-90-product-label/ https://jorgensenfarms.com/ https://ranchchannel.com/ https://www.wrangler.com/ https://www.ruralradio147.com/ https://www.rfdtv.com/ https://www.ckbarranch.com/#/?ranchchannel=view https://www.wulfcattle.com/#/?ranchchannel=view https://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/118330

Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! On this episode the experts answer your listener questions. They start by discussing what age you should castrate calves and what vaccinations could be given. Next, Dr. Brian Lubbers and Dr. Phillip Lancaster discuss feeding heifers and some of the challenges that come along with that. Finally, they discuss average… Continue reading Listener Questions: Castration, Feeding Heifers, Average Daily Gain

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins surveyed damage from natural disasters and met with Forest Service members in North Carolina, and back-and-forth tariffs have prompted additional concerns about prices.

Soil health isn't just a buzzword, it's the foundation of productive farms, resilient crops and long-term sustainability, and back-and-forth tariffs have prompted additional concerns about prices.

 In this episode, Jared Sorensen sits down with rancher and cattle expert Shane Blakely to talk all things calves and heifers. Shane shares his insights on breeding strategies, herd management, and key practices to ensure profitability in your operation. Whether you're a seasoned rancher or just getting started, this conversation is packed with valuable tips to help you raise healthier, more productive cattle. Tune in and learn how to optimize your herd for long-term success! Be sure to check out our previous episodes or visit our YouTube channel. 

On this episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand, host Jaymie chats with Chase Vasut about the highly anticipated 20th Anniversary of The Texas Longhorn Legacy Sale, happening March 14th & 15th in Grapevine, Texas. The celebration kicks off Thursday with drinks, live music, and a brand-new event—the first-ever Armadillo Races! Now, you might be wondering, are these real armadillos or people in costumes? The answer is YES! Who will be in the armadillo costume? That remains a mystery—it could even be you! Friday evening at 5:30 pm, the Black Tie Heifer Sale makes its grand return, bringing back the formal event in honor of the milestone anniversary. And speaking of formal, word has it that Chase Vasut is going all out and has already claimed the title of "best dressed." The excitement continues Saturday with the cow sale at 3 pm, where some of the industry's most impressive Texas Longhorns will be in the ring. If you're searching for cattle with the "wow factor," this is a sale you don't want to miss! Tune in to hear all the details!Send us a textFrom the Pasture with Hired Hand:Hired Hand Websites (@hiredhandwebsites): https://hiredhandsoftware.comHired Hand Live (@hiredhandlive): https://hiredhandlive.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiredhandwebsites/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HiredHandSoftwareTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hiredhandwebsitesNewsletter: https://www.hiredhandsoftware.com/resources/stay-informed

Matt Lachenmeier with Kist Livestock in Mandan talks more about the number of heifers that have been sold in the area. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we honor and celebrate the remarkable career and contributions of Dr. Jim Drackley from the University of Illinois, a pioneer in dairy science and animal nutrition. Jim's work has reshaped our understanding of dairy cow health, metabolism and nutrition. Dr. Cardoso, Dr. Overton, and co-host Dr. Jeff Elliott are former coworkers or graduate students of Dr. Drackley's. (0:11)Dr. Drackley begins by telling the audience about his background and how he became a dairy scientist. He talks about several of his mentors during his schooling. (9:20)Speaking of mentors, Scott asks Dr. Elliot, Dr. Overton, and Dr. Cardoso to describe Dr. Drackley's mentorship of them during teaching, graduate school and beyond. They praise Jim's thoughtfulness and hands-off approach that taught them to think critically. (14:06)When it comes to major contributions to the industry, Dr. Drackley names two that he is most proud of: expanding the knowledge of controlled energy dry cow programs using straw and corn silage to help control energy intake and his work in baby calf nutrition, specifically feeding more milk on-farm to calves. Dr. Overton adds that a visionary paper Dr. Drackley wrote in the late 1990s where he referred to the transition period as the final frontier as another important contribution. Dr. Cardoso also emphasizes Dr. Drackley's excellent teaching skills as another achievement of note. (20:58)Dr. Drackley says the teaching part of the job was the part that scared him the most when he started. Graduate school offers little formal teaching training and experience so one learns on the job. Jim describes his teaching style as organized, and he liked teaching in an outline fashion, working from the main topic down through the details. He worked hard to get to know the students, learn their names as soon as possible, and be approachable and empathetic. Later in his career, he used a flipped classroom approach for a lactation biology course and enjoyed it. (28:45)The panel then reminisces about how much technology has changed from a teaching perspective as well as statistical analysis. Lecturing has moved from chalkboard to overhead projector to slide carousel to PowerPoint. Statistical analysis has moved from punch cards or sending data to a mainframe computer to performing real-time statistical analysis on your computer at your desk. (33:00)Jeff, Phil, and Tom share stories and memories of their time with Jim. (37:30)Scott asks Jim what challenges will need to be tackled in the future in the dairy industry. He lists environmental aspects (nitrogen, phosphorus, and greenhouse gases), increasing economic pressure on farms, and improving forage production and efficiency of nutrient use. Dr. Drackley's advice for young researchers is to carve out a niche for yourself. (47:40)Dr. Elliott, Dr. Overton, and Dr. Cardoso share some final thoughts paying tribute to Dr. Drackley and his accomplished career. (1:06:18)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.How can we increase milk protein and capture that income opportunity? Dr. Van Amburgh describes the seasonal drop in milk protein observed in the summer months. Heat stress may play a role in altering insulin sensitivity and how the cow partitions nutrients. What can we do to avoid that seasonal decline in milk protein?  (0:01)Simple things like cooling, fans, and sprinklers can reduce heat stress and increase cow comfort. Dr. Van Amburgh recommends promoting dry matter intake and lying time, with feed available 21-22 hours per day and more than 12 hours of lying time per day. (5:27)Dr. Van Amburgh discusses basic formulation considerations for amino acid balancing including current feed chemical analyses that include NDF digestibility, characterizing the cows appropriately by using accurate body weights, understanding DMI and making sure actual milk lines up with ME and MP allowable milk, assessing body condition changes, and understanding the first limiting nutrient of milk production. Areas where mistakes are often made include using much lighter body weights than actual to formulate rations, not using actual DMI, and using feed library values instead of actual feed chemistry. (8:00)Milk protein percentage and dietary energy are closely aligned. This is often attributed to ruminal fermentation and microbial yield. Sugars, starches, and digestible fiber sources drive microbial yield. While protein and energy metabolism are considered to be separate, that is an artificial divide and they should be considered together. Once adequate energy for protein synthesis is available, providing more dietary protein or amino acids can increase protein synthesis further. Dr. Van Amburgh provides some ranges of target fermentable non-structural carbohydrates, starch, sugar and soluble fiber appropriate for early peak and mid-lactation cows. He speaks about the benefits of adding sugars to the diet instead of trying to continue to increase starch. (11:15)Dr. Van Amburgh details an experiment using more byproduct feeds in a lactation diet to successfully increase intake and subsequently, milk protein content. (24:04)Milk protein increases with higher DCAD in diets, independent of protein level. Increasing DCAD can also lead to increased DMI, probably through better fiber digestion. The mechanism is not completely understood, but perhaps some rumen microbes have a higher requirement for potassium. In another study, feeding higher DCAD resulted in an 11% increase in milk protein yield and a 26% increase in milk fat yield. (32:39)Feeding fatty acids may also improve milk protein via insulin signaling pathways. A 5.6% increase in milk protein was observed when the ratio of palmitic acid to oleic acid was around 1.5:1. (36:21)Dr. Van Amburgh encourages the audience to pay close attention to digestibility of dietary ingredients and shares an analysis of ten different sources of feather meal that varied in digestibility from around 50% up to 75%. (40:10)Dr. Van Amburgh details an experiment targeting optimum methionine and lysine levels for improved milk protein. In an example with 60 Mcals of ME in the diet, the targets were 71 grams of methionine and 193 grams of lysine. (42:00)Questions from the webinar audience were addressed. They included information about the best type of sugars to add to diets, if protozoa are preferentially retained in the rumen, BMR vs conventional corn silage, amino acid supply when dietary crude protein is around 14-15%, using metabolizable energy instead of net energy, variability of animal protein blends, and methionine to lysine ratios. (48:23)To end this podcast, Dr. Jose Santos steps in to invite everyone to the Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium in Gainesville held February 24-26.Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

