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)

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Dr. Callaway presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on June 4, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience. The following podcast takes a deeper dive into the conversation.

For years, probiotics were known as direct-fed microbials (DFMs) in livestock and probiotics in humans. Terminology has been updated to reflect different modes of action and composition. (9:07)

A probiotic is defined as a living microorganism that will be beneficial to the health and/or performance of the host. Prebiotics are fermentable substrates that the host can’t use, but the microbes can. Dr. Steele agrees that terminology and definitions keep evolving; he uses “microbial-based solutions” rather than DFM. He believes that the ever-evolving terminology and definitions have led to some of the skepticism about these products in the industry. He recommends to farmers and nutritionists that a product should have a bare minimum of three publications in high-quality peer-reviewed journals showing efficacy before using them on-farm. (10:13)

Every farm is going to have a different set of challenges and goals that will play a role in determining the right choice of microbial-based solution. Weather and climate, water quality, pathogen challenges, ration grind size, and ration ingredients will all factor into the decision. (17:39)

Both guests agree that we don't know enough about the microbiome in cattle to define what a good versus a bad microbiome looks like. Dr. Steele suggests the next steps in research should look more deeply at the host’s physiological mechanisms in how they’re responding to a probiotic to truly understand when it’s going to work and when it’s not. (21:19)

Dr. Ordway asks how much microbial products could improve the absorption of nutrients. Dr. Steele responds that much of the research so far has focused on digestion and absorption has not been studied much. Some studies in calves fed microbials have shown changes in gut structure and the development of villi, and even papillae in the rumen. That gives us some high-level information about absorption, but we are not close to understanding the nitty gritty of the microbial mechanisms at play in absorption. Dr. Callaway adds that hindgut absorption in ruminants is more important than we have previously thought. Dr. Steele suggests the small and large intestines are equally as important as the forestomach, but they are not as well understood as they’re harder to study in ruminants. The conversation goes on to discuss possible modes of action behind increased liver abscesses observed in beef on dairy operations. (30:12)

Both guests share their thoughts regarding working together across disciplines, especially agronomy researchers since the feed base has such an impact on-farm. They discuss soil microbes, forge inoculants, and silage microbes. (43:23)

Dr. Ordway’s take-home message for nutritionists is to not forget to have conversations with your partners - the producer, the end user, the veterinarian, the crop team and the management team on the farm. Coordinated biology is not just within the animal, it’s all the factors coming into play that have been discussed in this episode. (58:32)

Dr. Steele reiterates his earlier advice to only use microbial-based solutions that have a bare minimum of three publications showing efficacy in a high-ranking journal. He also recommends you choose your metric of measurement properly. Focusing on cattle that are experiencing some stress or metabolic or infectious issues may allow you to truly evaluate the return on investment. There are great microbial solutions out there but you need to use a proven solution from a company that’s research-based. (59:48)

Dr. Callaway echoes Dr. Steele’s recommendation to be slightly cynical about companies that come in to sell you things. Ask how their product works, and ask to see the research. A company that tells you when its product works and when it doesn’t might be more trustworthy than one that says their product always works. Lastly, what does success look like for you as a farmer? Have a measurable, bite-size metric for determining if these products impact your bottom line. (1:01:28)

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This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Practical Aspects of Reducing Carbon Footprint by Dairy Farms Through Feeding” from the conference proceedings.

In the U.S., livestock competes with oil and gas for the top source of methane emissions. While “carbon-neutral” agriculture may be easy for modelers to show, Dr. Hristov feels this is misleading and probably impossible in practical dairy farming. However, mitigation can be addressed in several directions, and nutrition can have perhaps the largest impact. Management practices, genetic selection, and manure management can be added to achieve large reductions in total methane from an intensive dairy production system. (2:43)

As forage digestibility increases, methane yield and intensity will decrease. A forage with higher digestibility may gain a 10-15% improvement in methane intensity compared to a lower digestible forage. In addition, starch makes less methane than NDF does. Feedlot cattle produce half the methane of a normal dairy cow due to the increased starch in the feedlot diet. We know fats and lipids can decrease methane, but anything higher than 5-6% in the diet will disturb rumen function and lead to poorer performance. Comparing different forages, corn silage produces the least methane, with alfalfa in second place. (6:41)

Feed additives have the potential to deliver compounds for methane mitigation. One of these is 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), the commercial version of which was developed in Europe. It is approved in Europe and Latin American countries. Australia and New Zealand are also working through the approval process. This compound inhibits the MCR enzyme (methyl coenzyme M reductase) which catalyzes the last step in methanogenesis. Dr. Hristov’s lab has consistently shown a 30% reduction in methane yield when diets containing 3-NOP are fed, with no impact on milk production and a slight increase in milk fat. 3-NOP is quickly metabolized, so it is most useful in a confinement system where it can continuously enter the rumen. The compound is stable in a TMR for up to 24 hours, and the optimum inclusion rate is 60-80 milligrams per kilogram of diet (60-80 ppm). (14:41)

Regarding regulatory approval in the U.S., the FDA has indicated that 3-NOP must be approved as a drug, not as a feed additive. Dr. Hristov has concerns about an adaptation of the cows to the compound. One study in Holland fed 3-NOP for a year, and there was a definite decrease in efficacy over time. Furthermore, efficacy may depend on diet, as 3-NOP is less effective with high NDF diets. It’s unclear if the decrease in efficacy over time is because the microbes break down 3-NOP before it affects methane synthesis or if the microbes shift to a different pathway of methane synthesis. (22:04)

Bromoform, a compound found in red seaweeds, is also a powerful methane mitigator. Dr. Hristov’s lab has observed 60-65% decreases in methane production early in the feeding period, dropping to 20-25% after 200 days. Other issues include the practicality of growing and transporting seaweed, the instability of bromoform, and the fact that bromoform is an ozone-depleting compound and a carcinogen. Seaweed extracts tend to decrease dry matter intake, and thus milk production and milk iodine increase dramatically. (25:54)

In the U.S. dairy system, where manure is usually handled as a liquid, methane emissions from manure and from the cow are equal. Methane digesters and flaring of methane are common mitigation methods. Acidification is another method whereby decreasing pH can decrease methane emissions and ammonia and nitrous oxide losses. Dr. Hristov predicts a lot of additives to decrease methane emissions from manure will eventually be available on the market. (31:16)

3-NOP has little effect on rumen dynamics but may increase butyrate. Dr. Weiss asks if different feed additives have synergistic effects, and Dr. Hristov thinks much more work is needed in this arena. (33:19)

While methane mitigation probably has no silver bullet, many little interventions can add up to a big impact. Looking forward, so many people are working in this area; we will have solutions for methane mitigation. (43:56)

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Guests: 
Dr. Tom Overton, Cornell University
Corwin Holtz, Holtz-Nelson Dairy Consultants

The last 18 months have been challenging for the ag industry, and we've seen a rollercoaster of milk prices throughout the COVID pandemic. As the world begins to normalize, we can now shift our focus to impacting efficiency and profitability across the dairy operation. Tonight, we’re going to get really practical and dig into ways we can improve milk component production. 

Corwin describes that he monitors, on a monthly basis, energy corrected milk, pounds of fat, pounds of protein, ratios relative to dry matter intake, what our energy corrected feed efficiency is. He also looks at our component efficiency, pounds of fat and pounds of protein combined, relative to herd average dry matter intake. 7:22

Dr. Tom Overton discussed how components are heritable. This means some of your herds think about genetics and how they also use those strategies to try to improve, not just milk yield, but also component yields over time. 17:08

There is a concern by many, Corwin Holtz shares, that we're probably not pushing up feed nearly as many times a day as what we should. In his opinion, if we're not close to 12 times a day, we're probably not getting the job done the way we ought to be. 38:26

Dr. Tom Overton discusses that all fractions are going to move up or down together when you talk about milk fat protein or total milk fat percentages. He shares that if we're in a milk fat depression type scenario, they all go down, but the de novos go down proportionally more. It helps us identify where that issue may be, relative to saturated fatty acids. 51:20

From Corwin Holtz’s experience, good fiber digestibility; that's the key to any nutrition program and feeding management. He describes that we deal with a lot of overcrowded barns and that's not going to change. But can we get our feeders and feeding management into a routine that we are not slug feeding? Can any cow at any time that wants to go up and eat has the ability to? I think those are two key things that we continue to press with our clients' day in and day out. 58:06

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Guests: 
Dr. Lance Baumgard, Iowa State University
Dr. Rosemarie Zimbelman, Dairy Nutrition Services
Dr. Bob Collier, University of Idaho

Summer heat is at full strength and that means heat stress for your animals. Tonight, we have brought together a powerhouse roundtable of experts in the field of heat stress management to talk through the physiology and mechanisms for effectively managing the heat.  

Dr. Bob Collier discussed how we have changed our cows in the past 50 years to produce milk production which increases maintenance requirements, making them more sensitive to heat stress and more resistant to cold. 2:50

Dr. Rosemarie Zimbelman discussed some of the advancing technology seen over the past 40 years such as evaporative cooling methods and nutritional strategies improving cattle comfort. 6:10

Dr. Bob Collier discussed the possibility of higher sweat rates in cows but also the negative effect which would be lower milk yields. 16:38

Dr. Rosemarie Zimbelman discussed altering diets in the summer months to reduce heat stress. 20:00

Dr. Lance Baumgard discussed the consequences of heat stress emanating from the gut (leaky gut). This causes an immune response, leading to heat stress and infections like mastitis. 22:06

Dr. Bob Collier discussed the advantage and importance of high-quality water and cost-effective milk production. 31:56

Dr. Lance Baumgard discussed the negative consequences of in utero heat stress and the calf becoming less feed efficient and less productive. 49:52

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Guests:  Dr. Greg Aldrich, K-State University, Dr. Amanda Dainton, K-State University, Dr. Heather Acuff, K-State University, Krystina Lema Almeida, K-State University

In this episode, you’ll feel like we're back on campus because we've gathered together some of the top minds in the Kansas State University pet food program for this week's pubcast. The discussion started at our very first research showcase webinar, which aired on March 16th. We'll feature other university programs going forward. And if you'd like for us to consider showcasing your university program, simply email us anh.marketing@balchem.com. To find a recording of the K-State showcase webinar, go to www.balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Greg Aldrich discussed some of the successes and careers his students have found in the pet food industry after going through the program at K-State. 

22:15

Dr. Heather Acuff gave advice, to future students, to ask their professors about programs they are interested in joining. Also, nobody needs to tell themselves they are too old to go back to school. 

25:39

Dr. Amanda Dainton discussed the option of internships and immersive experiences for college students. 

26.59

Dr. Heather Acuff discussed probiotics and their possible benefits. As well as integrating vitamins and minerals versus consumers having to worry about doses and mixes for their pets. 
41:27

Krystina Lema Almeida discussed sustainability, product variety and ingredients in the pet food industry. 54:53

Dr. Greg Aldrich discussed how protein will be the biggest challenge for the pet food industry moving forward. With a growing world population, the pet food industry will have to embrace different varieties of protein. 56:21

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Guests:
Dr. Geoff Dahl, University of Florida
Dr. Jimena Laporta, University of Wisconsin-Madison

We are back at the Real Science Exchange and invite you to pull up a chair and join us to discuss the effects of heat stress on late gestation cows. Tonight’s guests, who have worked together on research in this area, Dr. Geoff Dahl with the University of Florida and Dr. Jimena Laporta with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, join Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman.

Dr. Dahl kicks off the discussion by level setting with the idea that cows have a thermal comfort zone and that it’s not just temperature but also humidity that can stress a cow. 4:44

To get a more accurate stress reading, Dr. Laporta and Dr. Dahl’s research has focused on measuring stress and environmental indicators without getting in contact with the animal. 8:40

Dr. Laporta discusses the stress can continue into future lactation periods of both the dam and the offspring. 16:45

Both researchers highlight their opinion on cow longevity in the herd and how stress can change the length of the cows’ time in the herd. 22:48

While the Florida humidity heightens the stress Dr. Dahl sees in Florida; both researchers highlighted they see seasonal effects on cows everywhere. If lactating cows are under stress for even a week, Dr. Laporta discusses the short-term event will have a long-term impact on the cow. 35:54

Heat stress can also cause acceleration of the maturation process for gestation timing. Dr. Dahl discusses the calf is signaling it is ready to be born based on the increase in the cows’ internal temperature. 45:09

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 Guests: 
Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University 
Dr. Mat Faulkner, Purina 

Welcome back to the Real Science Exchange. Before we get started tonight, we’d like to share how you can get our t-shirts. There are three steps, either subscribe, follow or like the Real Science Exchange podcast on your favorite podcast platform or on YouTube, take a screenshot and send it to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your name, shirt size and mailing address. 

This week, our hosts are joined by Dr. Bill Weiss from The Ohio State University and Dr. Mat Faulkner from Purina. This week’s podcast is a continuation of one of our most highly attended webinars in 2021. If you would like to listen to it, you can find it here: balchemanh.com/realscience. 

Dr. Bill Weiss is from The Ohio State University and has been doing research on minerals since 1978. Dr. Mat Faulkner was a graduate student under Dr. Bill Weiss. He earned his master’s at The Ohio State University and is now a nutritional consultant in Wisconsin for Purina. 

Dr. Bill Weiss discusses the minerals that should not be combined in a diet and that there are many factors that should be taken into account while determining your rations. (00:10:01) 

Both of the guests analyze exactly how much sulfur should be added into your cattle’s diet. (00:17:50) Dr. Bill Weiss reviews the dangers of overfeeding magnesium and copper. (00:34:20) 

Dr. Mat Faulkner discusses the risks of toxicity in zinc and copper and the microbiome effect in the rumen. (00:46:08) 

Both guest speakers analyze factors that may cause oxidative stress. (01:00:33) 

Thank you to our loyal listeners for stopping by once again at the Real Science Exchange to sit with us just for a while. If you like what you heard, please remember to drop us a five-star rating on the way out. 

This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Guests:
Dr. Tom Jenkins, Clemson University
Dr. Don Palmquist, The Ohio State University
Dr. Kevin Harvatine, Pennsylvania State University

We gather around the Real Science Exchange virtual table for another pubcast with leading researchers to dive into this week’s topic of the history of feeding fat to dairy cattle. Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman are joined by tonight’s guests who span the history of the topic with Dr. Don Palmquist being one of the founding fathers and Dr. Tom Jenkins also providing much of the depth as we dive in on this topic. Dr. Kevin Harvatine is not new to the Real Science Exchange and we are excited to have him back for this discussion.

Dr. Palmquist and Jenkins discussed the early years of their research finding the right combination, source and ration approach to including fat into dairy cow diets. 9:20

Dr. Jenkins discussed the early failures and how they came to trial making calcium salts and seeing some early success in their research. 19:26

To give perspective on today’s approach, Dr. Harvatine shared he’s seeing a reasonable amount of progress the last couple of years to getting fatty acids rather than extract or crude fat into rations. 29:36

The trio gave their input on the practical limits of fat inclusion. 39:51

With growing herd averages for pounds of milk produced, the experts discussed how to get enough into the diets to meet the growing output. 47:21

Dr. Harvatine discussed his outlook on the future of how fatty acids can modify physiology. 55:48

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Guests: 
Dr. Kevin Harvatine, Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Isaac Salfer, University of Minnesota

We are back at the Real Science Exchange for another pubcast joined by dairy industry professionals. This week our hosts Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman are joined by Dr. Kevin Harvatine from Penn State University and Dr. Isaac Salfer from the University of Minnesota. The discussion around the table is focused on understanding seasonal and daily rhythms on milk & component yield.

Earlier this year, Dr. Harvatine joined Balchem for the Real Science Lecture Series on the same topic. Click here to check out his lecture: https://tinyurl.com/yfofvkhq

Dr. Salfer has a unique perspective on this topic as he was the PhD student who focused on daily rhythms when he was in school working under Dr. Harvatine. 

For more than 30 years, Dr. Zimmerman has been working in the dairy nutrition industry and he remembers early in his career having discussions with dairies that were curious as to why they were seeing a dip in the milk fat each spring, and that kicked off the discussion around what the research showed with changes in milk fat percentages through the seasons. 10:55

Dr. Salfer discusses that they would like to understand the differences, if any, between the northern and southern hemispheres, but it’s hard to compare apples to apples when many of the southern hemisphere herds are grazing herds. That being said, through his students he has connections to Kenya and they are exploring research there to compare to the U.S. data set. 16:59

Heat stress and seasonal rhythms are often lumped together as factors for changes in milk yield, but Dr. Harvatine explains their research shows it might not be that simple. 24:05

Dr. Harvatine discusses what to consider if a dairy wants to minimize seasonality and maintain a herd at the high point. 37:58

Both of the guests discuss the importance in adjusting rations to maximize input during season shifts. 42:40

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Guests:  Brett Stuart & Richard Fritz, co-founders of Global AgriTrends 

The pubcast table is filled with new guests as we jump into a global topic on the Real Science Exchange. This week we focus on ag trends worldwide and what we can learn from past indicators and future outlook. Our co-hosts Scott Sorrell and Jonathan Griffin, are joined by the co-founders of Global AgriTrends, Brett Stuart & Richard Fritz. 

In December, Brett first initiated this conversation for the Real Science Lecture focused on Global Mega Trends in Agriculture. You can find that lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZcIwJkv-vs&t=1283s. For more information on Global AgriTrends, check out their website at https://www.globalagritrends.com/. 

As conversation kicks off, both Brett and Richard dive into considering all prosperity levels when creating legislation that ties into the food supply, including GMOs. While it might not have an incremental change in the U.S. on our supply, it drastically changes the effect of those in third-world countries, including much of the African continent. 14:22 

Brett discusses the need to understand where the population is located relative to where arable land is found. This comes into play with Asia as they continue to increase their agriculture imports as their population grows and the wealth within that population evolves. 22:05 

Richard dives into his perspective that the extension service model adopted by the United States and Canada, and parts of India to provide free information and introduce new technology to farmers has decreased in many ways. Because of the change with much of the research going into the private industry, it has decreased the public sharing of information and, therefore, the progress some farms can make, especially in developing countries. 28:22 

According to Brett, China’s hurdles with African Swine Fever (ASF) have driven their markets out of whack. It has also meant changes in the global grain markets and U.S. supply. Richard added with the change in U.S. administration, we will see what that means for holding China accountable to follow international trade laws and agreements. 30:16 

From a biosecurity standpoint, it is being reported that ASF is still in China and, therefore, will continue to be an issue even with new facilities under construction. Richard discussed that one biosecurity change they have seen is the decrease of backyard hog production with a movement to large-scale facilities, which does shift the biosecurity concerns slightly. 43:21  

Richard discusses from his experience in Sub-Saharan Africa that when the population shifts to having a higher income, they become more food insecure because they are moving away from producing their own food. 47:07  

When wrapping up the conversation, Brett recommended U.S. producers consider their debt load they are carrying forward as the current price and market trends could help protect against interest rates. 54:27 

 Richard shared his closing thoughts focused on carbon and the continued push for bringing production agriculture into conversations focused on carbon offsets. 58:32   

If you have questions not covered in the lecture or podcast discussion on global ag trends, feel free to email anh.marketing@balchem.com.   

Guests: 
Dr. Frank Mitloehner, University of California Davis CLEAR Center and Rethinking Methane
Dr. Mike McCloskey, Co-Founder and CEO of Select Milk Producers & CEO of Fairlife

The topic today is our carbon footprint, methane, and the dairy industry's environmental impact on dairy producers, the industry, consumers, and lawmakers. In this week's pubcast, a podcast from the pub, we dive into all of these topics and more with two experts. From the research perspective, Dr. Frank Mitloehner shared what he sees at the macro level, and Dr. Mike McCloskey, Co-Founder and CEO of Select Milk Producers and CEO of Farlife Milk, discussed his view as a dairy farm leader and processor. Joining the doctors are our cohosts Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman.

The deep dive on this topic started with a presentation by Dr. Frank Mithloehner from UC Davis on the Real Science Lecturer series. You can find his presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hnysEBuWNY&t=2030s.

Dr. Mitloehner discusses the differences between net zero and net neutral and what net neutral could look like for the dairy and beef industry. 6:32

In California, they have already set stricter restrictions for the dairy industry, but Dr. McCloskey explains why they have worked because they are incentivizing the mandate. 13:03

Agriculture and forestry have a unique place in the carbon discussion. As Dr. Mitloehner explains, they are the only industries also reducing carbon out of the air through photosynthesis. Therefore, it's not just a discussion on methane. 17:03

The lecture presented by Dr. Frank Mithloehner discusses how feed additives can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces up to 30%, so nutrition is also part of the discussion. 21:23

Since the discussion around carbon footprint is not just a problem in the US dairy industry, Dr. Mitloehner discusses the need to help developing countries increase their efficiency through veterinary, feed, and genetics to help their herds. More efficient cattle mean a natural decrease in numbers and a decrease in carbon output. 31:44

Dr. McCloskey talks about the U.S. dairy industry goal to be net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and believes great strives have already been made, and with all the elements in play, that marker is achievable 45:33

Since this is podcast is set in the virtual, Mike McCloskey shared a refreshing drink that will have you wishing you were on a beach: 

• One shot of Don Q Gold rum
• One shot of Don Q coconut rum
• One shot of coconut water
• One shot of fresh grapefruit juice
• A sprinkle of coconut shavings
• Lots of ice. 
• Don Q can be substituted with other runs but at your own risk. 

Note from Mike: Coconut water should be fresh from the McCloskey Puerto Rican farm as well as the grapefruit, so again, you are at your own risk but do your best to get this fresh! 

If you have questions about net carbon emissions, feel free to email anh.marketing@balchem.com.  

Guest: Dr. Brian Aldridge, University of Illinois

The crew is gathered at the Real Science Exchange again this week. We feature our guest Dr. Brian Aldridge who works in Rural Animal Health Management at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois. Hosting the discussion is Scott Sorrell, joined by Dr. Clay Zimmerman and Dr. Ken Sanderson from Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health.

Listeners who enjoy the Real Science lecture series heard from Dr. Aldridge earlier this year. You can check out the presentation here: https://youtu.be/JoQl6NE-SZM.

A central theme for the discussion is Dr. Aldridge’s way of thinking; when we see an issue, such as intestinal problems, we think of bugs rather than thinking about the animals themselves. Pathogens very often are the manifestation of poor health rather than the cause of poor health. 0:52

Dr. Aldridge introduces the idea of a healthy phenotype and a resistant phenotype. 5:42

While learning about genetics and discussing various factors, Dr. Aldridge brings it back to the basic formula of phenotype = genetics x environment x time. 9:13

The group discussed natural stressors from a changing environment. Dr. Aldridge dove into research that examines the need to build the relationship between human caretakers and, in the case of the discussion, cattle. 16:35

While the industry often seeks out standard protocols or key performance indicators, KPIs, it’s not always as easy as a set approach to management that works across the industry. 19:10

Diets play a big part in animal health, but Dr. Aldridge discusses how your dietary approach can also support the resistant phenotypes. 36:51

Dr. Aldridge answers questions from the lecturer audience, and the discussion includes diving into the outcome from a disease is determined by the extent and duration of the pathology. 52:36

If you have questions about maintaining health in the ruminant digestive tract or suggestions for future sessions, feel free to email anh.marketing@balchem.com.  

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Methane in the context of circular dairy farming” from the conference proceedings.

What is circular dairy farming? The concept is that instead of extracting or using natural resources and then discarding the wastes in a linear kind of fashion, economies should try to be increasingly circular. This would include the concepts of reusing, recycling, upgrading, upcycling, etc. Traditionally, the focus on methane was about the inefficiency and leakage of energy and finding a way to minimize that from the perspective of energetic efficiency and productivity. More recently, the focus on decreasing methane has been the environment. (3:19)

Dr. Newbold talks about the trade-off between circularity and methane. High fiber diets produce more methane than high starch diets. Adding fat to diets can also decrease methane production. However, starch and fat are human edible so if we leave starch and fat in feeds to decrease methane in dairy cattle, that leaves less starch and fat for human consumption. The concept of “local” also plays into circularity, whether that be feed production or milk processing. (7:01)

What are the metrics of circularity? Two approaches to this present in the literature. The first is  human edible efficiency: how much human edible food are we producing? In a dairy setting, the measurement would be how much human edible food are we putting into the cow compared to the amount of human edible food coming out of the system? The second metric is the alternatives for land use. (10:45)

What is the best way to express methane production? Dr. Newbold shares three, and they are generally used in different contexts. First is methane production, usually presented as grams per cow per day. This is an easily scalable measurement, but may not be the best or easiest way to manage interventions on-farm. The second common metric is methane yield which is generally expressed as grams per kilogram of dry matter intake. Lastly, methane emissions intensity is grams of methane per kilogram of milk. (12:26)

When considering the human edibility equation, the denominator consists of the human edible content of the feed. In principle, depending on how hard you worked and how much money you spent, you could extract some of the starch, fat, and protein and use it for human food. However, there's no consensus in the literature about this kind of edibility coefficient. In other words, what proportion of the protein in soybean meal or the proportion of starch that's left in wheat middlings or distillers grains is human edible? Greater consensus about what is and what is not human edible would actually be quite useful in allowing for better and more consistent calculations. (18:29)

Dr. Newbold gives examples of relative efficiency comparing U.S. dairy production, a grass-based system, and a tropical grass based system. Each of these have a different human edible efficiency and a different amount of methane produced. (19:59)

When it comes to lowering the environmental impact of milk production, don't focus on one metric in isolation of the rest of them. If you're setting off in a particular direction, whether that's trying to drive methane down or milk production up, think about the potential trade offs and unforeseen consequences. (32:12)

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Guests:
Dr. Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois
Scott Brenner, Hunter Haven Farms

The Real Science Exchange is back this week and we are joined by Dr. Mike Hutjens from the University of Illinois and Scott Brenner with Hunter Haven Farms in Pearl City, Illinois. The evening discussion centers around Maximizing Dairy Return on Investment (ROI).