USDA livestock analyst Mike McConnell looks at trends associated with heifer placement in feedlots, per the January Cattle On Feed Report.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this study, two basal diets were fed, one low-fat and one high-fat. The low-fat diet contained cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls and the high-fat diet contained whole cottonseed. This balanced fiber and protein to try and make the difference between the basal diets and just the fatty acids. Basal diets were supplemented with two different fat supplements that had different ratios of palmitic and oleic acids. The applied question at hand was “Does fat need to be supplemented to a high-fat basal diet?” (5:32)The low-fat diet contained 1.93% fatty acids and the high-fat diet contained 3.15% fatty acids. Fatty acid supplements were fed at 1.5% of dry matter and replaced soyhulls. The palmitic acid supplement contained 80% palmitic acid and 10% oleic acid. The palmitic + oleic acid supplement contained 60% palmitic acid and 30% oleic acid. Thirty-six cows were used in a split-plot Latin square design, with half the cows on each basal diet. Under each split-plot, cows were allocated to a 3x3 Latin square, evaluating a control treatment (no fat supplement), palmitic acid supplement, and palmitic + oleic acid supplement. (8:46)Bill, Adam, and Clay discuss the increase in milk components the industry has experienced recently due to the powerful combination of genetics and nutrition. Hoard's Dairyman reported that 2024 was the first year that the U.S. had averaged over 4% milk fat going back to 1924 when records began. (13:01)Both fat supplements increased milk yield in low-fat and high-fat basal diets, but the magnitude of the increase was larger in the low-fat diet. The high palmitic acid diet increased milk yield more in cows fed the low-fat basal diet than the palmitic + oleic supplement did. High-fat basal diet cows had similar milk yield responses to both fatty acid supplements. The panel discusses the industry emphasis on milk components and if/when a threshold in performance might happen given the advancement of genomics and nutrition. (15:51)Clay asks Adam to remind the listeners about the relationship between fatty acids and crude fat or ether extract. Adam recommends moving away from ether extract and focusing solely on fatty acid content. Bill, Adam, and Clay talk about the variability in the fatty acid content of various feedstuffs. (25:33)Bill asks if the feed efficiency improvement with the fat supplementation was due to more of a gross energy or digestible/metabolizable energy effect. Adam suggests it may be a little of both. The diet is more energy-dense, but we also know now that some of those specific fatty acids have specific effects. Improvements in NDF digestibility are consistently observed with palmitic acid supplementation. Oleic acid improves fatty acid absorption and has an impact on adipose tissue metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Bill and Adam go on to talk more philosophically about the best way to measure feed efficiency in dairy cows. (29:02)If Adam could do this experiment over again, he would have pushed the basal fat levels a bit more and had both lower-producing and higher-producing cows in the experiment. This leads to a discussion of how the results might have differed if distiller grains or soybeans were used instead of cottonseed in the experiment. Listeners should be careful not to extrapolate the results from this experiment to other fat sources. (33:55)Adam emphasizes that we shouldn't be afraid of feeding high-fat diets, either basal or supplemental fatty acids, especially to high-producing cows. We should be very mindful about where those fatty acids are coming from. We could provide the same nutrients by feeding either cottonseed or distillers grains, but how those ingredients feed out could be very different. (38:38)In summary, Clay agrees we should take a fresh look at how much fat we're feeding cows in basal diets and underlines the importance of the source of supplemental fatty acids. Bill concurs and commends Adam's group for basically making cottonseed without fat in the low-fat basal diet, which allowed for very clean interpretations of the fatty acid supplement results. Adam underlines that we can feed higher fat diets, but the fatty acid profile of all of those ingredients we might use is going to be key. In addition to fatty acids in diets and supplements, de novo synthesis of milk fat from acetate is the other half of the equation. Bringing those together might be a strategy to keep up with genetic improvements and drive higher milk fat yield. (47:43)You can find this episode's journal club paper from JDS Communications here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666910223001114Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

On this episode of Weekly Livestock Market Update, Brownfield's Meghan Grebner talks with ag economist Kenny Burdine about slaughter numbers, Cold Storage, and the January Cattle on Feed report.Market highlights:Live steer prices look to be trading almost $4 higher this week at $207.59 for the 5-market average. February live cattle futures prices were up more than $7 on the week closing above $204 today. January feeder cattle future prices were up more than $5, closing above $278. Cash hogs were virtually unchanged at $80.72/cwt. February lean hog futures were up about $1 from last week, closing at $82.20 today. Pork cutout values were just a tick higher at $92.02 this week.Weekly Slaughter:At the end of the week, cattle slaughter was 599,000 head, down from 603,000 last week, and lower than last year. Hog slaughter was 2.477 million head, down about 6% from last week and down even more from year ago.Cold Storage:» Frozen beef supplies up 4% from last month, but down 5% from year ago.» Frozen pork supplies up 2% from November, but down 6% from December of 2023.» Frozen chicken stocks 8% below year-ago.» Big jump in bellies month-over-month, but 39% below last year. Livestock Slaughter:» Total December slaughter down 1% from year ago, but 3% YOY.» Steer slaughter has been up a bit, heifer slaughter down a bit, but cows have been the story.» Month over month, beef cow slaughter was down over 26% and down 18.8% YOY.» 2024 beef cow slaughter, as a percent of Jan 1 beef cow inventory is 10.1%.» Total hog slaughter for December 2024 was down just under 1% from 2023. For the year, hog slaughter was up 1.4% from 2023.January Cattle on Feed:» On feed inventory came in about 1% below year-ago, which is a larger percentage decrease than what was seen last month.» December placements were down over 3% from year ago, which was outside the range of estimates for placements.» December marketings were 1% higher.» Heifers as a percentage of on-feed inventory came in a 38.7%. This is about a percent lower than October 2024 and about a percent lower than January 2024.Next week's report:» Cattle Inventory NumbersConnect with Brownfield Ag News:» Get the latest ag news: https://www.brownfieldagnews.com/» Subscribe to Brownfield on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrownfieldAgNews» Follow Brownfield on X (Twitter): https://x.com/brownfield» Follow Brownfield on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrownfieldAgNewsAbout Brownfield Ag News:Brownfield Ag News is your trusted source for reliable agriculture news, market trends, weather updates, and expert interviews. Get comprehensive coverage and stay ahead in the ever-evolving agriculture industry.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.Feeding rumen-protected choline in early lactation has consistently increased milk yield and energy-corrected milk yield, which is more pronounced when cows are fed diets low in metabolizable methionine. Choline feeding also increases milk fat and protein yield, minimizes body condition loss in early lactation, and reduces postpartum disease incidence. Dr. McFadden presents three topics about choline biology in the dairy cow. (01:45)Why should we consider fatty acid feeding when feeding methyl donors like choline and methionine?Choline degradation in the rumen and small intestine, focusing on the role of triethylamine oxide Why should we consider lysophosphatidylcholine as an immunomodulator in fresh cows and preweaning calves?Fatty acid nutrition to optimize methyl donor efficiency. (4:02)Fatty liver is a concern for fresh cows because of its relationship with ketosis, poor fertility and compromised milk production. Cows with fatty liver exhibit low circulating concentrations of phosphatidylcholine, which is a component of very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) that transport triglycerides out of the liver. Feeding rumen-protected choline lowers liver triglyceride deposition by supporting the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine and thus, VLDL. Dr. McFadden goes on to explain the two different pathways for phosphatidylcholine in the liver and how those interact with fatty acid metabolism. He describes several experiments that have investigated how rumen-protected choline and supplemental fatty acids interact in lactating cows. Low phosphatidylcholine supply is a key feature of fatty liver in dairy cows, likely due to low polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and low choline supplies. Delivery of post-ruminal PUFA may support phosphatidylcholine synthesis with accompanying improvements in insulin sensitivity, body condition maintenance, and inflammation, but interactions with dietary fatty acid digestibility should be considered. Dr. McFadden gives a list of considerations for fresh cow diets incorporating fat and choline supplementation. Gastrointestinal choline degradation and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO)  (16:58)Unprotected choline is almost totally degraded in the rumen. Microbes convert choline into trimethylamine (TMA) which is then converted to TMAO in the liver. Rumen-protected choline allows for a large proportion of choline to reach the small intestine intact. However, research shows that choline can also be degraded by microbes in the small intestine in the same pathway, limiting choline bioavailability. Plasma TMAO accumulation is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, inflammation, insulin resistance, obesity, oxidative stress, and cardiovascular disease in rodent and human models. Little research was available regarding if the relationship between TMAO and poor health was causative or just associative. Dr. McFadden's lab infused cows intravenously with TMAO and found that TMAO did not modify milk production or glucose tolerance in early lactation cows.  TMAO does not appear to influence energy metabolism or health in early lactation cows. Choline is subject to both ruminal and lower-gut degradation to TMA, and that influence on choline bioavailability needs to be defined. Data in non-ruminants suggests that unsaturated fatty acid feeding can shift the gut microbes to slow TMA formation. Lysophosphatidylcholine and immunomodulation (28:45)Dr. McFadden gives an overview of neutrophil activation and the oxidative burst that contributes to pathogen killing. The ability to elicit the oxidative burst is diminished in pre-weaned calves and transition cows. When cows were given endotoxin to cause an immune response, circulating lysophosphatidylcholine was decreased. In rodent models, lysophosphatidylcholine promotes the oxidative burst and suppresses long-term inflammation in response to bacterial infection. Dr. McFadden cultured neutrophils from pre-weaned calves with lysophosphatidylcholine and observed an enhanced oxidative burst.Immunosuppression is characterized by low circulating lysophosphatidylcholine concentrations in dairy cows. In  vitro data suggests lysophosphatidylcholine can activate neutrophils, and rumen-protected choline increases circulating lysophosphatidylcholine. Future research is likely to define an immunomodulatory role for choline. Dr. McFadden takes questions from the webinar audience. (38:07)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Hernandez recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on this topic. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.Dr. Hernandez begins with an overview of how she came to study calcium metabolism in the mammary gland. Over the past number of years, she has worked on research to manipulate what's happening in the mammary gland in the prepartum period to ensure adequate endocrine, nutritional, reproductive, and immunological status. (5:55)The panelists discuss how “normal” has changed when it comes to transition cow health. Dr. Overton reminds listeners that 25 years ago, 6-8% of fresh cows in a herd having clinical milk fever was pretty typical. Now, we accept none of that. Subclinical hypocalcemia was not on the radar then, and we thought we had calcium all figured out. Dr. Hernandez's work shows that this was not the case. She is pleased that a synergism of producers, veterinarians, and academics have been working together to understand the mechanisms of calcium metabolism to find solutions for individual farms based on their situation. (9:22)Dr. Hernandez then discusses various interventions used in the industry, including low-potassium diets, negative DCAD diets, and zeolite clays. The clays are new to the US, and it seems that they work primarily through a phosphorus reduction mechanism and are best limited to feeding 10-14 days pre-calving. (18:14)Dr. Overton asks Dr. Hernandez about a point in her webinar that cows are in negative calcium balance through 150-200 days in milk. She confirms that there are approximately 8.5 kilograms of calcium in the bones of a cow, but we don't know how much of that she loses each lactation. Her dream scenario would be a CT scanner large enough to fit a dairy cow in to evaluate how her bones change throughout lactation. This leads to a discussion of whether or not we should be including higher rates of calcium in dairy cow diets. Dr. Hernandez would like to learn more about what's happening with calcium absorption in the gut in real-time with endocrine status and stage of lactation, which is a challenging task. (23:17)Co-host, Dr. Jeff Elliott, asks if the reason multiparous cows are more prone to milk fever is because they're not as efficient at calcium resorption to the bone. Dr. Hernandez doesn't have a definitive answer, but it could be due to less effective gut absorption with age, or it may be related to the influence of estrogen on bone density. She also mentions it could be endocrine-controlled or even stem cell-related.  (28:59)Dr. Hernandez's hypothesis has always been that you have to have a calcium decrease to trigger the negative feedback loop involved in calcium metabolism. Her advice is to wait until 48 hours to take a blood sample to analyze calcium. This aligns well with epidemiological research on the veterinarian side regarding delayed, persistent, transient, and normal hypocalcemic animals. (33:04)Dr. Overton asks about a calcium-chelation study that Dr. Hernandez's group conducted and whether or not chelating calcium had an impact on colostrum production. It did not in that experiment. Dr. Hernandez was surprised at how much chelating agent was needed to overcome the draw of the mammary gland, but that further underlines how much of a priority lactation is in metabolism. (41:45)Scott asks both panelists their views on what the priority should be for research in this area. Dr. Hernandez's ideas include more research on how zeolite clays work biologically, finding out what's happening in the gut, mammary gland, and bone of a dairy cow at different stages of lactation. She emphasizes that research should be conducted at different stages rather than just extrapolating from one stage to another because lactation is incredibly dynamic. Dr. Overton seconded the idea of a better understanding of zeolite clays and their feeding recommendations, as well as research defining what happens to and where all the calcium is pulled from the bone during lactation. (45:32) In closing, Jeff, Tom, and Laura share their take-home thoughts. Jeff is excited to learn more about how zeolite clays work and if other products may come to the forefront to help in calcium metabolism management. Tom commends Laura on her work and how it has dovetailed so well with the epidemiological research from the veterinary side. Laura reminds listeners that the mammary gland is running the show and is thrilled that her work as a basic scientist is having an applied impact on the dairy industry. (51:17)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