Real Science listeners might recognize Dr. Hutjens from his lecture with the Real Science Lecture Series in July 2020. Here is a link to his presentation: https://tinyurl.com/y4axw967.

Dr. Hutjens’ research and broad experience paired with the practical day-to-day experience from Scott paint a great picture of the reality of the ROI for today’s dairies.

Dr. Hutjens looks back on 2020 to highlight key areas where the industry pivoted to match the changing demand from COVID effects. 5:58

Scott talks about his focus on his feed input costs and understanding the value they will see from locking in lower-cost soybean meal. 8:03

Also, in the area of feed costs, Scott discusses the importance of figuring the value and costs of your individual ingredients—amino acids, for example. 17:37

Dr. Hutjens reminds us of the need to keep an eye on global supply and demand for the corn and soybean markets when you evaluate the potential costs for the feed ingredients. Brazil and Argentina harvests play into the cost for the Illinois dairy. 20:45

On the output front, Dr. Hutjens discusses the need to understand maintaining optimal peak milking to garner the most you can from each cow and gallon of milk. 35:32

Automation continues to be on the mind of dairies as they balance hurdles with the workforce and the cow care needed to continue to increase outputs. Scott discusses what automation looks like on his farm while Dr. Hutjens discusses industry-wide trends. 45:50

If you have questions about how to maximize your dairy ROI or suggestions for future sessions, feel free to email anh.marketing@balchem.com.

Guests: Dr. Barry Bradford, Michigan State University 
Dr. Turner Swartz, Michigan State University 

We are back at the Real Science Exchange, and this week Dr. Barry Bradford and Dr. Turner Swartz, both from Michigan State University, join us. This week the pub table discussion is focused on The Evolving Field of Nutritional Immunology. 

Dr. Barry Bradford presented as part of the Real Science lecture series. His presentation, “Feeding the Immunity Defenders; The Evolving Field of Nutritional Immunology. You can find the link to that presentation here: https://youtu.be/UdcPNhrZk_o.

The conversation at The Exchange kicked off discussing that you can’t ignore the immune system and its integral involvement in day-to-day physiology. 

The dialogue continues to come back with the focus on micronutrients & trace minerals, including selenium, choline and vitamin E. Both Dr. Bradford and Dr. Swartz discuss how they play into their research and the day-to-day work on the dairy farm. 6:57 

Dr. Swartz has focused his research on mastitis, and he discusses the transition period and how one disease can lead to another in a domino effect. He talks about what role trace minerals play in cow health during this period. 10:01 

We circled back around to Dr. Bradford, discussing that hundreds of receptors are expressed by cells appearing to be designed by nature to respond to nutrients. He shares that it dramatically changes the ways we can think about using nutrients. 14:25 

As the discussion continues, both Dr. Swartz and Dr. Bradford dive into how the decisions made related to each other and what that means for your nutrition and health planning. 29:06 

If you have questions about nutritional immunology or suggestions for future sessions, feel free to email anh.marketing@balchem.com.

Dr. Kohl presented in the Real Science Lecture series, Transitioning a Black Swan to a Phoenix in the Global Dairy Markets. Here is a link to that presentation: https://youtu.be/myhTpyBJzKE. Today's discussion dives into a quick look back at what happened in 2020 and critical learnings for the 2021 outlook. 10:36

When Dr. Kohl takes a look at an individual dairy farm or the larger industry, he discusses the importance of Business IQ and what that means for the business's overall health. Additionally, he discusses the change in consumers' outlook on agriculture's importance through food shortages at the grocery store. 12:51

As a calf consultant working with farms across the globe, the changes to travel and transition to virtual meetings, Dr. Bob James discusses how that can help dairies. 15:11

With any sector of the agriculture industry, data overload can be a struggle. It's not different in the dairy industry, and Dr. James and Dr. Kohl discuss the role data plays on the farm and tips for drilling down to the critical data sets to make decisions. 21:55

In 2020 many collegiate courses went virtual, and with that, it allowed both Dr. Kohl and Dr. James to lecturers in the classroom. They stress the importance of folks entering into the dairy industry to diversify, take classes outside of animal science, and even outside of agriculture to broaden their perspective and become more adaptable. 29:42

The two guests shared their perspectives on two key aspects for 2021 and beyond: virtual assistance/expertise and further niche diversification by dairies to set themselves apart. 40:31

Thanks for joining us for another discussion around the table at the Real Science Exchange. To recommend a topic for future podcasts, email anh.marketing@balchem.com. 

Guests:
Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University
Stacy Nichols, Vita Plus

The table at the Real Science Exchange is filled once again with great conversation and learning on the topic of supplemental fatty acids- much more than just fat and energy. Co-hosts Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman are joined by Dr. Adam Lock of Michigan State University and Stacy Nichols from Vita Plus. 

Dr. Adam Lock had previously presented on this topic during the Real Science Lecture series and has been one of the most popular topics discussed so far. You can find the lecture here. To counter and/or complement Dr. Lock’s research perspective, Stacy Nichols brought to the table real-life field experience. 

Dr. Lock shared his overarching key presentation take away with a phrase he borrowed from a friend, “A bag of fat is not a bag of fat”. He then dives in to describe what that means for dairy producers. 8:38

With Stacy’s practical application, he stressed the importance of maximizing production and this includes high production cows. 18:05

The discussion shifts to discussing oleic acid, the role it plays. Stacy also discusses how producers are able to include oleic acid through the production of high oleic soybeans on their farm or from neighbors. 25:45

After changing his mind about fatty acid feeding over the last 10 years, Dr. Lock shared his outlook on how that may continue to shift through the next decade. 36:22

Stacy’s practical outlook discussed the importance of protecting CLA in milk and also the practicality from an economics standpoint for fat inclusion in rations. 43:51

Questions that followed the lecture series were answered by Dr. Lock and Stacy. Topics included what polyunsaturated fatty acids mean for NDF digestibility, how quickly do you see a response in milk fat after starting to feed palmitic acid and with sustainability concerns growing with palm oil, where does that leave it for a palmitic acid source? 52:14

Thanks for joining for another discussion around the table at the Real Science Exchange. To recommend a topic for future podcasts, email anh.marketing@balchem.com

Guests:
Dr. Scott Dee, Pipestone Holdings
Dr. Gordon Spronk, Pipestone Holdings

The Real Science Exchange is open again for a great discussion this time shifting to the swine industry. The host Scott Sorrell was joined by Dr. Eric Altom, a technical nutritionist with Balchem’s Companion and Monogastric segments. Scott and Eric are joined by Dr. Scott Dee and Dr. Gordon Spronk, both of Pipestone Holdings. Dr. Dee and Dr. Spronk both have extensive experience with African Swine Fever and they discussed their experience viewing the virus from the research lens and the practical use lens.

Dr. Spronk’s experience in China with African Swine Fever also closely aligns with his experience with COVID-19 in China. 7:06

Even before we were talking about African Swine Fever, we worried about PED virus and the damage it can do to a pig herd. Dr. Dee and Dr. Spronk discuss the value in having the field day-to-day knowledge to pair with the research when it comes to virus spread, identify and isolating the cause. 12:32

Dr. Spronk dives into why they pushed for research related to feed and the tie to virus spread. 18:40

Since it’s been identified African Swine Fever can spread through feed, Dr. Dee discusses what happens if the virus is identified in a feed mill. 27:02

Not only can African Swine Fever spread through domestic pigs or feed, but it is also spread by wild boar populations. 33:39

The group discussed the most likely way that African Swine Fever could get into the United States. 38:10

Dr. Spronk shared his ah-ha that it’s important for us to remember that the world’s worst swine virus entered into the world’s largest swine herd. That is a game changer. 48:49

Dr. Dee added that, in his experience, it’s pivotal that scientists do field observation. It can be uncomfortable, but researchers need to get out of the lab. 49:58

Thanks for joining for another discussion around the table at the Real Science Exchange. To recommend a topic for future podcasts, email anh.marketing@balchem.com

Guests:
Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin
Dr. Joseph McFadden, Cornell University 
Dr. Maya Zachut, Volcani Center
Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University 
Dr. Laura Hernandez, University of Wisconsin 
Dr. Larry Miller, Director, DISCOVER Conferences

Hosts Scott Sorrell and Dr. Clay Zimmerman were joined around the pub table by a crew from the 2020 DISCOVER Conference. The team of five industry experts presented a session on the Transition Period-From Physiology to Management at the conference and wanted to continue that discussion at the pub to dive deeper into some of the key presentation topics.

Kicking off the discussion, each specialist highlighted their area of expertise and showed how they fit into this larger discussion. 2:07

To dive into controversial conversation the first topic the team discussed was insulin resistance: friend or foe? 11:19

With science and technology these days, Dr. Hernandez discussed if there is a way to predict which cows will suffer from hypocalcemia pre-partum. 23:47

Also understanding the opportunities pre-partum, the group discussed if they could predict the amount of lipolysis postpartum for the cows. 27:01

Since the experts span different geographies, spreading even to the desert with Dr. Zachut in Israel, they discussed how the diets play into this discussion as well. 31:56

Many times, research is only as good as its practical use in the field, the panel added their input how practicality played a role in their research focuses. 36:59

The discussion transitioned into how fatty acids also play a key role in transition cow nutrition. 39:28

Biomarkers in the transition cow was a big discussion at the conference and continued around the table 54:12

The panel recapped their takeaways from each of their disciplines 1:10

Dr. Larry Miller, director of the DISCOVER conferences joined the group at the table and highlighted how the conference transitioned to a virtual setting in 2020. 1:22

The 40th conference will be a special one where the new NACM nutrient requirements of dairy cattle will be released and discussed. The conference will most likely sell out, so you can register today here before it’s too late! https://www.adsa.org/Meetings/40th-Discover-Conference 1:25

The second episode of the Real Science Exchange focuses on feeding for increased milk protein production. The host Scott Sorrell is joined by his co-host Dr. Clay Zimmerman for this round-the-table discussion. Clay brought with him Dr. Mike Van Amburgh from Cornell University and Dr. Buzz Burhans with the Dairy-Tech Group. The two guests bring both the academic and research perspective along with practical on-the-farm reality. Dr. Mike VanAmburgh in his role at Cornell University lead the development of CNCPS. 2:38 

Dr. Buzz Burhans has been an independent consultant for more than 35 years and was one of the first adopters of CNCPS. 4:50 

Here are highlights of the discussion, make sure to tune in to hear each topic discussed: Previously, on one of the Real Science Lectures Dr. Mike Van Amburgh presented on how to increase milk protein and customer profits. He shared the key points from that lecture. This includes the current challenging times to figure how to get protein levels up and the importance of accurately knowing the cow you are feeding. 8:56 

Dr. Burhans went on to talk about practical experience when he and Mike worked together previously on an industry field day and discovered that most nutritionists did not have an accurate understanding of the cow weight. Some got it close, give or take 400 pounds 20:04 

Discussions shifts to NDF characterization and the importance of diet differentiation based on available economical feedstuffs. 28:39 

A follow-up discussion from the Real Science lecturer series focused around whether or not crude protein should be the focus or if it should be instead on amino acids 34:49 

Dr. Burhans highlighted the importance of rumen ammonia as an indicator in formulation management. 41:34 

Dr. Van Amburgh brought up the importance of honestly knowing your cows' availability to feed vs. assumption. Trail cams can prove the truthfulness from your assumptions 43:26 

With Dr. Burhans experience both in the west and in the northeast, he discussed the sugar levels in diets 46:13 

Dr. Van Amburgh reminded the table the importance of looking at the cows to understand what’s going on there, not just looking at the data on paper 51:57 

The chat then shifts to talk about Dr. VanAmburgh’s current outlook on the push to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Some supplies are discussing the push to a “voluntary” mandate and the discussion for what role does nutrition play into this move. 52:39 

Looking ahead to 2050, both guests admitted they shouldn’t be worry about where the dairy industry is at that point, but they will probably still be involved. Dr. Van Amburgh dives into the need to retain the carbon in the soil and the potential for a different structure of the dairy production and integration. He also discusses how CNCPS will evolve to help with the future changes. 57:75 

Dr. Burhans' looked ahead and indicated that in the future as the nutrition model gets more complex, the background and education of the nutritionists will need to align. 1:06 

Please subscribe for future episodes where it’s always happy hour, the conversations are sometimes spicy and usually satisfying. But most importantly, you’re always among friends. 
 

Grab a drink and enjoy getting to know one of the Real Science Exchange podcast hosts, Scott Sorrell. While Scott did not grow up on a dairy farm, he's spent his career working in the dairy nutrition field and has a great passion for the dairy industry. 

Scott provides a preview of what listeners can expect from future podcasts. The episodes will dive into hot topics in the dairy industry. Think of each podcast episode as the conversations around the table over a few drinks after the industry meetings. You know, the chats where all the real work gets done. 

Each episode, you'll hear from industry-leading scientists, topic experts and nutritionists that will bring perspectives from bench-top research to the farm level. 

To recommend a topic for future podcasts, email anh.marketing@balchem.com

This episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, where Balchem sponsored a Real Science symposium titled “New Discussions in Amino Acid Nutrition.” Each of our guests presented at the symposium, and their presentations can be found at balchem.com/realsciencemedia

Dr. Van Amburgh presented “Amino Acid Nutrition for Maximizing Milk Component Yield.” When considering nitrogen efficiency, we generally compare intake nitrogen, which includes non-protein nitrogen, against milk nitrogen. In high producing cows, aggregate amino acid values are running about 70 to 73% efficiency. But when we work that up to total intake nitrogen, then we're down to 30 to 35% efficiency range. How do we reconcile ruminal nitrogen requirements to a point where we can optimize the capture of recycled nitrogen and reduce the amount of nitrogen that's being excreted in the urine? (2:27)

Dr. Hanigan presented “Understanding Amino Acid Bioavailability.” Our current methods for measuring bioavailability don’t all have the same precision. One of the classic methods, intestinal disappearance, has very low precision. Methods that rely on dilution of a marker or a label in blood or milk have much higher precision. Dr. Hanigan’s lab has worked to modify a carbon-13 labeled amino acid method to allow for evaluating changes in the supply of amino acids in the diet.  (5:01)

Dr. Lee presented “Current Understandings of Lysine Nutrition in Dairy Cattle.” Rumen-protected lysine has more variable responses than rumen-protected methionine or histidine. Amino acid requirements were developed based on the role of amino acids as the building blocks of protein. But there are many roles of amino acids which may influence their requirements. Dr. Lee suggests including that type of information in our modeling may increase the consistency of responses to feeding rumen-protected lysine. (11:24)

Dr. Hristov presented “Histidine: A Limiting Amino Acid for Dairy Cows.” His group has worked with rumen-protected histidine to develop a dataset to define requirements. Microbial protein has considerably less histidine than methionine yet they are secreted at about the same level in milk and are metabolized similarly. All this together points to a higher histidine requirement. (18:02)

The panelists agree that the advent of genomics have resulted in a rapid change in high producing cows and with that, their amino acid requirements (and other nutrients) are also changing. It’s a challenge for feeding and nutrition programs to keep up with rapid genetic change. (21:02)

A question was posed by the audience about how Dr. Van Amburgh used amino acids to increase butter fat. In the research he presented, the diets did not overfeed fat and fed a blend of fatty acids, and also increased the sugar and pulled back the starch. (28:35)

A discussion of histidine follows, including its unique body reserves, its role in hemoglobin concentrations, and its potential impacts on metabolic energy efficiency (34:08)

Dr. Zimmerman asks about plasma histidine in very early lactation cows. Dr. Hristov is currently conducting a fresh cow experiment to assess this. His hypothesis is that because of low dry matter intake and high metabolic demand for amino acids, there will be a response to histidine supplementation. Dr. Lee agrees and feels that the fresh cow stage may be one of the most practical ways we can utilize rumen-protected histidine (39:39)

A question from the audience about the use of blood meal in lower protein diets sparks a spirited discussion among the panelists. (41:55)

In closing, each panelist provides a takeaway. Responses range from bioavailability of rumen-protected products to challenges to progress for ruminant amino acid research to comparing biological potential and economic response. (46:58)

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While Dr. Jardon only had milk in his glass for this pubcast, he did share about his bottle of “wheyskey” (whiskey made from whey) from Wheyward Spirit Distillery in California (https://www.wheywardspirit.com/). Iowa State Dairy Extension is offering a webinar, “Fermentation and Distillation of Whey to Produce Spirits at Copper Crow,” on May 15 at noon Central. Curtis Basina of Copper Crow Distillery in Bayfield, WI, will be the speaker. You can sign up for the webinar at https://go.iastate.edu/WHEY (4:13)

Dr. Dhuyvetter presented a March 5 webinar on dairy economics, which can be found at balchem.com/realscience. Key consistent data across time indicate that more profitable dairies tend to be larger. This doesn’t mean that all dairies must be large, but more the reality of the large number of fixed costs in dairying. Diluting costs by having high production per cow is also a mark of a profitable operation. Kevin reminds the audience that he’s talking about averages and there are exceptions to every rule. The key message is that you need to strive to get better. In the long run, profits are equal to zero in a competitive industry, and dairying is no exception. Dr. Dhuyvetter includes all economic costs in his analyses, recognizing all assets, including skills and capital, such as land, facilities, and time. (8:08)

Dr. Jardon suggests that exceptional operations emphasize efficiency and ensure they dilute maintenance costs well. Everything is fine-tuned: feed's always pushed up, stalls are full of bedding, and the time budget of the cows is usually spot on. Dr. Tully echoes this sentiment from his consultant experience. Phil also underlines the importance of focusing on how much it costs to make a unit of milk or income over feed costs rather than concentrating solely on saving money. Kevin agrees that all the little things done right and done consistently often make the difference in profitability. Further, if cutting costs negatively impacts production, then saving money is counterproductive in the long run (15:14)

Dr. Dhuyvetter reminds producers not to automatically assume they have lower costs because you raise your own feed. More often than not, the opportunity costs of producing that feed haven’t been evaluated. If you can produce nutrients more efficiently and cost-effectively on your land, then home-raised feed is a very good thing. But if you produce low-quality home-raised feed, it might be better to purchase feed elsewhere. In addition, growing high-quality feeds takes time and energy away from dairying. Phil saw this when he was a practicing veterinarian. Jim suggests that those larger operations can have a field crew and a herd health crew who aren’t the same individuals. The panelists discuss the shift from getting paid for protein in milk to getting paid for fat in milk and what that means from a cow nutrition and profitability perspective.

(22:51)

Dr. Dhuyvetter then discusses how culling practices impact profitability. He expects successful operations to have very low cull rates because they have healthy, well-managed cows doing all the little things right. On the other hand, unsuccessful operations may also have very low cull rates because they struggle to produce heifers, get them pregnant, and keep them in the herd, leading to keeping cows longer than one should. Jim and Kevin emphasize that the culling rate is individualized and will vary by operation. Phil suggests that perhaps some of the available software tools to help with culling decisions may be underutilized. (35:10)

Many dairies want to know if they should wait longer into lactation before rebreeding cows. Because production is up and reproduction has improved over the last 10-15 years, dairies are drying cows off while still giving a lot of milk. Dr. Dhuyvetter’s analysis of the data for Holstein herds in second- and greater-lactation cows suggests getting them pregnant as fast as possible and getting them back to peak milk sooner. (43:07)

Phil, Kevin, and Jim then touch on comparative advantage and revealed preference and how those relate to shifts in the dairy industry away from some states and toward others. (50:29)

In closing, Dr. Dhuyvetter suggests that the days of being very successful with gut-feel decisions are probably behind us. Making decisions based on the best information from data and analytics is the way forward. Constantly strive to get better, and don’t worry about what your neighbor’s doing. Control what you can control. (58:29)

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Dr. Penner describes two primary factors of gut health to be absorption and barrier function or permeability. His lab’s work on permeability is suggesting that intestinal regions really drive total gut permeability to a much greater extent than ruminal permeability in dairy cows. (7:06)

Ms. Bertens is Dr. Penner’s Ph.D. student and explains some new methodologies she developed for measuring gut permeability using chromium EDTA and cobalt EDTA. It’s common to use an oral dose of chromium EDTA as a marker to measure total tract permeability. Claire’s work, using cannulated cows, used a ruminal dose of chromium EDTA for total tract permeability and an abomasal dose of cobalt EDTA for post-ruminal permeability. Both of these markers are indigestible, non-metabolizable and have no transcellular transport mechanisms. Claire is working to publish the new method as a complete validation study has been completed. (9:15)

While this method is currently limited to using cannulated animals, Greg and Claire could envision a less sophisticated and more applied on-farm technique to assess permeability. Until then, there are still a lot of management observations that can identify potential issues with gut permeability. The appearance of feces and the presence of mucin casts can both be indicative of gut issues. Certainly dry matter intake is a major influencer on gut health, and Claire also sees potential in new technologies like rumination collars or rumination ear tags. (13:47)

Are there certain time points in a dairy cow’s life when she is at risk for increased gut permeability? Dr. Penner describes research suggesting if weaning is implemented too abruptly, that really increases the risk for decreased barrier function of the gut. Erratic feed intake patterns resulting from withholding feed for any reason at any age can also increase the risk of leaky gut. For example, depressed intake during the transition phase, along with anything that drives a response through an underlying systemic inflammatory response, probably creates risky situations for leaky gut. Claire is currently running a study looking at the impacts of intramammary LPS infusion on gut function. Greg envisions that learning more about gut function could create a new philosophy for treating sick animals. In the past, only antimicrobials were used to treat mastitis, but now it’s common to also treat with a NSAID for pain. Perhaps in the future, we will also provide treatment to accelerate the recovery of the gut to prevent secondary disorders. (16:15)

How long does an off-feed event have to last to cause an issue in the gut? It seems a fairly acute time period is all that is needed. Most studies are trying to replicate what happens on-farm, for example during mastitis, heat stress or the transition period. Greg indicates that not only will permeability be impacted, but ruminal absorptive capacity can also decline rapidly in these conditions. In Claire’s LPS challenge study, cows’ rectal temperatures peak around six hours after the LPS infusion and usually resolve within 12 hours. But most cows do not eat for a solid 12 hours during the challenge, and they are slow to recover feed intake over the next few days. In cows that aren’t sick but experience feed restriction in experimental protocols, they tend to overeat when they are allotted the full ration and this can lead to ruminal acidosis. (21:57)

Increased incidences of liver abscesses in beef-on-dairy calves are being reported in the industry. Dr. Penner speculates that perhaps these calves are not always achieving adequate passive transfer, and may not be receiving high enough levels of milk replacer to support a more robust immune system. It may be the increased beef cattle genetics in the calves are putting an added requirement on growth or muscle development that may not be met by lower levels of milk replacer or even lower colostrum feeding levels. (34:40)

In closing, providing cows with a consistent environment where they can meet their needs by their own behavior such as free access to feed when hungry and to a comfortable stall when it’s time to rest. Cows reward consistency with health and production. Gut health in a commercial setting is a relevant issue and it might go undiagnosed or undetected. Research into where in the gut permeability is occurring will help define strategies to modulate response. While off-feed events for individual animals might be harder to recognize in a large dairy environment, new technology may allow for earlier diagnosis. (40:43)

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Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Marcia Endres, University of Minnesota

Dr. Endres begins with a description of a dataset she collected containing individual body weights from 34 robotic milking herds. Weights were collected for every cow; every time that she came into the robotic milking station. Dr. Endres’ team was interested in the relationship between the amount of body weight change in the first 21 days of lactation and subsequent production. (7:34)

The team chose to use the first 90 days of production as their production measurement to make sure they had as many cows as possible in the dataset - the longer into lactation, the more likely to lose cows due to culling. Their results showed that 90-day production was extremely highly correlated with total lactation production. Drs. Weiss and Endres discussed the implications of young cows’ requirements for growth in the first and second lactation, which were easily observed in this dataset (13:13) 

Dr. Endres’ team found a quadratic relationship between body weight loss in the first 21 days and milk production in the first 90 days of lactation. This suggests that if cows don’t lose enough, they aren’t productive. Or, if cows lose too much, they aren’t productive. The optimum amount of weight loss for cows in their second or greater lactation was around 5%, while for the first lactation cows it was 7.4%. Dr. Endres hypothesizes that cows who lost more than the optimum may have been sick because they’re probably not coming to the bunk if they’re losing that much weight. And cows who gained weight might be animals who just do not have as much genetic potential to produce milk. (17:15)

Dr. Weiss and Dr. Endres emphasize that today’s dairy cows are designed to mobilize body weight early in lactation. They are not able to eat enough to compensate for the amount of milk they are producing. Intake is going up as they move through early lactation, and cows can lose some weight and not have issues. The guests discuss the importance of an aggressive fresh cow management plan and designing diets specifically for the fresh cow group. (22:09)

Dr. Endres explains at the extremes, the highest producing cows produced around 30-35 pounds more milk each day than the lowest producing cows. But even halfway in between, it was 10-15 pounds of milk per day and those are not small numbers! Monitoring and managing body weight change has tremendous management potential, particularly with the increasing technology available to dairy herds. Identification of poor performing cows could happen sooner and appropriate interventions could be identified earlier. (26:37)

Is there any reason this can’t be extrapolated to conventional farms that are not using robots? Dr. Endres thinks it would carry over, even though the conventional farms are feeding differently and can’t supplement individually like the robot systems. These results point to feeding fresh cows in their own group while paying close attention to access to feed and limit overcrowding. If Dr. Endres could do the study over, she would like to have reproduction and health records to compare with the milk production and weight loss data. (28:22)

Each panelist summarizes their takeaways from this research. Dr. Morrow suggests that the industry is probably not managing fresh cows nearly as intensely as they should. Their needs for calories as well as amino acids in early lactation are probably greater than we know, and we must do a better job supplying those nutrients and allowing cows to be comfortable, eat, and reach their peak potential. Dr. Weiss agrees and adds that female mammals are designed to mobilize body reserves. The idea that cows should not lose condition in early location is wrong. We don’t want them to lose too much, but losing some is perfectly normal. We need to work around that balance and include it in our formulation goals. Dr. Endres emphasizes the focus on fresh cows and suggests technology is going to allow for more and better data that will help monitor fresh cows and intervene as needed.  (33:38)

Dr. Endres wraps up with a brief description of the upcoming Four State Dairy Nutrition Conference in June and Balchem’s Amino Acid pre-conference symposium on the first day to open the conference. (35:40)

The paper can be found here: https://www.jdscommun.org/article/S2666-9102(23)00041-8/pdf

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This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Director of Technical Services at Balchem. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/realscience and scroll down to the webinar presented on December 12th, 2023.