We dive into bull sale season and head to Starbuck, Minnesota to hear about Simmental & SimAngus Cattle from the Bred For Balance Sale.  Plus marketing tips for the new year, what is new on Ranch Channel and lots more on this all new episode of the ranch it up radio show. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel. Season 5, EPISODE 219  Bull Sale Season, Cattle Marketing Tips & Industry News Simmental & SimAngus Bulls For Sale Bred For Balance Sale:  Bulls, Heifers, Cows Clear Springs Cattle Company from Starbuck, Minnesota presents their annual production sale February 14th offering superior Simmental & SimAngus genetics.  Bulls, Cows, Bred Heifers and Open Heifers sell.  You can bid online at DVAuction, and view their sale information at Bred For Balance and RanchChannel.Com. Cattle & Agriculture Industry News First Death Related To H5N1 In US Reported The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed that a patient hospitalized with the first U.S. case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or H5N1, has died. The patient, over 65 years old and with underlying medical conditions, contracted the virus through exposure to a backyard poultry flock and wild birds. No additional H5N1 cases or evidence of person-to-person transmission have been identified, and this remains Louisiana's sole human case of the virus. The general public faces a low risk, but individuals working with birds or engaging in activities involving poultry or livestock are at higher risk. RanchChannel.Com Now Has The Futures Markets & New Listings Futures Markets RanchChannel.com now has futures markets at your fingertips!  Feeder Cattle, Live Cattle, Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Soybean Oil, Milk Class IV, and Ethanol.  Information is provided by DTN and market information may be delayed by as much as 10 minutes.  Click Here for more information! UPCOMING SALES & EVENTS Ressler Land & Cattle:  January 11, 2025 Spruce Hill Ranch:  February 6, 2025 Prairie Hills Gelbvieh:  February 8, 2025 Wasem Red Angus:  February 20, 2025 Vollmer Angus Ranch:  April 1, 2025 Jorgensen Land & Cattle:  April 21, 2025 World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale: May 15 18, 2025 BULL SALE REPORT & RESULTS Churchill Cattle Company Van Newkirk Herefords Gardiner Angus Ranch Cow Camp Ranch Jungels Shorthorn Farms Ellingson Angus Edgar Brothers Angus Schaff Angus Valley Prairie Hills Gelbvieh Clear Springs Cattle Company CK Cattle Mrnak Hereford Ranch Frey Angus Ranch Hoffmann Angus Farms Topp Herefords River Creek Farms Upstream Ranch Gustin's Diamond D Gelbvieh Schiefelbein Farms Wasem Red Angus Raven Angus Krebs Ranch Yon Family Farms Chestnut Angus Eichacker Simmentals & JK Angus Windy Creek Cattle Company Pedersen Broken Heart Ranch Mar Mac Farms Warner Beef Genetics Arda Farms & Freeway Angus Leland Red Angus & Koester Red Angus Fast Dohrmann Strommen RBM Livestock Weber Land & Cattle Sundsbak Farms Hidden Angus Wheatland Cattle Company Miller Angus Farms L 83 Ranch U2 Ranch Vollmer Angus Ranch A & B Cattle Carter Angus Farms Roller Ranch Montgomery Ranch Jorgensen Farms DLCC Ranch Four Hill Farm North Country Angus Alliance Spruce Hill Ranch Wilson Angus Jorgensen Land & Cattle Motherlode Sale ISA Beefmasters JYJ Red Angus Jorgensen Land & Cattle, Legends Of The Fall Bull Sale Clear Springs Cattle Company FEATURING Travis Wulf Clear Springs Cattle Company https://www.bredforbalance.com/ @twulf09 Kirk Donsbach: Stone X Financial https://www.stonex.com/   @StoneXGroupInc    Shaye Koester Casual Cattle Conversation https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ @cattleconvos Questions & Concerns From The Field? Call or Text your questions, or comments to 707-RANCH20 or 707-726-2420 Or email RanchItUpShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @RanchItUpShow SUBSCRIBE to the Ranch It Up YouTube Channel: @ranchitup Website: RanchItUpShow.com https://ranchitupshow.com/ The Ranch It Up Podcast is available on ALL podcasting apps. https://ranchitup.podbean.com/ Rural America is center-stage on this outfit. AND how is that? Tigger & BEC Live This Western American Lifestyle. Tigger & BEC represent the Working Ranch world and cattle industry by providing the cowboys, cowgirls, beef cattle producers & successful farmers the knowledge and education needed to bring high-quality beef & meat to your table for dinner. Learn more about Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ #RanchItUp #StayRanchy #TiggerApproved #tiggerandbec #rodeo #ranching #farming References https://www.stonex.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://gelbvieh.org/ https://www.imogeneingredients.com/ https://alliedgeneticresources.com/ https://westwayfeed.com/ https://medoraboot.com/ http://www.gostockmens.com/ https://www.imiglobal.com/beef https://www.tsln.com/ https://transova.com/ https://axiota.com/ https://axiota.com/multimin-90-product-label/ https://jorgensenfarms.com/ https://www.bredforbalance.com/ https://ranchchannel.com/ https://www.wrangler.com/ https://www.ruralradio147.com/ https://www.rfdtv.com/ https://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/117471

It's the Ranch It Up Radio Show Herd It Here Weekly Report!  A 3-minute look at cattle markets, reports, news info, or anything that has to do with those of us who live at the end of dirt roads.  Join Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt, the Boss Lady Rebecca Wanner aka 'BEC' by subscribing on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel. Feeder Cattle Imports From Mexico & Red Angus Heifers Selling   Feeder Cattle Imports From Mexico Set To Resume In January Imports of feeder cattle from Mexico are expected to partially resume the week of Jan. 20, with full live animal movements anticipated later, according to a Drovers report. The initial reopening will be gradual to implement and test new protocols. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) suspended cattle and bison imports from Mexico on Nov. 22, 2024, after detecting New World screwworm near Mexico's southern border. The pest poses a significant risk to cattle health, prompting the development of stringent screening protocols. The suspension has led to an estimated 250,000-300,000 fewer cattle imports and supported higher U.S. feeder cattle and calf prices, again that according to Drovers. Red Angus Heifers Selling At Mobridge Livestock, South Dakota Pederson Broken Heart Ranch will be selling 85 certified Red Angus Bangs Vaccinated Heifers, weighing 575 to 675 pounds, Thursday, January 16 at Mobridge Livestock in Mobridge, South Dakota.  You can watch them sell and bid and buy online at CattleUSA   SPONSORS Trans Ova Genetics https://transova.com/ @TransOvaGenetics American Gelbvieh Association https://gelbvieh.org/ @AmericanGelbvieh Allied Genetic Resources https://alliedgeneticresources.com/ @AlliedGeneticResources Clear Springs Cattle Company https://www.bredforbalance.com/female-sale Axiota Animal Health https://axiota.com/ @MultiminUSA Jorgensen Land & Cattle https://jorgensenfarms.com/ @JorLandCat Ranch Channel https://ranchchannel.com/ @RanchChannel   Questions & Concerns From The Field? Call or Text your questions, or comments to 707-RANCH20 or 707-726-2420 Or email RanchItUpShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @RanchItUpShow SUBSCRIBE to the Ranch It Up YouTube Channel: @ranchitup Website: RanchItUpShow.com https://ranchitupshow.com/ The Ranch It Up Podcast is available on ALL podcasting apps. https://ranchitup.podbean.com/   Rural America is center-stage on this outfit. AND how is that? Because of Tigger & BEC... Live This Western Lifestyle. Tigger & BEC represent the Working Ranch world by providing the cowboys, cowgirls, beef cattle producers & successful farmers the knowledge and education needed to bring high-quality beef & meat to your table for dinner. Learn more about Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ #RanchItUp #StayRanchy #TiggerApproved #tiggerandbec #rodeo #ranching #farming   REFERENCES https://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/117502