Dr. Zimmerman begins with an overview of Balchem’s microencapsulation technologies in both human nutrition and health and animal nutrition and health businesses. (0:31)

Encapsulation is a generic term, and huge differences can exist between products that protect the same compound. Balchem’s microencapsulation technology consists of packaging a substance in a lipid capsule for protection. Encapsulates can differ in design, technology, and performance. When it comes to performance in ruminant encapsulates, stability in feed mixing and TMRs and animal performance are evaluated. (6:50)

Lipid encapsulation usually comes in one of two forms, a matrix encapsulation or a true encapsulation. A good analogy for matrix encapsulation is chocolate chip cookie dough, where some active compound is always at the surface. In the rumen, this leads to reduced protection and stability. True encapsulation, often called single-layer or multiple-layer encapsulation, is analogous to an m&m where there is no active compound at the surface, and this leads to greater protection and stability in the rumen.  (12:00)

So why do we encapsulate nutrients for ruminants? In general, for targeted delivery within the gastrointestinal tract of the animal because rumen fermentation often results in massive breakdown of most of these important compounds. For example, choline chloride is almost completely degraded in the rumen. (18:30)

When developing or improving rumen-protected products for nutrients such as choline chloride, methionine, lysine, or niacin, the primary goal is to protect them as much as possible from ruminal degradation while achieving post-ruminal absorption. Once prototypes have good ruminal stability and good intestinal release, the next step is feed and mixing stability. Dr. Zimmerman goes on to showcase different research techniques for evaluating encapsulates in these three areas as well as in animal performance. (20:39)

In summary, there are many differences in encapsulated products for dairy cows, due to the design of products; types, amount, and composition of coatings; manufacturing differences; and differences in nutrient content, bioavailability, and feed stability. True encapsulates, or multi-layered coating products, are preferred for ruminant applications due to their higher levels of ruminant and feed stability. Four really important features of a good ruminant encapsulate are good ruminal stability, good nutrient bioavailability, feed and TMR stability, and ultimately biological performance. (47:05)

Dr. Zimmerman then answers questions from the webinar audiences about in vitro techniques and bioavailability, coating ingredients, the importance of base diet for rumen fluid donors in in vitro techniques, variation in products from in vitro to in vivo results, how long it takes to develop a new encapsulated product (Balchem spends years and even decades researching before a product release), and why nutrient contents differ so much in similar encapsulated products on the market. (49:58)

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This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Godden from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/real science and scroll down to the webinar presented on November 8, 2023.

Dr. Godden begins with the reminder that despite decades of research and definite advances in colostrum management, there's still a lot to learn and research. Her goal is to give an update on new findings that can be utilized in your colostrum management program. (0:21)

Promoting calf health and growth is a balance between maximizing immunity and minimizing infectious disease challenges. Colostrum is one aspect of maximizing immunity and provides passive immunity in the form of immunoglobulins. It also contains bioactive compounds, immune factors, growth hormones, leukocytes, and nutrients. (1:09)

We can measure adequate transfer of passive immunity via serum immunoglobulin G levels, where anything greater than 10 grams per liter is a pass. Passive transfer of immunity is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality, especially in the first 2-3 months of life. Successful passive transfer has many other intermediate and long-term benefits, including improved growth rate and feed efficiency, leading to even longer-term benefits of decreased age at first calving and potentially improved milk production in the first and second lactation. (4:18)

When building a comprehensive colostrum management program, Dr. Godden distills it down to the five Qs: quality, quantity, quickness, squeaky clean, and quantifying. Starting with quantifying passive transfer, in a perfect world, we would have a quick, inexpensive, on-farm serum IgG test that could be run on whole blood. Unfortunately, that test does not exist. In research studies, we send serum samples off to reference labs to have serum IgG tested. On-farm, we use indirect tests such as serum Brix or serum total protein. Historically, the literature has said that a serum total protein of somewhere between 5.0 and 5.2 grams per deciliter most accurately predicts that IgG value of 10 grams per liter. If greater than 10 g/L IgG is a pass, is a higher concentration better? Yes. A good goal would be for 90% of the calves to have serum IgG higher than 10 g/L. More specifically, goals are around 40% of calves in the excellent zone of 25 or greater, roughly 30% of calves in the good zone of 18-25, and around 20% in the fair zone of 10-18. Dr. Godden references the corresponding Brix and total serum protein readings in her slides. (7:24)

Quality refers to the concentration of IgG in the colostrum, and experts have suggested that be at least 50 grams per liter or higher. This corresponds to a Brix reading of approximately 22% or higher. Several factors influencing colostrum quality are under our control, including the dry cow vaccination program, feeding a balanced dry cow ration, avoiding stressors during the dry period, avoiding excessively short dry periods, and milking cows out as soon as you can after calving. (16:18)

When it comes to quantity, a larger volume at first feeding will result in higher IgG concentrations in the calves. One study compared feeding two or four liters at first feeding with a second feeding of two liters at 12 hours. The higher volume first feeding showed better results. (29:23)

As for quickness, IgG absorption efficiency is optimal in the first couple of hours after birth but is then slowly reduced as gut closure occurs. Ideally, we want to feed the calf as soon as possible, hopefully within one to two hours of birth when possible. (30:35)

The last Q is squeaky clean or cleanliness, specifically the level of bacterial contamination in colostrum. Obviously, we don't want to feed colostrum that is laden with pathogens that can cause disease. However, high bacteria counts in colostrum have also been associated with reduced absorption of IgG. Dr. Godden details a number of critical control points that can be assessed if colostrum cleanliness is an issue of concern. (38:19)

Dr. Godden finishes the episode by taking questions from the webinar audience, ranging from average colostrum volume collected at first milking to what temperature colostrum should be frozen at to heat stress impacting quality and quantity of colostrum. (49:20)

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Dr. Räisänen completed this research during her Ph.D. at Penn State. The meta-analysis included 17 different studies published between 1999 and 2022 investigating supplemental histidine for lactating dairy cows. They divided the type of supplemental histidine between infused histidine and rumen-protected histidine and the basal diets between corn silage-based and grass silage-based. (4:34)

Primary response variables measured in the meta-analysis included dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, and milk component yields. The researchers also calculated the efficiency of utilization of histidine and other amino acids supplied to the cow by the diets. Lastly, they calculated marginal recovery of histidine and evaluated the interaction between histidine supply and energy supply and how that impacts the efficiency of utilization. (7:38)

Dr. Lapierre gives a little history of histidine research. When recommendations were coming out about lysine and methionine requirements, the different studies recommended relatively similar amounts of lysine and methionine based on the proportion relative to MP supply. On the other hand, recommendations for histidine varied widely depending on the study, ranging from less than 2% to almost 4%. As emphasis has been placed on reducing the footprint of dairy production, interest has risen in feeding lower-protein diets. In this scenario, we would expect an increase in the microbial protein; however, microbes are relatively low in histidine content. If we look at the proportion of histidine relative to MP, as the crude protein concentration of a diet decreases, this proportion of histidine decreases. (8:34)

The meta-analysis revealed a clear response to histidine in milk production, dry matter intake, and milk true protein yield. Susanna and Helene are not sure if the dry matter intake response was due to a pulling effect because of increased milk and milk protein yield or if histidine has an independent impact on the brain, as has been observed in some monogastric studies (16:15)

Clay asks the guests what they think the histidine requirement is, and both agree that providing one number is not practical given the other interactions from basal diet to the efficiency of utilization to the concentration of other amino acids in the diet. (32:01)

Practical implications from the meta-analysis include an understanding that lower protein diets may very well need supplemental histidine for optimum performance, and cows pay a penalty when inadequate histidine is supplied. (35:09)

Helene’s take-home message is that histidine should be taken seriously. If you don't supply enough of it, then you'll have a penalty in your cows’ production. Further, the efficiency of histidine utilization will be affected by the energy supply, and we have tools with NASEM to assess if a herd is receiving sufficient histidine. Susanna echoes Helene’s message and adds that a rumen-protected histidine product on the market would be very helpful. (45:35)

The paper can be found here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00416-2/fulltext

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Dr. Hristov started working with canola meal after he commissioned a review paper comparing canola and soybean meal when he was editor of the Canadian Journal of Animal Science. In that review, most of the studies used solvent-extracted soybean meal. Because canola has a higher oil content, it is always mechanically extruded to remove oil before solvent extraction. This paper is a more fair comparison because both meals were extruded and thus exposed to heat. (7:02)

There were 24 cows per treatment, and it was a continuous study rather than a Latin Square design. No differences were observed in dry matter intake, even though many studies in the literature have shown a higher DMI for canola meal-containing diets. Both diets had similar milk production and feed efficiency. Cows on the soybean meal diet had higher milk fat than canola meal-fed cows. (15:09)

Soybean meal-fed cows had higher total VFA production. Dr. Hristov attributes this to the additional free oil that was added to the canola meal diet having a slightly depressing effect on fermentation. The canola meal-fed cows had a higher proportion of propionate and a lower proportion of acetate than the soybean meal-fed cows. Serum amino acid concentrations were mostly similar with a few differences in individual essential amino acids. (21:40)

Serum glucose concentrations were higher for canola meal-fed cows. Dr. Hristov believes this was probably a result of the increased ruminal propionate since it is a primary precursor for glucose production. He goes on to describe the digestibility results. (28:30)

Bill and Alex discuss the nitrogen excretion data and how low in protein one could go before impacting milk production in an effort to reduce nitrogen excretion to the environment. (37:06)

Dr. Hristov’s take home message is when you are comparing these two feed ingredients in similar diets, if feed intake is not affected you'll have a similar response between extruded soybean meal and canola meal. Comparing solvent-extracted soybean meal with canola meal is not a fair comparison. (51:05)

The paper can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223004101

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This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series.

Dr. Goff sees three main challenges for transition cows: negative energy and protein balance, immune suppression, and hypocalcemia. About half of all older cows experience hypocalcemia, and around 3% will experience milk fever. Cows develop hypocalcemia if they are unable to replace the calcium lost in milk from either their bone or diet. Compared to the day before calving, a cow needs around 32 extra grams of protein the day of calving to meet her increased requirements. (2:00)

Dr. Goff reviews the pathways of calcium homeostasis and the actions of parathyroid hormone (PTH). Aged cows may have a harder time maintaining calcium homeostasis due to the loss of vitamin D receptors in the intestine with age and fewer sites of active bone resorption capable of responding quickly to PTH once they have finished growing. Blood pH plays a role in calcium homeostasis: when blood pH becomes alkaline, animals become less responsive to PTH. Dr. Goff reviews the impacts of high vs low DCAD diets and reviews the amount of time it takes for the kidney and bone to respond to PTH. (4:20)

There are several strategies to reduce the risk of hypocalcemia. One is to reduce dietary potassium so the cow is not as alkaline. Using forages from fields that have not had manure applied to them is one way to accomplish this. In addition, warm-season grasses (corn) accumulate less potassium than cool-season grasses, and all grasses contain less potassium as they mature (straw). A second strategy is to add anions such as chloride or sulfate to the diet to acidify the blood to improve bone and kidney response to  PTH. Research has shown that sulfate salts acidify about 60% as well as chloride salts. The palatability of anionic diets has led to commercial products such as Soychlor. (13:06)

Dr. Goff then discusses the over- and under-acidification of diets and gives his opinion on the appropriate range of urine pH for proper DCAD diet management, including a new proposed DCAD equation to account for alkalizing and acidifying components of the diet. He also gives some options for pH test strips to use for urine pH data collection. (18:30)

Dr. Goff’s lab has found that as prepartum urine pH increases, the calcium nadir decreases. The inflection point is right around pH 7.5, where above 7.5 indicates a higher risk of hypocalcemia. Data from other researchers suggests that urine pH lower than 6.0 may result in lower blood calcium, indicating an overall curvilinear response. Low urine pH (under 6.0) has also been associated with a higher incidence of left-displaced abomasum. (29:02)