Welcome to the Cattle Call Podcast and welcome back to the "Quiz Zinn" series!. In this episode, we asked Dr. Richard Zinn a question about “Feeding heifers in the feedlot". Enjoy the call. Follow Cattle Call on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastcattlecall/ Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: ⁠⁠http://ceimperial.ucanr.edu/news_359/CattleCal_483/⁠⁠ Thank you very much! And remember: " "It is always a great time for a Cattle Call". #podcast #cattlecall #beefcattle #feedlot #animalscience #beef #beefnutrition #research

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.Feeding behavior of dairy cows is inherently tied to their dry matter intake (DMI) which is tied to milk production. If we want to change a cow's DMI, it must be mediated by changing her feeding behavior. (00:23)In a multi-variable analysis, Dr. DeVries found that DMI was most associated with feeding time and meal frequency. It's important to allow the cow to maximize the amount of time she can spend at the bunk eating, as well as the number of times she can get to the bunk each day. In one study, about 30% of the variability in milk fat content in cows on the same diet was explained by their meal frequency, where cows who had more meals per day had higher milk fat. Dr. DeVries also talks about the impacts of feeding behavior on cow efficiency and rumen dynamics. (2:13)As soon as a cow sorts the TMR put in front of her, she consumes a diet that's variable in composition to what we expect. Cows who sorted against long feed particles had lower milk fat and milk protein concentrations. In another study, Dr. DeVries retrospectively analyzed cows with a low vs high risk of ruminal acidosis. Cows in both groups had similar DMI but a tendency for high-risk cows to have lower milk yield and numerically lower milk fat. Combining these resulted in significantly lower fat-corrected milk for the high-risk cows. Given that the diets and DMI were similar, the difference was attributed to sorting, which can have quite negative impacts on individual and herd-level production. (10:00)Cows spend nearly twice as much time ruminating as they do eating. Rumination reduces feed particle size and increases surface area, leading to increased rates of digestion and feed passage. In a recent study, Dr. DeVries' group calculated the probability that cows were ruminating while lying down using automated monitoring data from previous experiments. Cows with a higher probability of ruminating while lying down had higher DMI, milk fat, and milk protein than cows who ruminated while standing. This highlights that cows need not only time to ruminate but also space for sufficient rest. (16:44)Diets and diet composition should be formulated to encourage frequent meals, discourage sorting, and stimulate rumination. Forage management factors including forage quality, forage quantity, forage type (dry vs ensiled), and particle size all play important roles. In a study with fresh cows, Dr. DeVries' lab fed two different particle sizes of straw: 5-8 cm vs 2-3 cm in length. While DMI was the same over the first 28 days of lactation, cows fed the long straw spent more time with rumen pH below 5.8 because they were sorting against the straw. This also resulted in a yield difference, as the short straw-fed cows produced about 165 pounds more milk over the first 28 days compared to the long straw group. Dr. DeVries also comments on the use of feed additives on rumen stability and feeding behavior (22:54)More frequent feed delivery should generate more consistent consumption and better feeding behavior, and improve rumen health and milk component concentration. Shifting feed delivery away from return from milking, while still ensuring cows have abundant feed available, results in more consistent eating patterns. Dr. DeVries emphasizes that we push up feed to make sure it's present at the bunk, not to stimulate cows to eat. We want to make sure that eating behavior is driven by the cow: when she's hungry and goes to the bunk, we need to make sure feed is there. (30:02)Dr. DeVries indicates we want to minimize the time cows are without feed completely. An empty bunk overnight plus a little overcrowding resulted in negative impacts on rumen health, including more acidosis and reduced fiber digestibility. Increased competition in overcrowding scenarios results in cows having larger meals, eating faster, and likely having a larger negative ruminal impact. In another study, every four inches of increased bunk space was associated with about 0.06% greater milk fat. Herds with high de novo fat synthesis were 10 times more likely to have at least 18 inches of bunk space per cow.  (40:04)In closing, Dr. DeVries' biggest takeaway is that how cows eat is just as important as the nutritional composition of the feed in ensuring cow health, efficiency, and production. Collectively, with good quality feed and good feeding management, we can gain optimal performance from those diets. Dr. DeVries ends by taking questions from the webinar audience. (43:40)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Weiss and Dr. St-Pierre co-authored this episode's journal club paper in Applied Animal Science (ARPAS Journal). Bill and Normand share a career-long interest in how feedstuffs and diet variation impact cows. (6:31)Bill and Normand discuss sources of variation, which they divide into true variation and observer variation. True variation means the feed has changed: a different field, change during storage, etc. Observer variation includes sampling variation and analytical variation. Some feeds may exhibit a lot of true variation and others may exhibit a lot of observer variation. And some feeds are high in both types of variation. Highly variable feeds should be sampled more frequently. Some feeds are so consistent that using book values makes more sense than sending in samples for analysis. Bill and Normand go on to give some examples and share sampling and analysis tips for different types of feedstuffs. (12:41)Bill would often be asked if users should continue to average new samples with older ones or just use the new numbers from the most recent sample. He and Normand debate the pros and cons of the two approaches as well as discuss the use of a weighted average where recent samples would be weighted to contribute more. (26:02)Next, our guests discuss how multiple sources of a nutrient reduce the TMR variation for that specific nutrient. For example, alfalfa NDF is more variable than corn silage NDF on average. Yet if you use a blend of these two ingredients, you end up with less variation in NDF than if you used all corn silage. Normand details the mathematical concepts behind this relationship. Both Bill and Normand emphasize that diets must be made correctly for the best results. (32:26)How do feedstuffs and diet variations impact cows? Both guests describe different experiments with variable protein and NDF concentrations in diets. Some were structured, like alternating 11% CP one day and 19% CP the next for three weeks. Some were random, like randomly alternating the NDF over a range of 20-29% with much higher variation than we'd ever see on-farm. The common thread for all these experiments is that the diet variations had almost no impact on the milk production of the cows. (38:04)Clay asks how variation in dry matter might affect cows. Bill describes an experiment where the dry matter of silage was decreased by 10 units by adding water. Cows were fed the wet silage for three days, twice during a three-week study. To ensure feed was never limited, more as-fed feed was added when the wet silage was fed. It took a day for cows on the wet silage treatment to have the same dry matter intake (DMI) as the control cows and milk production dropped when DMI was lower. However, when switching abruptly back to the dry silage diet, DMI increased the day following the wet silage and stayed high for two days, so the cows made up for the lost milk production. Bill and Normand underline that it is critical for the cows not to run out of feed and described experiments where feed was more limiting, yielding less desirable outcomes. (46:17)In the last part of the paper, our guests outlined seven research questions that they feel need to be answered. Normand shares that his number one question is how long will cows take to respond to a change in the major nutrients? He feels that we spend an inordinate amount of money on feedstuffs analysis, and there are some feeds we should analyze more and some feeds we should quit analyzing. Bill's primary research question revolves around controlled variation. What happens if you change the ratio of corn silage and alfalfa once a week? Will that stimulate intake? Data from humans, pets, and zoo animals indicate that diet variation has a positive impact and Bill finds this area of research intriguing. (50:43)In closing, Clay encourages listeners to read this paper (link below) and emphasizes the take-home messages regarding sampling and research questions. Normand advises that if you are sampling feed, take a minimum of two samples, and try as much as you can to separate observer variation from true variation. He also reminds listeners to concentrate on a few critical nutrients with more repeatability for analyses. Bill encourages nutritionists to sit down and think when they get new data - before they go to their computer to make a diet change. If something changed, why did it change, and is it real? Take time to think it through. (1:01:38)You can find this episode's journal club paper from Applied Animal Science here: https://www.appliedanimalscience.org/article/S2590-2865(24)00093-4/fulltextPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

This Real Science Exchange episode was recorded during a webinar, which was part of a series. Watch all the presentations from this series here: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources-categories/real-science-lecture-series/previous-lectures/page/10/Early in lactation, the cow is incapable of eating enough to meet her dramatically increased requirements. As the cow's intake decreases near calving, there are fewer nutrient contributions from dry matter intake and she must alter nutrient partitioning to meet her increased needs by mobilizing fat and muscle stores. (1:18)Triglycerides from fat stores are broken down into non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and glycerol. NEFA has two different fates in the postpartum cow: to the mammary gland as a precursor for milk fat synthesis, or to the liver to be oxidized for energy production. Glycerol enters the gluconeogenic pathway in the liver as a glucose precursor. (4:41)The capacity for the liver to use NEFA for energy is limited by the capacity of the TCA cycle. When the TCA cycle is at capacity, excess NEFA can either undergo incomplete oxidation to ketones or be repackaged back into triglycerides. If the capacity for other tissues to use ketones for energy is exceeded, then blood concentrations of ketones rise and negative outcomes from subclinical and clinical ketosis can occur. If triglycerides accumulate in the liver, negative outcomes associated with fatty liver can occur. Triglycerides can be transported out of the liver via very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) export; however, VLDL export does not keep up with triglyceride concentration during the transition period in dairy cows, largely because of a limiting amount of phosphatidylcholine. (5:51)Dr. White describes a series of experiments in her lab using liver cells in culture to investigate the relationship between choline supplementation and VLDL export. As choline supplementation to the cell culture increased, so did VLDL export from the cells into the media. In addition, increasing choline supplementation to the cell culture also decreased cellular triglyceride content. (10:54)Using gene expression and radiolabeled tracers over a series of experiments, Dr. White's group found that as choline supplementation increased, so did complete oxidation of NEFA to energy. This was accompanied by decreased incomplete oxidation to ketone bodies and decreased accumulation of lipids in the liver cells. Glucose and glycogen were also increased with increasing choline supplementation to the cell culture, and a decrease in reactive oxygen species was observed. In addition, choline-supplemented cultures exhibited an increase in metabolic pathways associated with methionine regeneration and methyl donation. (15:29)Dr. White then details the complexity of the metabolic pathways that intersect between choline and methionine. In similar experiments supplementing cell cultures with increasing amounts of methionine and choline, there were no effects of methionine on lipid export, oxidative pathways, or glucose metabolism. The main benefit of methionine was a marked increase in glutathione production. It's important to note that no interactions between choline and methionine were observed in this series of experiments. (19:37)There seems to be a clear biological priority for different sets of pathways for choline and methionine. Choline seems to be influencing lipid, glucose, and oxidative pathways, while methionine is primarily serving its role as an essential amino acid for cellular protein structure and generation, acting as a methyl donor, and impacting inflammation. Importantly, both the choline and methionine results observed in cell culture are paralleled in transition dairy cow studies. (24:14)Dr. White's lab further investigated the impact of methionine on inflammation. When cells were challenged with LPS to provoke an inflammatory response, methionine mitigated the inflammatory response. Similar results have been observed in liver tissue samples of transition cows. Methionine mitigated inflammatory markers and increased glutathione but did not influence reactive oxygen species. Conversely, choline decreased reactive oxygen species but did not change glutathione. (27:47)Choline and methionine are both essential nutrients, there are biological priorities for them as methyl donors, and they are not mutually exchangeable. The lack of interaction between choline and methionine in vivo or in vitro supports the idea of different biological roles for these nutrients. (32:09)Dr. White takes questions from the webinar audience. (34:53)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

In part two of a two-part series, the Balchem technical team selected industry research of interest from the 2024 American Dairy Science Association meetings to feature on this episode of the Real Science Exchange. Smart Cows, Smart Farms: Unleashing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in the Dairy Sector Guest: Dr. Jeffrey Bewley, Holstein Association USA (1:58)Dr. Bewley is the Dairy Analytics and Innovation Scientist at Holstein Association USA, where part of his role is collaborating with Western Kentucky University at the WKU Smart Holstein Lab. The group works with more than 30 technologies, including wearable, camera and machine vision, milk analysis, and automation technologies. At ADSA, Dr. Bewley's presentation was part of a symposium titled “Applications of AI to Dairy Systems.” His talk focused on cow- and farm-level technologies using artificial intelligence. He anticipates a continued massive increase in the availability of technologies for dairy farms to assist with automating processes that are often monotonous tasks. One example of this is the wearable accelerometer technologies that allow for the assessment of estrous behavior, as well as rumination and eating behavior. In the future, camera-based technologies may become more commonplace for things like body condition scoring. Cameras may also be able to monitor rumination and eating behavior, and even perhaps dry matter intake. Dr. Bewley also sees an opportunity on the milk analysis side to be able to measure even more biomarkers to better manage for improved health, reproduction, and well-being. He reminds listeners that animal husbandry will continue to be a critical piece of dairy farming even with advancing technology. He gives examples of current and cutting-edge technologies on the horizon for dairy farms. On his wish list of technologies for the future, he includes dry matter intake measurement and inline measurement of somatic cell count, hormones, and metabolites in the milk. In closing, Dr. Bewley encourages listeners to be excited yet cautious about artificial intelligence and gives examples of how technology can collect phenotypic data to use in genetic evaluation. Explaining the Five Domains and Using Behavioral Measures in Commercial Systems Guest: Dr. Temple Grandin, Colorado State University (26:48)Dr. Grandin's presentation was also part of a symposium, titled “The Animal Behavior and Wealthbeing Symposia: Evaluating Animal Comfort and Wellbeing Using the Five Domains.” The five domains approach is gaining popularity. Previous guidance documents emphasized preventing suffering, cruelty, and discomfort. The five domains are nutrition, environment, health, behavior interactions, and the emotional state of the animal. Much of the information available is very theoretical. Dr. Grandin's goal for this presentation was to gather easy-to-download scoring tools to assist in auditing the five domains in the field. She emphasizes the importance of good stockmanship for animal well-being and cautions that while artificial intelligence technologies can be used to assess the five domains, good stockmanship will always be necessary. Dr. Grandin recommends a three-legged audit: internal, independent third-party, and corporate representatives. She cautions against farming all audits out to a third party and anticipates that it has the potential to cause major supply chain disruptions. Lastly, Dr. Grandin recommends simple yet effective outcome measures for audits that can be taught in a short training session that includes practice audits.View her five domains paper here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36290216/Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt. 

Nutritionists are often blamed for transition cow problems like high NEFAs, clinical and subclinical ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Dr. Baumgard suggests these symptoms are a result of one of two situations: 1. These are highly productive, healthy, and profitable cows; or 2. The symptoms are the metabolic reflection of immune activation, likely stemming from metritis, mastitis, pneumonia, or GI tract inflammation. In the first scenario, the nutritionist deserves a raise; in the second, these are mostly management issues not caused by nutrition. (1:26) If listeners are interested in more detail on this topic, Dr. Baumgard suggests reading this 2021 review in the Journal of Dairy Science: “ Invited review: The influence of immune activation on transition cow health and performance—A critical evaluation of traditional dogmas.” Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030221006329Dr. Baumgard highlights key concepts that underpin his thinking regarding transition cows: The best indicators of health are feed intake and milk yield, it's too easy to overthink the immune system, Mother Nature is rarely wrong, and inconsistent or non-reproducible data should create doubt. He goes on to review the incidence of metabolic disorders in early lactation and the energy balance dynamics of the transition period. (4:29)For decades, we've had the assumption that NEFAs and ketones are causing many of the health issues in transition cows. NEFAs, BHBs, and calcium have been correlated and associated with negative outcomes. However many other studies do not find these negative correlations or associations. Plasma NEFA is markedly increased following calving in almost all cows, yet only 15-20% get clinical ketosis. Dr. Baumgard suggests that it's presumptuous and reductionist of us to assume we can use one metabolite to diagnose the disease. Little mechanistic evidence exists to explain how these symptoms cause metabolic disease issues.  (10:29)If hyperketonemia, high NEFA, and subclinical hypocalcemia are causing disease, then therapeutically treating these disorders would improve overall cow health. NAHMS data does not back that up. Dr. Baumgard dissects the dogma of ketosis. In short, mobilization of adipose tissues and partial conversion of NEFA to ketones is essential for maximum milk yield. (18:35)High-producing cows are more hypoinsulinemic compared to low-producing cows, and transition period insulin concentrations are inversely related to whole lactation performance. Low insulin concentrations coupled with insulin resistance allow for fat mobilization. (29:02)Post-calving inflammation occurs in all cows. Sources include the mammary gland, the uterus,  and the gut. Severe inflammation precedes the clinical presentation of the disease. In one experiment, all cows exhibited some inflammation in very early lactation. However, cows that were culled or died before 100 days in milk were already severely inflamed during the first few days of lactation. Dr. Baumgard thinks inflammation is the simplest and most logical explanation for why some cows don't eat well before and after calving.  (31:13)While clinical hypocalcemia (milk fever) is pathological and requires immediate intervention, is subclinical hypocalcemia detrimental to health, productivity, and profitability? (36:33)Dr. Baumgard's paradigm-shifting concept suggests that increased NEFA and hyperketonemia are caused by immune activation-induced hypophagia, and hypocalcemia is a consequence of immune activation. He goes on to use a high-producing, a low-producing, and a sick cow to illustrate this concept. (43:26)In summary, the metabolic adjustments in minerals and energy during the transition period are not dysfunctional and don't need to be “fixed.” The real fix is to prevent immune activation in the first place to prevent the cow from going off feed. Profitable production is a consequence of wellness. (52:19)Dr. Baumgard takes a series of engaging questions from the webinar audience. Watch the full webinar at balchem.com/realscience. (56:04)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Love the show? Have any thoughts? Click here to let us know!This week, we're off to Oregon, where strange events and eerie tales await! Kenzie delves into the history and hauntings of Astoria's Flavel House Museum. This elegant Queen Anne-style mansion has graced the community for over a century—and is rumored to be haunted by members of the Flavel family. Next, Lauren investigates the mysterious cattle mutilations plaguing Oregon's ranches. Experts agree these incidents aren't the work of animals, but who—or what—could be responsible remains a mystery. Aliens, perhaps? Tune in and decide for yourself!--Follow us on Social Media and find out how to support A Scary State by clicking on our Link Tree: https://instabio.cc/4050223uxWQAl--Have a scary tale or listener story of your own? Send us an email to ascarystatepodcast@gmail.com! We can't wait to read it!--Thinking of starting a podcast? Thinking about using Buzzsprout for that? Well use our link to let Buzzsprout know we sent you and get a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1722892--Works cited!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yta4QOa3v1nS3V-vOcYPNx3xSgv_GckdFcZj6FBt8zg/edit?usp=sharing --Intro and outro music thanks to Kevin MacLeod. You can visit his site here: http://incompetech.com/. Which is where we found our music!