Moving on to other minerals, Dr. Goff discusses phosphate homeostasis and how that interacts with calcium in the close-up cow. Feeding too much phosphorus can decrease calcium absorption and feeding low phosphorus diets before calving can improve blood levels of calcium. He recommends less than 0.35% phosphorus in close-up cow diets. For magnesium,he recommends 0.4% prepartum and immediately postpartum to take advantage of passive absorption across the rumen wall. (31:08)

Another strategy to reduce milk fever risk is to reduce dietary calcium prior to calving to stimulate parathyroid hormone release well before calving. A zeolite product that binds calcium is now available and may make this much easier to achieve. (42:59)

In closing, Dr. Goff reminds the audience that some level of hypocalcemia post-calving is normal and in fact, is associated with higher milk production. The key is making sure that the cow’s blood calcium levels can bounce back to normal by day two after calving. (51:23)

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Dr. Godden opens this episode with a 30,000-foot view of colostrum management. Colostrum management has been a hot topic for decades, and herds still have opportunities to improve. Researchers continue to learn how to advance colostrum management. The basics include the three Qs: quality, quantity, and quickness. Other critical factors are cleanliness and feeding clean colostrum. Dr. Godden also briefly discusses important monitoring measures to assess a colostrum program. Research continues on the value of post-closure feeding of colostrum after the first 24 hours when the gut can no longer absorb antibodies. Several studies have demonstrated improved health, reduced scours, reduced bovine respiratory disease, reduced antibiotic use, and enhanced gain. Tricia gives an overview of their program, where they feed transition milk to their calves. (5:15)

Nutrition, adequate dry matter intake, pre-calving vaccination programs, cow comfort, and dry period length are all factors impacting colostrum quality and, to some degree, quantity. Tricia and Sandra describe a seasonal effect observed for colostrum quantity and quality associated with the fall months. While the mechanism of action is unknown, it is thought that day length and cold stress may play a role. Tricia indicates she is hard-pressed to get a 24 or 25 Brix reading on her herd’s colostrum in October. To prepare for this, during spring and summer, the dairy freezes 26-27 Brix colostrum to have on hand for use in the fall. 

(14:14)

The relationship between the volume of colostrum produced and its quality is very weak. Dr. Godden recommends using a Brix refractometer to measure all colostrum. Tricia has observed a correlation between the amount of colostrum produced and udder edema, where more edema results in less colostrum. In Tricia’s system, she likes to feed anything over a 24 Brix as a first colostrum and anything from an 18 to a 22 as a second colostrum. They feed four quarts at the first feeding within the first two hours, shooting for the second feeding of two quarts within 8 to 12 hours. (29:18)

Tricia details the calf herd recordkeeping on the farm, which includes weekly serum protein data measured with the same digital Brix refractometer used for colostrum measurements. This data lets the farm see when the program isn’t working and when calves are stressed. The farm also records all treatments and can reflect on previous treatments over the animal's lifetime. She gives an example of a small problem in the colostrum management program having a large impact. The agitator flaps on the pasteurizer were in the wrong position resulting in denatured colostrum.(35:14) 

Dr. Godden details some of the critical points in colostrum management, including adopting a routine monitoring program to measure Brix readings in colostrum and follow up with bleeding calves to measure serum protein. Cleanliness is very critical, and she sees a huge opportunity for farms to clean up their colostrum more. Not only do we not want to feed contaminated colostrum from a pathogen exposure standpoint, but research has also shown that high bacteria counts in colostrum negatively impact the absorption of the IgG into the circulation of the calf. This can be monitored by culturing the colostrum being fed, then backtracking through critical control points to determine where the contamination occurs. Tricia describes some of the important steps she’s taken over her 15 years at Shadycrest to improve their colostrum program. (42:57)

Tricia reminds the audience to remember that your first feeding of colostrum is setting up your milking dairy cow. If you set her up to do poorly because her first feeding of colostrum is poor, you're going to end up with a poor milking cow. Every calf born on the farm needs to have supreme colostrum inside of them because they're going to become a supreme cow. Dr. Godden echoes this sentiment: there are long-term economic benefits to the producer for getting their colostrum program right. These include an improved rate of gain, lower age at first calving, and more milk in the first and second lactation. It's well worth your while to get that job done correctly and get that calf off to a good start. (1:01:32)

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Today’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.

Our day two episode opens with Dr. Eric Ciappio and Dr. Jonathan Bortz of Balchem, summarizing day one’s focus on pregnancy and early life and previewing day two’s focus on the latest choline research targeting adult nutrition. (1:03)

The next guest on our roster is Dr. Mark Manary, a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine. Mark’s symposium talk discusses choline and food aid. Food aid products are specially designed to address needs from crisis situations. These specialized food aid products are standardized to meet great deficiency or inadequacy needs. On the most extreme side, there is a product called ready-to-eat therapeutic food for children who are starving to death. Other food aid products include those for severely underweight children. Dr. Manary’s research consists of clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa that include different nutrients in food aid to see if there are improvements in children’s responses. One trial with the inclusion of DHA found a 6-15 IQ point difference by adding fish oil or DHA. Mark hypothesizes that a doubling of that effect will be observed when choline is added. (6:42)

Dr. Rima Obeid from Saarland University Hospital in Homburg, Germany, joins us next. Her symposium presentation focused on choline and pregnancy outcomes. Their research group has found that low or insufficient amounts of choline in the mother’s diet during pregnancy are associated with a higher risk for serious birth defects in babies and that the liver health of the infants is also negatively affected by low choline intake of the mother during pregnancy. Rima’s future research includes investigating the impacts and interactions of folate and choline consumption during pregnancy on neural tube defects such as spina bifida. In another study, she will focus on the relationship between the severity of congenital heart defects compared to neural tube defects. In particular, they wish to look at the association with low choline in the blood of the children, the mother and the father, because a pilot study suggests a family pattern, which could be due to some genetic background. (17:18)

Our next guest is Dr. Susan Smith, Deputy Director of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute. One of her presentations centered on choline genetics and cognition. Her research has found genetic variation in choline uptake from the diet. One research question was, “Are there choline variants that affect how powerful that choline is in treating a disease condition?” In particular, Dr. Smith was investigating if choline could be used to treat children who have brain damage from prenatal alcohol exposure, and the answer is yes, it’s very helpful. Then, they evaluated if some children benefit more than others and found that there is a gene variant that affects how efficiently choline is absorbed from the diet. Children with the variant that reduced choline uptake benefitted the most from supplemental choline. In addition, there was an impact of the gene variant on cognitive function regardless of prenatal alcohol exposure. Children who carried one or two copies of this particular variant had reduced cognitive performance as compared to those children who were lucky enough to be born with the other variant. While we still don’t have a blanket recommendation for how much choline pregnant women should consume, Dr. Smith’s message to pregnant women is that eating enough choline lets your baby achieve its full potential. (23:32)

Dr. Isis Trujillo-Gonzales and Dr. Evan Paules, both with the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute join us. Isis focuses on choline and brain/eye development, while Evan focuses on choline and metabolic health. Dr. Trujillo-Gonzales’s research has found that the neurons in the eye that receive light and connect to the rest of our brain are impacted by choline absorption. Her lab has also investigated the mechanism of action for choline’s effect on brain development. The stem cells in the brain that give rise to neurons are very sensitive to choline availability. If a pregnant mom is not consuming enough choline, these cells in the baby’s brain are not proliferating adequately. Choline is important in the microRNA that fine-tunes the regulation of this pool of stem cells. Dr. Paules’s research is focused on the metabolic symptoms of obesity and the impact of choline on them. For example, giving choline to someone who is deficient can ameliorate the symptoms of fatty liver disease.  One area emerging in his work is the loss of lean mass as people age. It appears that increased loss of lean muscle is observed in people who aren’t consuming adequate choline. This suggests that as we age, making sure we have sufficient amounts of choline intake may help prevent the loss of lean muscle tissue. (32:58)

Dr. Bryan White with the University of Illinois is our next guest, and his area of interest is the microbiome. In particular, he discusses the role of the microbiome in TMAO production. TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) is a metabolite that has been associated with cardiovascular disease. In short, the microbiome produces TMA (trimethylamine), which is converted to TMAO in the liver. Some of the seminal TMAO literature suggests that there is a diet effect on the production of TMAO and that diet changes the microbiome so that more TMAO is produced in the bloodstream. When it comes to microbiome research, there are generally four questions that can be asked about the microbial community: 1) Who's there? 2) How many of them are there? 3) What can they do (given their genetic potential)? and 4) What do they do? The seminal research used 16s ribosome technology to evaluate which microbes were present and their abundance in the microbiome of people consuming omnivorous versus vegetarian diets. It stated that there was a correlation between diet and blood levels of TMAO. Dr. White took the small read archives of that manuscript (the sequencing they did of 16s ribosomes) and got the opposite results of the original paper. (42:25)

Our next guest is Dr. Jonathan Bortz with Balchem Corporation, whose presentation was titled, “TMAO and Choline: A Mechanistic Perspective.” In the last several years, there have been concerns about choline advanced by a group of investigators who have claimed that excessive intake of meat, eggs, and other animal-source foods (resulting in choline and/or carnitine upon digestion) generate a substance in the blood called TMAO, trimethylamine oxide. Their hypothesis has been that TMAO has a negative effect on the cardiovascular system and has been associated with a high incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, Dr. Bortz presented multiple examples of how the concerns about choline with respect to TMAO having a causative effect on cardiovascular disease really cannot be supported. In other words, choline does not represent a risk to any users, young or old. (51:42)

Dr. Julia Maeve Bonner with Sanofi joins us next to give an overview of her presentation about choline and Alzheimer’s disease. In her postdoctoral work at MIT, Dr. Bonner focused on the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene, which is involved in making a protein that helps carry fat in the bloodstream. Dysfunction in this process is thought to contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s. APOE4 is the most highly validated risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Dr. Bonner wanted to understand what is happening in APOE4 high risk allele compared to the APOE3 neutral risk allele of this gene in brain cells (astrocytes) in culture. She found that the APOE4 astrocytes accumulated neutral lipids, particularly triacylglycerols, to a much higher degree than APOE3 cells. These lipid droplets is associated with many different dysfunctions in the cell that can be associated with neurodegeneration. If APOE4 cells were grown in a choline-rich media, the lipid imbalance was shifted much closer to the APOE3 cells. Dr. Bonner’s group was able to pinpoint that phosphatidylcholine synthesis is the mechanism of action by which choline supplementation had the lipid-shifting effect in APOE4 cells. She has also studied choline supplementation in mice that have Alzheimer's disease genes knocked in where they accumulate the plaques that we see in human brains in Alzheimer's disease. In the background, they also have the human APOE knocked in, which means that they're expressing either APOE3 or APOE4. Again, they saw a protection against the accumulation of some of the Alzheimer’s-related damage as well as a lipid shift similar to the brain cell cultures. (1:03:00)

To summarize the Future Directions in Choline Symposium, Dr. Dr. Stephen Hursting and Dr. Susan Smith with the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute join us. They give their perspectives on the advancements of the field of choline research and leave us with the take-home message that choline is a critical nutrient for the entire healthspan. (1:22:27)

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Co-host: Tom Druke, Balchem Corporation & Dr. Eric Ciappio, Balchem Corporation

Guests: Dr. Stephen Hursting & Dr. Susan Smith, University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute; Dr. Steven Zeisel, University of North Carolina; Dr. Kevin Klatt, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Richard Canfield, Cornell University; Dr. Colin Carter, Columbia University; Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell University

Today’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.

Our first guests are Dr. Stephen Hursting and Dr. Susan Smith, the director and deputy director of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute. Steve and Susan give some background regarding the inspiration behind the conference as well as what will be covered during the symposium. The gathering is an opportunity to get the leading choline researchers together to update each other and build the momentum of choline research. The last time choline researchers gathered was in 1998, when requirements were set. (0:50)

The next guest on our roster is Dr. Mark Manary, a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine. Mark’s symposium talk discusses choline and food aid. Food aid products are specially designed to address needs from crisis situations. These specialized food aid products are standardized to meet great deficiency or inadequacy needs. On the most extreme side, there is a product called ready-to-eat therapeutic food for children who are starving to death. Other food aid products include those for children who are severely underweight. Dr. Manary’s research consists of clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa that include different nutrients in food aid to see if there are improvements in children’s responses. One trial with the inclusion of DHA found a 6-15 IQ point difference by adding fish oil or DHA. Mark hypothesizes that a doubling of that effect will be observed when choline is added. (6:52)

Next up is Dr. Kevin Klatt with the University of California - Berkeley. His symposium talk consisted of choline and DHA, focusing on two areas of his work. The first is dietary choline’s impact on the production of phosphatidylcholine species enriched in the omega-three DHA, specifically in pregnancy. The second is interactions between lauric acid and choline, where a phosphatidylcholine species can actually bind to proteins that turn genes on and off. In one experiment, Kevin’s group hypothesized that inadequate choline intake during pregnancy compromises the efficient handling of DHA by the liver. They showed in a randomized controlled trial that supplementation with choline dramatically improved the status indicators of DHA status. (17:33)

Our fourth segment features Dr. Richard Canfield from Cornell University, whose symposium talk focused on choline and neurodevelopment. Rick is a developmental psychologist by training who works in infant and early child cognition. He has researched visual cognition and speed of information processing with babies in the first year of life for women who received a diet containing the recommended intake of choline and those who received double the recommended intake during pregnancy. They found that cognition improved for babies in the high choline group over their first year of age, which was maintained until seven years of age. The cohort is now 14 years old, and additional testing is being conducted to see if in utero exposure to choline still impacts the children 14 years later. (29:51)

Dr. Robert Colin Carter from Columbia University is our next guest. His talk focused on choline and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). His research has mainly been fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, with a particular interest in how both maternal and child nutrition might impact the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the most common preventable cause of developmental delay worldwide, and a common view might be that women should just stop drinking. Dr. Carter argues that view is shortsighted because alcohol use is a really complicated problem for a lot of people. Asking someone who has an alcohol use disorder to stop drinking is probably not realistic for a lot of women. In animal models, supplementing a pregnant dam with choline seems to ameliorate at least some of the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Dr. Carter has completed a pilot study of 70 women from South Africa where beneficial effects of choline treatment during pregnancy were observed for growth, neurobehavior, and memory in their children. Another clinical study with 300 participants is now underway.  (51:38)

We end our day one episode with a wrap-up from Dr. Dr. Susan Smith with the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute and Dr. Joe McFadden with Cornell University. Susan emphasized the recurring message that choline is so important in prenatal health and in early postnatal periods. Pregnant and lactating women generally don’t take enough choline, and choline is so important for healthy brain development in the fetus and the infant. Joe’s takeaways from the livestock side of things include the impact of choline on colostrum production in animals and early-life supplementation in young livestock. (1:08:42)

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Kirby begins with a description of the mechanism of amylase-enhanced corn. The amylase is located in the kernel and, once activated by temperature change, works to increase the digestibility of the starch. A small amount of activation is thought to occur during silage fermentation, with further activation once it reaches the rumen. This paper evaluated digestibility and milk production in cows fed corn silage made from a hybrid with the amylase-enhanced gene compared to the same hybrid without the genomic enhancement. (4:51)

The experiment was designed as a factorial with four treatments combining the two different types of silage with either 25% or 30% starch in the total diet. Only the silage was amylase-enhanced, not the corn grain that was fed. Kirby expected the amylase-enhanced silage group at 25% starch to perform best because he expected some subclinical rumen acidosis and potentially some feed intake issues at the higher dietary starch concentration. (9:09)

The experiment was eight weeks long, consisting of a two-week covariate and then a six-week feeding period with 11 cows on each of the four treatments. Blood and milk samples were collected weekly. Total tract digestibility was evaluated twice over those six weeks, once soon after silage harvest (approximately 40 days) and again six weeks later to evaluate whether the impact or efficacy of the enhanced starch enzyme changed over time. (13:29)

One surprising result was that the two silages had different in vitro NDF digestibility during week one of the feeding period. The amylase-enhanced silage had higher fiber digestibility even though the genomic enhancement is for starch digestibility. Kirby is unsure of the mechanism but hypothesizes that the amylolytic enzyme may free up some simple sugars or polysaccharides that allow microbes to have greater action and more energy available to digest fiber. By week six, the in vitro NDF digestibility of the two silages was essentially the same (15:09)

Kirby mentions that if he could do this experiment again, he would do a longer-term study for 12 or 18 weeks and start feeding the silage as green chop right away to evaluate if ensiling takes away some of the benefits of the amylase-enhancement. (19:02)

From the production data, the alpha-amylase enhancement didn't provide a benefit, but a fairly consistent benefit of additional dietary starch was observed, including increased feed efficiency, increased energy-corrected milk, and increased milk protein yield with few to no interactions in these results.

Kirby also would like to have some data looking at the impacts of these types of diets on fresh cows since the cows in this experiment averaged 160 days in milk at the start of the feeding period. (24:11)

The alpha-amylase-enhanced silage did not impact body weight, body condition, or feed intake. Kirby anticipated that the higher starch-fed cows would experience greater body weight gain in the later lactation period, but he observed the opposite. At the end of the study, an interaction was observed for feed intake where the high starch cows ate a little less - around three pounds. This resulted in a difference in feed efficiency for the high starch cows, where their intake decreased, but they maintained milk production. (25:29)

Bill asks if the feed efficiency data was adjusted for the difference in body weight change, but Kirby responds that it was just gross feed efficiency, milk over feed. Bill wonders if that adjustment would make the two groups’ feed efficiencies closer together, where it’s more of a difference in how nutrients are being partitioned rather than a difference in feed efficiency (27:26)

Another follow-up experiment Kirby would like to conduct is another factorial with the enhanced silage variety and the non-enhanced combined with a higher and lower rumen degradable protein concentration. (35:16)

Bill wonders if this experiment was conducted with silage at a later maturity, say 40-42% dry matter, would the amylase have a bigger effect? Kirby thinks there is a chance that as the kernel dries down, the amylase may have a greater impact. (38:53)

Kirby’s take-home messages for the audience are to consider the amylase-enhanced gene as an approach to bridging an inventory challenge gap from year to year and not to avoid dietary starch due to worries about subclinical inflammation. 

Kirby’s paper can be found here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00309-0/fulltext

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Guests: Dr. Paul Fricke and PhD Candidate Megan Lauber, the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Fricke starts this episode by describing the long-term negative trend for reproductive performance in dairy cows that took place from the mid-1950s to around 2000. 

The reversal of this trend is due to the use of genomics to select for fertility and the use of synchronization and fertility programs in dairy cows. (6:07)

Dr. Fricke explains the high fertility cycle starts with a change in body condition. Observations from the late 1980s and early 1990s showed that cows who calved at a higher body condition and lost condition after calving had worse reproductive performance than cows who calved at a lower body condition and did not lose as much condition after calving. This is known as the Britt Hypothesis.  (13:27)

Paul describes studies aimed at finding the mechanism of action for differences in fertility. One study split cows into groups based on performance in a superovulation and embryo flushing protocol. Cows who gained body condition after calving had the best quality embryos, while cows who rapidly lost condition and didn’t gain it back had very poor quality embryos. (18:50)

In another experiment, cows were body condition scored at calving and 21 days later to measure postpartum condition change. All cows were on a double ovsynch fertility protocol. About 40% of cows lost condition over that time period, 35% maintained condition, and 25% lost condition, but milk production was the same for all. This implies that cows gaining or maintaining condition were eating more feed than those losing condition. Cows who lost condition after calving had a 25% conception rate. Cows who maintained condition had around a 40% conception rate, and cows who gained condition after calving had over 80% conception. These differences were not dependent on the synchronization protocol. (21:18)

Megan said many large farms are starting to body condition score cows at calving and 21-30 days after calving to measure and manage this. She also said cows who lose are less fertile and have a higher pregnancy loss than cows who maintain or gain condition post-calving. In a study where cows who lost three-quarters of a condition score or more from dry off to 30 days in milk had a 25% conception rate, while cows who maintained or gained body condition over that same time period had over 50% conception. (26:24)

One of Megan’s studies found cows bred with sexed semen who were submitted to a double ovsynch fixed-time protocol showed a 6-7% advantage compared to cows submitted to AI after estrus detection. The entire treatment effect was observed in cows who lost the most condition after calving. (33:18)

Paul and Megan encourage dairy producers to body condition score cows at dry off, at freshening, and 21-30 days after that. If cows are losing a large amount of condition, that could be playing a critical role in reproductive performance. In addition, the first test, fat-to-protein ratios, also tells a story about fat mobilization. A cutoff of over 40% might indicate that cows are mobilizing body fat and losing condition rather than going up to the bunk to eat to drive milk production. (40:03)

Megan and Paul said that taking a herd from a low fertility cycle to a high fertility cycle includes an aggressive reproductive management program, evaluating somatic cell count and mastitis to ensure those aren’t impacting fertility, and taking a critical look at the nutrition program, including grouping cows with different rations. (46:54)

Megan’s final thought for the audience is that having cows in the high fertility cycle with aggressive reproductive management to increase our reproductive performance really gives us a lot of power. Managing cow body condition score drives profitability and allows a lot of opportunities. (1:01:05)

Paul concludes that over his 25 years on faculty at Wisconsin, he’s lived through the whole reproduction revolution in the dairy industry. Right now, the high fertility cycle is the big barrier to the performance on dairies, but this is very doable. If you get herds into the high fertility cycle, everything is easier. Cows are healthier. Milk production is great. Reproduction's good. (1:01:55).

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Guests: Dr. Limin Kung, University of Delaware, and guest Bonni Kowalke, Stem Ag Consulting

Our Real Science Exchange pubcast always has leading scientists and industry professionals discussing the latest ideas and trends, and tonight, we have two distinguished guests. Dr. Limin Kung and Bonni Kowalke join us to discuss wild yeasts in silage.

Dr. Kung begins by giving an overview of the impacts of wild yeast on silage, where they're either going to anaerobically ferment sugars to ethanol or aerobically; these wild yeasts can lead to spoiled silages and spoiled TMR. (8:32)

Bonni and Limin then go on to detail management strategies and practices for reducing the impacts of wild yeast on silage and TMR, including harvest speed, silage moisture content, pack density, feed-out rate, and additives. (10:59)

Bonni gives her perspective as a consultant about how she works with clients ahead of silage harvest to be able to prevent wild yeast infestation or any other problems. Most of her notes come right after harvest is finished with a list of things the farm wants to do differently next time, which she likens to a game plan for a team sport. (18:09)

Dr. Kung describes how to determine if you have an issue with wild yeast in silage. Primarily, one would see aerobic instability via heating and perhaps molding. There will be a distinct telltale odor as well. Unfortunately, there is no on-farm test; samples must be sent to the lab for analysis. (23:10)

Limin and Bonni give their top issues in regard to silage quality that they see in the field, along with ways to help producers get the very best quality silage off their fields each year. (26:40)

This takes a turn into a discussion about how drone technology could be used in the future for perfecting silage moisture content predictions in the field before chopping. (32:02)

Scott asks Bonni and Limin about the addition of NPN (such as urea or anhydrous ammonia) or sugar sources (such as molasses) to silage and what kind of impact that might have on silage quality. (37:24)

Bonni gives an overview of silage inoculants and additives. (47:13)

Limin and Bonni conclude by comparing the stability of legume silages and corn silages, an overview of inoculation best practices, and their take-home messages to ensure high-quality silage. (51:28)

As mentioned in the show, Bonni Kowalke’s contact information at Stem Ag Consulting is bonni@stemagconsulting.com.

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Guests: Dr. Alex Bach, ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), and Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University

In this journal club episode, Dr. Alex  Bach with the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies joins Dr. Bill Weiss from the Ohio State University. 

Dr. Weiss introduces the paper as one that's immediately applicable to the industry and answers a question he received a lot during his Extension career: What's the cost of moving cows? This research gives us some real data to help producers on cow management. (3:49)

Dr. Bach states that grouping cows is necessary, and the goal is to feed cows as close to their requirements as possible. But in a practical world, that can be difficult, and producers may resist moving cows due to the increased work and perceived drop in milk production. Dr. Bach gathered data from the field to see if that's the case or not by evaluating three farms with different diets and evaluating income over feed cost. (4:33)

Dr. Bach goes on to describe the farms and the methods his team used for estimating individual cow intakes in a group pen setting. Cow pen/group changes coincided with a diet change. Individual farms made their own ration decisions and pen movement decisions. (8:17)

In general, cows moved from a high to a medium to a low diet over the course of lactation. Primiparous cows moved from the fresh pen to the medium diet. If diet differences were adequate between groups, the loss in milk was compensated by the lower cost ration, and producers made an additional 20-30 cents per cow per day in income over feed costs. However, if the diets were more similar, lower feed costs did not compensate for the loss in milk production. (15:30)  

Dr. Weiss asks Dr. Bach if he could only build two rations, a high and a low, how would he do that? Dr. Bach’s approach is to look at a histogram of milk production in the pen and split that into quantiles. His goal is to make a ration that satisfies at least 70% of the animals in the pen for the high diet and around 60% of the animals in the pen for the low diet. (24:36)

Dr. Bach also ran a sensitivity analysis evaluating how results would change if milk prices or feed costs (or both) went up or down. He found that the higher the milk price, the more resilient a farm will be to a single diet and that feed cost is the opposite. The most interesting scenario is high feed costs and low milk prices - that's where it's almost mandatory to make groups, if you want to survive on a dairy. (27:23)

Dr. Bach evaluated the change in nutrient intake for the diet switch and projected the milk production change from that nutrient change compared to how the cows actually performed. The cows always lost less milk production than predicted. Dr. Bach thinks the main reason is that the cows were overfed before moving. (37:46)

Dr. Bach invites the audience to experiment a little bit with grouping cows. Don't be afraid of losing milk, and look beyond milk. Put in place mechanisms on the farm that allow you to measure income over feed costs as the ultimate goal. Cows are flexible, so don't be afraid of making a mistake. If something goes wrong, it will go wrong for a short period of time. You can correct it. You can change the diet right away, and the cows will recover. (46:14)

You can find this episode’s journal club paper here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22875

Author: Dr. Alex Bach

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Guest: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University

In this episode, we welcome back the fan-favorite journal club podcast. Dr. Bill Weiss joins Scott and Clay for this episode, discussing a large study from Germany evaluating the time spent in the pre-fresh group and its impacts on health and production. 