FSA Farm Loan Programs Developing Spring-Born Heifers Using the CalfDex App   00:01:05 – FSA Farm Loan Programs: Starting the show today is Marissa Kepley, Kansas Farm Service Agency farm loan specialist, as she discusses farm loan programs at the FSA. Marissa also shares how much money has been used for these programs. Farmers.gov   00:12:05 – Developing Spring-Born Heifers: Sandy Johnson, K-State beef reproduction specialist, keeps the show rolling as she talks about spring-born replacement heifer development. She says what research has influenced new approaches. Considerations for Replacement Heifer Management   00:23:05 – Using the CalfDex App: Part of the Beef Cattle Institute's Cattle Chat podcast ends today's show as Brad White, Bob Larson, Ted Schroeder and Cambree Schmaltz converse about the app CalfDex and what it provides to producers. CalfDex BCI Cattle Chat Podcast Bovine Science with BCI Podcast Email BCI at bci@ksu.edu     Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to ksrenews@ksu.edu.   Agriculture Today is a daily program featuring Kansas State University agricultural specialists and other experts examining ag issues facing Kansas and the nation. It is hosted by Shelby Varner and distributed to radio stations throughout Kansas and as a daily podcast.   K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. Shakespeare wrote, “The eyes are the windows of the soul.” Dr. Ollivett believes the lungs are the window to calf health management. The lungs are an indicator organ: respiratory disease is a symptom of management failure. Failure of passive transfer, diarrhea, septicemia, poor nutrition, a dirty environment, and heat or cold stress can all negatively impact the lungs. Often, this can manifest as subclinical pneumonia, where the lungs are abnormal but the calf externally appears completely normal. (3:51)Dr. Ollivett reviews the defense mechanisms of the airway. When a veterinarian takes swabs to assess a respiratory disease problem, the bacteria and viruses that live in the nasopharyngeal area just ahead of the trachea are the most representative of those bacteria and viruses that are present in the lungs. The bacteria and viruses in the lower nasal passages are unreliable indicators of what is present in the lungs. (6:28)Is coughing a good predictor of pneumonia? Research shows that if calves are coughing, it is highly likely they will test positive for a respiratory pathogen. One study showed that coughing was the best predictor of observing pneumonia on lung ultrasound, but only 37% of calves with pneumonia on ultrasound also had a cough. Dr. Ollivett observed similar results in commercial settings, where only about 10% of calves with pneumonia on ultrasound had an accompanying cough. This suggests that a cough is not a good early warning tool for pneumonia. (10:29)Dr. Ollivett believes respiratory disease exhibits an iceberg effect, where considerably more subclinical respiratory disease exists than clinical respiratory disease. She provides examples of necropsied lungs from dairy calves to emphasize the point that calves can appear completely normal, but have the same or more damage to their lungs compared to calves exhibiting clinical signs of pneumonia. In her work, Dr. Ollivett has found that the sensitivity of lung ultrasounds to find lung lesions in animals with subclinical disease is 88%. (16:32)What does it take to perform a lung ultrasound? Dr. Ollivett gives an overview of the process and describes what normal and affected lungs look like. Depending on the farm, 50-80% of cases can be subclinical for one to two weeks before we see signs of pneumonia. With lung ultrasounds, you can treat affected animals sooner while also getting a good assessment of where management can improve to better prevent pneumonia cases in the future. (27:37)The prevalence of the disease is roughly equal to the incidence of the disease times the duration of the disease. Prevention of disease reduces the speed at which disease occurs, thus decreasing the incidence of disease and lowering its prevalence. On the other hand, identifying sick calves sooner should reduce the duration of the disease, also lowering its prevalence. In addition, effective treatment that reduces the duration of disease supports antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Ollivett details criteria to evaluate treatment failure in your operation, as well as discusses antibiotic therapy in conjunction with lung ultrasounds. (34:29)Dr. Ollivett emphasizes the impact that the gut has on the lungs on most dairy farms. She feels that as an industry, we are far too comfortable with abnormal manure in 7- to 14-day-old calves. After any abnormal manure, calves are more likely to have abnormal lungs in the next couple of weeks. Ensuring good passive transfer and maintaining a clean environment will reduce lung lesions. (50:50)To keep calves breathing easy, Dr. Ollivett shares recommendations to reduce management failures before, at, and after birth. These can include clean and adequate space in maternity, clean calf bedding and equipment, the excellent establishment of passive transfer, adequate average daily gains in early life, and routine lung ultrasounds. (53:21)Dr. Ollivett answers questions from the webinar audience about evaluating treatment protocols for effectiveness, technicalities and landmarks of performing lung ultrasounds, how soon after birth to begin lung ultrasounds, using lung score to determine when to treat with antibiotics, and if lung ultrasounds could be used to cull animals with lung damage before they enter the milking herd. Watch the full webinar at balchem.com/realscience. (55:44)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Nydam and Dr. LeBlanc recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on August 7, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.Dr. Nydam begins with a brief overview of the concepts from the webinar, all based on understanding and applying information from different types of studies on dairy cow health and performance. Dr. LeBlanc adds that their goal was for the webinar to be useful for people with a practical interest in feeding and managing dairy cows. (4:12)Dr. Nydam discusses different kinds of bias in research. All studies have some bias in them to some extent, so acknowledging, understanding, and trying to control for that is critical. Dr. LeBlanc describes survivor bias. In the simplest sense, survivor bias can be thought of as who's alive to be counted. Several examples of treatments causing animals to be removed from a study or a disease-causing animal to be culled are reviewed. (8:24)Both guests give their perspectives on p-values. A p-value tells us the likelihood that a difference we observe is due to chance. There is active discussion among statisticians about the value of the p-value. Both guests suggest that readers should also assess if the study achieved its stated objective and if there are adequate numbers and statistical power to accomplish the objective. P-values help us understand risk. A p-value does not tell us how big a difference was or how important it was. (18:54)Dr. Nydam reviews that there are two kinds of study validity: internal and external. Internal validity centers around whether the study was done well. Was bias controlled for and acknowledged? External validity centers around the applicability of the study to the population. Is a study about mastitis treatment in water buffalo in Pakistan applicable to a dairy farm on Prince Edward Island? Peer review usually takes care of assessing internal validity. External validity is more up to each reader to decide for themself and their situation. (29:01)Scott asks about the validity of field trial data. Both guests acknowledge the inherent challenges of field studies and give some tips for success. Field studies can often have good external validity because they are done under real-world conditions and at scale. (34:23)The group dives into the topic of industry-funded research. Some skepticism and cynicism about industry-funded research exists. Industry-funded studies are not inherently biased and often answer important and tangible questions for decision-makers. Government funding is rarely going to be awarded to that type of research, but the industry is interested in funding it. If an industry-funded study is well done by a reputable researcher, has gone through the peer review process, and has appropriate methods and statistics, Dr. Nydam sees no reason to discount it. (44:56)Dr. LeBlanc reminds the audience when looking at different kinds of studies and different types of evidence, it's not that one type of study is good and others are not. For a lot of health-related research in dairy cows, we don't have good (or any) experimental models to reproduce things in a white-coat-science sort of way. At the end of the day, dairy managers and industry professionals want to know if a particular piece of science, whether experimental or observational, helps them make decisions on the farm. There's a place for all types of research as long as it's done well and in its own right.  (42:08)Dr. Nydam's key takeaway is that it's important to remember to keep some faith in science and have open discourse about it as we move forward in dairy science and as a society. Dr. LeBlanc reminds the audience that even if listeners are not in the business of designing, conducting, and analyzing their experiments, they do not need to feel powerless as consumers of scientific information. It can and should be something they can engage with and use to answer questions in their day-to-day jobs. (52:26)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

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This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. The primary goal of a replacement program is to raise the highest quality heifer that can maximize profits when she enters the lactating herd. She carries no limitations that would detract from her ability to produce milk under the farm's management system. Ideally, one would wish to optimize profits by obtaining the highest quality heifer at the lowest possible cost, usually in the least amount of time. Dr. Van Amburgh presents a snapshot evaluation of benchmarks to assess the potential quality of replacements. (3:47)When does the process of creating a quality heifer start? Probably before conception. In non-pasture herds, the first lactation cows giving birth to heifers produced about 1000 pounds more milk in the first two lactations. Heifers whose dams were supplemented with choline during the pre-fresh period had higher birth-to-yearling average daily gains and improved immunity. Choline also appears to enhance the quality of colostrum via increased absorption of IgG. This implies that maternal programming extends beyond the uterine environment via ingestion of milk-borne factors, known as the lactocrine hypothesis (14:29)After the calf is born, the goal is anabolism or growth. The dam communicates with the calf via colostrum to direct calf development after birth. Not only does colostrum provide immunoglobulins, but it also contains a large amount of nutrients and non-nutrient factors that support gut maturation. In particular, IGF-1 and insulin may act on receptors in the gut to stimulate cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and protein synthesis. Dr. Van Amburgh summarizes several studies that showed increased colostrum feeding improved pre- and post-weaning growth and development. While the immunoglobulin content of colostrum is essential for passive immunity, the other components in colostrum are responsible for the increased growth performance. (27:39)The hormones and growth factors in colostrum enhance protein synthesis, enzyme expression, and gastrointestinal tract development. This implies that the gut is now an even stronger barrier to infection, with more surface area for digestion and absorption, with an increased capacity to digest nutrients due to higher enzyme excretion. (36:33)To investigate the impact of non-nutrient factors in colostrum, studies were designed where calves were fed either colostrum or milk replacer with the same nutrient content. Glucose uptake was increased for colostrum calves even though both groups received similar nutrient content. Plasma glucagon was higher in colostrum calves, indicating better glucose status and higher reserve capacity. Plasma protein levels were higher in colostrum calves, suggesting more amino acids available for growth and protein synthesis. Plasma urea nitrogen was lower for colostrum calves, indicating fewer amino acids were used for gluconeogenesis leading to more efficient growth. (46:55)What happens to immune cells in colostrum? Leukocytes and other immune-related cells in colostrum are trafficked into the circulation of the calf. Maternal leukocytes can be detected in the calf by 12 hours, peak at 24 hours, and disappear by 48 hours. Long term, there appears to be greater cellular immunity in calves that received whole colostrum compared to cell-free colostrum. Uptake of cells from colostrum enhances cellular immunity in calves by providing, mature, programmed cells from the dam. (52:24)The take-home message for colostrum management is to feed colostrum for four days. Give first-milking colostrum within six hours of birth and again at 12 hours. Give second-milking colostrum for day two feeding and third- and fourth-milking colostrum for days three and four. (56:04)Dr. Van Amburgh answers a few questions from the webinar audience about dry cow management for colostrum quality and quantity, the impacts of pasteurization of colostrum on components, and the efficacy of colostrum replacers. Watch the full webinar at balchem.com/realscience. (58:25)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Mitloehner recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on September 11, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.Dr. Mitloehner begins by sharing about the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at UC Davis. He established this research and communications center to combat misinformation about sustainability in animal agriculture. One unique aspect of the center is a diverse communications department composed of journalists, filmmakers, and social media experts to help scientists communicate with the public. (6:04)In his webinar, Dr. Mitloehner focused on animal agriculture's impact on the climate, particularly via methane. Unlike other greenhouse gasses, methane is not only naturally produced, but it is naturally destroyed. It remains in the atmosphere for about a decade before it's gone. Thus, if mitigation methods are used to reduce methane production, warming will also be reduced. (8:10)Dr. Mitloehner urges continued research into improving efficiency in food production and encourages animal agriculture to take the public along with them. Stop portraying a romanticized, Old McDonald's version of animal agriculture and show what happens. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and we should be proud of the improved efficiencies and sustainability of livestock production. (13:00)What methods or strategies exist for reducing methane? Improved ration development and feed additives to reduce enteric methane are two examples. Methane production is a heritable trait, and genomic tests are available to identify low and high methane producers. There are also ways to reduce methane loss from animal manure, including capping lagoons with anaerobic digesters to capture the gas and turn it into fuel. Dr. Mitloeher encourages voluntary, incentive-based adoption policies for these practices. (16:03)Dr. Nichols describes her work in the Netherlands on reducing nitrogen losses. Improving protein efficiencies in livestock in the Netherlands is motivated first by environmental concerns and then by cost. Dr. Nichols expects increasing pressure in the United States regarding nitrogen load, particularly in intensively farmed portions of the country. At UC Davis, she plans to continue researching protein efficiency in dairy cows with a particular interest in optimal digestible amino acid profiles for efficient milk production.  (24:00)Reducing crude protein in the diet decreases the amount of nitrogen excreted. As protein concentrations become more marginal, that's when the composition of protein and amino acid in the diet becomes more critical. Dr. Nichols has found in infusion studies that the closer the digestible amino acid profile is to the essential amino acids in casein, the more efficiently dietary protein is incorporated into milk protein. (32:20)Dr. Mitloehner gives some examples of some of the incentives available to farms in California, as well as what he sees for the future in this regard. Many of the incentives are based on improvement, which discourages early adoption and Dr. Mitloehner feels this is nonsensical. Dr. Nichols chimes in with some of the incentive-type structures in Europe. (36:21)An additional challenge in the greenhouse gas arena is that there is no standardized protocol or measurement technique to quantify emissions. There is some effort from the United Nations and FAO to standardize some of these measures. Panelists agree that farmers are well served to document what they do and record benchmarks for things where measurements are standardized.  (44:49)Conor's big takeaway from this discussion is that research is ongoing to create a low emission sustainable future for animal agriculture that will take collaboration between science and policy to implement widely. Dr. Nichols reminds the audience that nitrogen should absolutely be on the minds of farmers and nutritionists, not only from an economic perspective of your ration, but also because of its environmental impact. Nitrogen mitigation is far more complicated than methane mitigation. She encourages listeners to take a look at the composition of the protein in their rations, keep good records, and see what kind of marginal changes you can make. Dr. Mitloehner encourages the audience to remember that environmental issues are intertwined with animal health and the profitability of an operation. We should not ignore emissions, we should become part of a solution. Lastly, we must find ways to effectively communicate about animal agriculture to the public. (55:31)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! Dr. Brad White, Dr. Phillip Lancaster, Dr. Dustin Pendell and Dr. Brian Lubbers cover selecting replacement heifers. They then discuss pain management in cattle and how we determine pain and medicate it. Finally the experts talk about managing your bulls after breeding season is over. 3:00 Replacement Heifers 9:33 Pain… Continue reading Replacement Heifers, Pain Management, Bull Management

This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series. Choline was discovered in 1862 in pig and ox bile (“chole” in Greek). It is a simple nutrient containing five carbons and a nitrogen. Choline is considered a quasi-vitamin since its requirements and de novo synthesis are both higher than the B vitamins it's similar to. Pigs can synthesize more choline than chickens. Choline is considered to be a conditionally essential nutrient depending on the physiological stage and choline production ability of the species being considered. (3:29)Choline is involved in cellular maintenance and growth at all life stages. In particular, it's involved in neurotransmission as a component of both sphingomyelin and acetylcholine. Phosphatidylcholine is a major component of cellular and organelle membranes and is involved in lipoprotein synthesis for the transport of lipids. Choline is converted to betaine upon oxidation, and betaine plays an important role in one-carbon metabolism as a methyl group donor. (8:43)Dietary-free choline is preferentially used for acetylcholine and phosphatidylcholine synthesis. Phosphatidylcholine is the most abundant form of choline in the body. In general, water-soluble forms of choline are absorbed faster and have a higher tissue incorporation rate than lipid-soluble forms. (14:58) Clinical signs of choline deficiency include reduced growth and reproductive performance. In pigs and chickens, choline-deficient diets lead to lipid accumulation in the liver. In broiler chickens, perosis is a classic choline deficiency sign and may progress to slipped tendons. From human studies, we know that insufficient methylation capacity during early development increases the risk of neural tube defects and impaired cognitive function. (16:44)As animals age, their dietary source of choline transitions from water-soluble forms to lipid-soluble forms. Mammalian young receive water-soluble choline from milk, and avian species from the egg yolk. After weaning in pigs and at the hatch in chickens, the dietary choline source transitions to lipid-soluble forms found in oilseed meals. Dr. Dilger goes on to describe choline concentrations in common feedstuffs and supplements. Feedstuff type and processing methods have a profound influence on bioavailable choline content. (19:16)Dr. Dilger details some of his work with choline and betaine in poultry diets. The requirement for preformed choline is relatively high for poultry because they lack capacity in a particular methyl transferase enzyme responsible for de novo synthesis. They also have relatively high choline oxidase activity which favors the formation of betaine from choline. Betaine is critical as a buffer to counteract the toxic effects of uric acid in the avian kidney. Dr. Dilger describes choline dietary requirements for avian species. (27:38)Pigs have more efficient methyl transferase activity for de novo synthesis of choline. Sufficient choline is provided by milk and practical diets. For growing pigs consuming corn-soybean meal diets where methionine can completely spare choline, there is little benefit of choline supplementation for growth. Choline requirements increase for gestating and lactating sows. Swine requirements for choline were set in the 1940s and 1950s. Dr. Dilger believes these requirements need a second look given the great changes in pig and crop genetics since the requirements were originally established. To that end, work in his lab has shown that choline intake during gestation and lactation influences sow milk composition, body choline concentrations and forms, metabolomic profiles and brain development of pigs. (35:18)In conclusion, Dr. Dilger considers choline a pervasive nutrient due to its crucial metabolic roles. Species-specific idiosyncrasies drive choline requirements, and analytical data for choline-related compounds is lacking. Different forms of choline have different metabolic kinetics and the potential for choline deficiency remains a practical issue. (46:15)In closing, Dr. Dilger answers an extensive set of questions from the audience. Watch the full webinar at balchem.com/realscience. (48:32)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

TUESDAY HR 2 RRR Trivia - What state has the most reported UFO sightings? Russ shares with us some of the things rambling around in that head of his. Ryan and Russ set the ground rules for the bet. Taco Day

Dr. Kononoff's lab evaluated retrospective feed mixing records collected from eight commercial dairy farms. Data was divided into 28-day periods. Daily TMR nutrient deviation was automatically calculated from feed mixer data as the actual amount of a nutrient fed minus the target amount from the original diet formulation, divided by the target amount. (5:43)Crude protein, NDF, fat, and starch were the nutrients evaluated in the study. (13:40)Variation was positive for every nutrient on the vast majority of days. Dr. Kononoff attributes that to more feed being delivered than the diet formulation predicted animals would consume. Dry matter intake decreased with increasing positive deviation days in starch and increased with increasing positive deviation days in crude protein. NDF deviation did not impact dry matter intake. A narrow range of diets was used in the dataset and the main byproduct feed was high in NDF, so Dr. Kononoff speculates that there was not a wide enough range in NDF to have an impact on intakes. (17:04)Milk yield increased with increased positive deviation days in starch and decreased with increased positive deviation days in NDF. The pregnancy rate increased with increasing positive deviation days in fat and decreased with increasing positive deviation days in crude protein. Unfortunately, milk urea nitrogen data was not available in the dataset to further investigate the crude protein/pregnancy rate relationship. (20:44)There was little farm-to-farm variation in the data. (25:08)As positive deviation days for starch increased, so did feed conversion. The opposite effect was noted for NDF. As positive deviation days for fat increased, feed conversion decreased. This result was a little surprising, as delivering more energy usually improves feed conversion. However, the dataset did not specify the source of fat or fatty acid profile, so there may have been some rumen fermentation interference from fat. (27:08)Dr. Kononoff thinks it would be interesting to track individual cows through lactation and collect nutrient variation data. Dr. Weiss asks if the correlation between daily farm milk yield and nutrient variation was evaluated; it was not. Dr. Kononoff agrees that there may be some additional correlations that would be interesting to run. (33:22)In closing, Dr. Zimmerman commends Dr. Kononoff's work in tackling such a large dataset and looks forward to follow-up research. Dr. Weiss agrees and encourages more data extraction from the dataset. He was also very surprised at the low farm-to-farm variation observed and speculated if that would hold up if there were more variation in diets. Dr. Kononoff reminds the audience that taking a look at the TMR beyond the paper ration and digging into mixing techniques and TMR consistency is as important as evaluating bulk tank information or the amount of milk shipped. (37:20)You can find this episode's journal club paper from the Journal of Dairy Science Communications here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666910224000760Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Balchem sponsored several abstracts presented at the 2024 ADSA Annual Meeting. This episode consists of five segments, each focused on an abstract.Segment 1: Evaluating the total mixed ration stability of rumen-protected lysine products.Guests: Kari Estes, Balchem; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia TechThis research compared the TMR stability of a Balchem prototype, several commercially available rumen-protected lysine products and a positive control of unprotected lysine. (3:39)A sample of TMR and the equivalent of one gram of lysine from each product were mixed and placed in a  plastic zip bag for 0, 6, 12, or 24 hours. After each time point, the sample was placed in a strainer bag, dipped in distilled water, and drip-dried. The solution was collected and analyzed for free lysine content. (5:28)About 85% of the unprotected lysine was recovered at 0 hours. After 24 hours, around 50% was recovered. The rumen-protected lysine products varied widely; one product released nearly 87% of its lysine in 24 hours, while another only released 9%. TMR stability should be taken into account when determining feeding rates and handling of rumen-protected lysine products. (7:19)Segment 2: Evaluating the total mixed ration stability of rumen-protected choline products.Guests: Kari Estes, Balchem; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia TechIn this experiment, Kari evaluated TMR stability of five commercially available rumen-protected choline products, along with a positive control treatment of unprotected choline chloride. (14:04)At 0 hours, about 80% of the unprotected choline was recovered and 50% was recovered at 24 hours. Results for the rumen-protected choline products were highly variable, ranging from 5% release to 100% release at 24 hours. Rumen-protected choline products should be evaluated for TMR stability in addition to rumen stability and intestinal release. (17:25)Segment 3: Effect of dry period heat stress and rumen-protected choline on productivity of Holstein cows. Guests: Maria Torres de Barri and Dr. Geoff Dahl, University of FloridaThe experiment had four treatments: heat stress with and without rumen-protected choline, and cooling with and without rumen-protected choline. Cows in the cooling treatment were provided shade, soakers, and fans, while cows in the heat stress treatment were only provided shade. (24:45)Heat-stress cows had higher rectal temperatures and respiration rates than cooled cows. Heat-stress cows also had lower dry matter intakes, shorter gestation length, lighter calves, and produced less milk. (29:36)For cows in the cooling group, choline supplementation increased milk production. However, cows in the heat stress group supplemented with choline produced less milk than cows who did not receive choline. (31:04)Dr. Dahl suggests that not cooling cows in heat-stress environments when they're receiving choline will not result in optimal results. (33:49)Segment 4: Effects of dietary rumen-protected, ruminal-infused, or abomasal-infused choline chloride on milk, urine, and fecal choline and choline metabolite yields in lactating cows. Guests: Mingyang (Charlie) You and Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell UniversityThis experiment evaluated early and late lactation cows supplemented with choline via three different methods. Each treatment had 12.5 grams of choline ion provided daily: fed in rumen-protected form, continuously infused into the rumen, or continuously infused into the abomasum. (36:29)Choline bioavailability was influenced by the delivery method of choline. Fecal and milk choline concentration was only observed in early lactating cows with abomasal infusion. Abomasal infusion increases the choline metabolite betaine in feces and urine. These results suggest there is potential saturation of choline metabolism in the lactating cow. (40:53)Segment 5: The metabolic fate of deuterium-labeled choline in gestating and lactating Holstein dairy cows. Guests: Dr. Tanya France, University of Wisconsin; Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell UniversityDr. France explains that choline can be metabolized via two different pathways. Using deuterium-labeled choline (D-9 choline) allows researchers to know which pathway is used. If D-3 or D-6 choline is measured, the methionine cycle is used, and if D-9 choline is measured, the CDP choline pathway is used. The hypothesis was that the physiological stage (late gestation vs early lactation) would influence choline metabolism. (51:06)Dr. France found that both choline metabolism pathways were used in both physiological stages. This experiment also confirmed that choline is a methyl donor and that choline recycling can occur. The research also evaluated the relative amounts of choline and choline metabolites in each pool. (53:40)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt. 

This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem's Real Science Lecture Series.Throughout the last 30 years, the dairy industry has moved to producing highly concentrated versions of milk proteins. In cows' milk, about 80% of the protein is casein and 20% is in the serum or whey phase. These ratios vary by species. There are three major caseins in cows' milk: alpha-S-casein, beta-casein, and kappa-casein. The first two are rich in phosphate for calcium binding. Kappa-casein is critical in a micellar structure that allows these structures to stay suspended in the milk. (1:21)Whey proteins also differ by species. In cows' milk, about 50% of the whey protein is beta-lactoglobulin. It's rich in branched-chain amino acids, and it is not present in human milk so it is a focus of allergy research. Alpha-lactalbumin is found in all mammals and is a cofactor for lactose production. (10:34)Caseins and whey proteins are different from one another and are in completely different classes of proteins. From structure, to size, to amino acid content, to solubility; these two types of proteins are yin and yang. (11:51)When fluid milk or whey is concentrated by removing water, some sugars and other materials dissolve via evaporation or membrane filtration. It results in dried powders, milk protein concentrate, milk protein isolate, whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolates. Concentrates contain 80-85% protein and isolates contain more than 90% protein.  (17:14)What's driving the current and probably future popularity of these dairy proteins? One, is their versatility in many food applications, and the other is the superior nutritional quality of the proteins. Nearly half of the milk protein concentrate use is for mainstream nutrition and sports beverages. Similar trends have been observed for whey protein isolates. (20:05)Dairy proteins are very rich in branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) like leucine. BCAAs help initiate protein synthesis, are important for muscle recovery, help with weight loss by maintaining blood glucose levels, are synergistic with exercise, and can promote healthy aging. Dr. Lucey gives several different examples of products utilizing dairy proteins. He predicts that the increased focus on nutrition products, interest in isolating individual proteins and improving export opportunities will continue to drive demand for dairy proteins in the future.  (27:21)All of the main milk proteins have genetic variants, which are minor amino acid differences in the same protein. Variants occur at different frequencies among breeds. Beta-casein has two variants, A1 and A2. There is one amino acid difference out of 209 total amino acids, located at position 67 where a histidine is found in variant A1 and a proline is found in variant A2. When histidine is present, the beta-casein is prone to cleavage at position 67, creating a fragment called beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7). When proline is present, it hinders the cleavage of casein at position 67. BCM-7 is an exogenous opioid peptide with the potential to elicit opioid activity on a range of tissues and organs. It's known as a “bioactive peptide” and some others from milk and cheese have been implicated as anti-hypertensive. (35:26)In the late 1990s, some researchers claimed that A1 milk was implicated in diabetes, coronary heart disease, autism, and schizophrenia. Subsequent reviews and investigations by significant international bodies found no evidence of these claims. (40:34)In closing, Dr. Lucey answers questions from the webinar audience. He talks about the potential of breeding cows customized for the production of minor milk components, milk components as renewable bio-plastics, and the superiority of milk proteins compared to plant proteins. Watch the full webinar at balchem.com/realscience. (47:41)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.

Dr. Overton presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on July 10, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience. This episode takes a deeper dive into the conversation.Dr. Overton begins by reminding listeners of the vast number of changes occurring in the fresh cow during the first two to three weeks after calving. Body fat and protein mobilization, some systemic inflammation, the potential for elevated NEFAs and ketones, and calcium dynamics all play a role in how the fresh cow starts her lactation period. (7:31)When consulting with clients, Dr. Faldet uses research to guide his decisions. He likes to implement a 14-day pen for fresh cows, ranging from 10-17 days. He evaluates things like stocking rates, lockup times, and cow comfort, along with fine-tuning a diet for each individual farm setting. (9:14)The panel discusses the importance of increasing effective fiber along with starch in fresh cow diets. Without adequate effective fiber in the diet, the risk of acidosis increases, resulting in cows going off feed. There is no silver bullet; each farm's fresh cow diet is going to be different due to different forage bases and timing in the fresh cow group. (13:02)Both Dr. Faldet and Dr. Overton stressed the diet is only one component of a successful fresh cow program. Other critical pieces include stocking rate, availability of feed, water quantity and quality, and cow comfort. Dr. Faldet suggests that if you do all these non-diet factors right, you could probably maneuver closeup and fresh pens a little differently and make the diet work with the ingredients you have. Dr. Overton's group is conducting survey work evaluating the variability in particle size in closeup diets. A pilot study showed that as particle size variability increased, so did fresh cow health issues and poor postpartum metabolic status. (19:10)Protein requirements of the fresh cow were another topic of Dr. Overton's webinar. He described a recent experiment evaluating standard and high metabolizable protein concentrations in the diet for closeup and fresh cows. The postpartum MP gave a big milk response, around 15-16 pounds per day for the first 21 days after calving, with a carryover effect of 11-12 pounds of milk for the next 20 days after all cows went back on the same diet. It's important to note that lysine and methionine were fixed regardless of treatment, so it seems that other amino acids are probably involved in the mechanism of action. (23:06)Dr. Overton described an experiment designed to evaluate starch and fiber in fresh cow diets where higher fiber digestibility and increased corn in silage resulted in less fiber and more starch than anticipated in the diet. Fresh cows were a bit of a trainwreck, but the problem was resolved once another couple of pounds of straw were added to the diet. On the other hand, you can go too far with increased fiber in fresh cow diets, which results in ketosis, lower intakes, and less milk production. (35:19)The panel then discusses far-off programs, fat supplementation in fresh cow diets, and vitamin and mineral concentrations for fresh cows. (42:37)In summary, each panelist shares their takeaways. Dr. Elliott reminds listeners that we should think about starch, fat, fiber, and protein together and how they influence each other rather than considering them individually. Dr. Faldet's take-home message is to know what your targets and bookends are and really hone in and implement your fresh cow diets accordingly. Dr. Overton suggests that the industry will shift to evaluating fresh cow diets as their own thing rather than trying to tweak a few things from your high cow diet. Implementing fresh cow diets consistently and well is going to be important. (53:30)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.  If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we'll mail you a shirt.