Dr. Weiss begins with a description of the study’s overall research question of “How long should a cow stay in the pre-fresh pen?” - and the researchers’ hypothesis that time periods too short or too long would be detrimental to both cow health and production. (3:14)

The study had a wide range of days in the pre-fresh pen, ranging from around seven days to about a month, with a mean of 18 days. This is similar to the general industry recommendation of 21 days. (7:16)

Diets were typical of a U.S. diet, although DCAD concentrations would be considered moderate. (9:42)

The longer heifers were in the pre-fresh pen, the higher their milk production was. A quadratic effect was observed in the multiparous cows, where too short was detrimental to milk production, and too long was detrimental to milk production. (11:56)

If the time spent in the pre-fresh pen was less than seven days, both cows and heifers were at higher risk for retained placenta. (14:30)

On the other hand, more extended periods of time in the pre-fresh pen were related to higher incidences of clinical hypocalcemia. (16:40)

Metritis and ketosis were also higher for cows who spent shorter periods of time in the pre-fresh pen, with three weeks best for these health issues. (19:26)

From these results, Dr. Weiss recommended that if calcium metabolism is an issue on a farm, leaning toward a shorter pre-fresh period of around two weeks may be beneficial. On the other hand, if other issues like mastitis, metritis, and retained placentas are an issue, leaning toward three weeks may be most appropriate. Regardless, don’t put cows in the pre-fresh pen for less than a week or more than 35 days. (20:37)

Dr. Weiss suggested an interesting next-step study would be to feed a DCAD diet for the full dry period to both cows and heifers. (28:32)

Dr. Weiss detailed some of the differences observed between cows and heifers in this study and how more research needs to be done around first-lactation cows because heifers are not just little cows. (35:35)

You can find this episode’s journal club paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223002230

Authors: P.L. Venjakob, W. Heuwiese, S. Borchardt

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Guests: Dr. Pete Hansen, University of Florida

To conclude this mini series, Dr. Pete Hansen of the University of Florida presents on the topic of using methyl donors to regulate an early embryo and create an epigenetic effect. This talk was given at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, and is the fourth part of this series.

Beginning his presentation, Dr. Hansen highlights how nutrition can cause epigenetic reprogramming of the fetus. Methyl groups can be added to increase the pattern of DNA methylation in cells and change the phenotype. 3:55

To elaborate on DNA methylation, Dr. Hansen gives the example of placenta vs. embryo cells. A micrograph of both cell types shows that placenta cells have much larger amounts of methylation than embryo cells, indicating that placenta cells are specifically programmed while methylation of embryo cells can still be influenced by the environment. 4:57

Continuing on the topic of methylation, Dr. Hansen discusses how DNA methylation silences specific genes, such as in skin cells or mammary glands. The methylation in the dam can be recapitulated in offspring, representing an epigenetic pattern. 14:42

Opportunities to increase DNA methylation exist. Dr. Hansen points out that altering the environment of an embryo by growing it in vitro for just seven days changes the phenotype. 23:10

How can this knowledge be used to the advantage of the dairy industry?

Seeking to answer this question, Dr. Hansen and his graduate students added large amounts of choline (excellent source of methyl groups) to cultured embryos. They found the addition of choline to increase triglyceride accumulation and DNA methylation. 31:45

After allowing the choline-treated embryos to mature in the recipient cattle, Dr. Hansen and his colleagues found the dams to have longer gestation lengths. This likely led to the higher birth weight of the calves which persisted into weaning. While a high birth weight is not particularly beneficial, a higher weaning weight certainly can be. 36:30

Finishing up his presentation, Dr. Hansen refers to the common animal science equation: phenotype = genetics + environment. He praises the dairy industry’s proficiency in using genetic selection to create better offspring, but he states that improvements could be made in the environment, suggesting that more focus be placed on the prenatal environment. 41:37

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Guest: Dr. Eric Ciappio, Balchem Corporation

Part three of the podcast series from the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference is Dr. Eric Ciappio’s presentation about the importance of choline in prenatal human nutrition. Dr. Ciappio is with Balchem Corporation.

Dr. Ciappio begins with an overview of one of the main roles of choline in the body: supporting overall brain health and cognitive function, primarily through its role as a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. (3:20)

Eric then reviews several key pieces of research from the literature, beginning with a prospective cohort study looking at choline intake of the mother during pregnancy and the visual-spatial memory of their child seven years later. Moms who were in the highest quartiles of choline intake were correlated with significant improvement in visual-spatial memory of their children measured seven years later. (5:45)

Researchers at Cornell investigated two levels of choline supplementation for pregnant women during the second and third trimester. One group received low choline, 25 milligrams, or 550 milligrams a day of choline, slightly more than the daily recommended intake for pregnant women. Women in the high choline group had higher blood choline throughout the experiment and that increased choline was also observed in cord blood at delivery. (6:48)

Another Cornell study compared two groups of pregnant women, one who received approximately the recommended daily intake for choline and one who received roughly twice the recommended daily intake of choline during the third trimester. These were achieved through a controlled diet prepared in a metabolic kitchen plus supplemental choline. Once babies were delivered, cognitive testing was performed regularly from four months to 13 months. Babies born to mothers who consumed the higher dietary choline level had significantly faster visual processing speed compared to those born to the lower dietary group of women. Additionally, the number of days of prenatal exposure to choline was actually significantly associated with a faster reaction time, even within the lower choline intake group. (8:39)

These same children were followed up at seven years of age with no additional intervention and subjected to a sustained attention test. Children born to the high choline-supplemented group of women had a significantly higher score overall on the sustained attention test. The beneficial effects of maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy are still present at age seven. (14:46)

Choline also has a second important role in lipid metabolism, primarily to help generate phosphocholine and phosphatidylcholine which play both structural and functional roles: a structural component in the overall cell membranes and helps to transport specific lipids throughout the body. In particular, choline is critical for DHA transport. DHA is critical for maternal nutrition, as it is implicated in reduction of risk of preterm birth and overall support of the development of the eye and the brain (19:54)

In the study with 25 vs 550 milligrams of choline supplementation during the second and third trimesters (6:46), the researchers also supplemented the two groups with DHA. Supplementation with choline plus DHA during pregnancy improved DHA status better than just supplementing with DHA alone. (22:48) 

In large dietary intake surveys of choline across the United States, just 6% of adult women in the United States get enough choline in their diet. Less than one in 20 pregnant women are getting enough choline in their diet relative to the daily recommended intake. Reviewers of the dietary guidelines showed that many prenatal supplements do not contain choline or only contain small amounts inadequate to meet recommendations. Similar observations have been reported worldwide. Furthermore, DHA inadequacy is common in pregnant and lactating women. (24:11)

Dr. Ciappio concludes his presentation with the reminder that choline is an essential nutrient that helps support the growth and development of the brain and supports brain health throughout the lifespan. Despite these benefits, just 4% of pregnant women in the United States get enough choline in their diet. Expert groups are calling on manufacturers to increase the amount of choline in prenatal supplements. (26:25) 

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Dr. DeVries presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on May 8, 2024, titled “Lessons Learned in Research on Nutritional Management of Robot Milked Cows.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience.  

Dr. DeVries begins with an overview of how his robotic milking research has evolved. In Canada, around 20%-plus of farms are using robotic milkers. He describes survey research in the US and Canada as to why producers choose to implement robotic milkers. (9:19)

In Trevor’s webinar, he discussed the large amount of variation in nutritional management of robot-milked cows across Canada. Some of his research with Dr. Penner has looked at the interaction between feed consumed at the feed bunk and feed consumed at the robot. Ideally, you wish to be able to accurately predict intake because that is a primary driver of milk production. Because cows can be supplemented individually at the robot, there is opportunity to better feed cows to match their individual needs. (13:50)

Trevor and Greg describe their respective university’s robot milking research facilities. The panel discusses additional technologies that would be useful for all robotic milkers, like load cells to measure feed delivery and disappearance. Cows typically consume around 250-300 grams of concentrate per minute, and that can vary by feed type (pellet vs mash, for example.) The panel also ponders whether the design of the feed bunk in the robots has an impact on intake rate. (17:35)

As a consulting nutritionist, Todd prefers to feed as little as possible in the robot and have a more consistent mix in the PMR. The level of milk production of the cows can have a large influence on how much pellet is fed at the robot versus the feed bunk. Todd goes on to describe his strategy for creating proportions of PMR and robot intakes for different scenarios. (26:06)

Clay asks the panel what the maximum amount of concentrate should be fed at the robot. They discuss factors that can influence concentration including individual cow variation, length of time in the robot per milking, and the number of visits to the robot per day. Clay goes on to ask how fast fresh cows can be stepped up in their robot feedings. The group has a lively discussion about all the different factors that play a role in that decision. Greg reminds the audience not to get so caught up with programming the robot that we lose sight of the fact we’re still feeding cows and good dairy management still applies. (31:29)

Todd describes some of the biggest challenges he observes as a consultant in robotic dairies, primarily centered around understanding cow behavior. Trevor underlines the importance of cow comfort and other non-nutritional factors in regard to their influence on the success of the nutrition program.(41:29)

Scott asks the panel what they think robotic milkers might look like in 2050 and what problems will have been solved by then. Greg’s wish list includes knowing PMR intake to better manage robot feedings and having cow body weights on every dairy. Trevor thinks we will have a much better understanding of how genetics influence cow performance in a robotic system and how we can raise cows to adapt to the technology to be better robot cows. Todd agrees that body weights are critical and also envisions more individualized milkings depending on each cow’s preferences. On his wish list is a drone that could be used to fetch cows to the robot who have not gone to be milked. (46:51)

​​Trevor and Greg discuss what’s next in their upcoming research projects, and Todd gives some wishlist ideas for future research. (54:18)

In summary, each guest gives their take home messages. Clay is intrigued by the precision feeding aspects of robotic milking systems. Todd encourages dairy producers not to be scared of robotic milking systems. Greg looks forward to research in the next 5-10 years to support or refute the preconceived notions we have about robotic systems. Trevor reminds listeners that cows must consume a certain amount of nutrients in order to produce milk. In the robotic system, those nutrients are delivered via two different components and research continues to understand the interplay between them. Lastly, animal behavior is a critical component of the success of robotic systems and our management approach should reflect that. (1:02:46)

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Guests: Dr. Jimena Laporta, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Covering the topic of Fetal Hyperthermia, Dr. Jimena Laporta of the University of Wisconsin is the second podcast at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Conference. This makes up part two of the conference series.

Heat stress is known to be a significant issue for dairy cattle with both global temperatures and sensitivity of dairy cattle to heat rising. Dr. Laporta adds that negative effects of heat stress last for multiple generations and lactations. 1:16

While heat stress affects all cattle, Dr. Laporta focuses on dry cows and their offspring, to provide a more holistic view of its effects. Beginning with the dry cow, she notes that heat stress lessens milk production, as it derails involution and redevelopment. 3:59

Epigenetics play a role in fetal development in the dry cow - fetal hyperthermia creates changes in the DNA of the fetus, altering the epigenome. 11:22

What are the effects of fetal hyperthermia short term and long term, as well as across generations?

Dr. Laporta details many short term hallmarks of prenatal heat stress: the dam experiences a reduction in gestation length leading to a premature calf that has organ alterations, less of an immune response, less feed intake, and a higher core body temperature. 16:31

Analyzing a large data set of cattle affected by fetal hyperthermia, Dr. Laporta finds long term effects. The daughters had lower survival rates and less production each lactation, which carried over to the next 2-3 generations. Heat stress effects cost the dairy industry $1.4 billion. 23:08

Turning her focus to the molecular signature of heat stress, Dr. Laporta discusses her findings from inspecting a mammary gland, concluding that heat stress causes a lower cell proliferative capacity and negatively impacts protein synthesis. Both lead to compromised milk storage and synthetic capacity. 29:28

Wrapping up, Dr. Laporta states that heat stress negatively affects growth, organ development, immune function, survival, longevity, and milk yield for multiple generations. However, she believes that management and nutritional intervention can reduce such effects. 36:58

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Guests: Dr. Jack Britt, Jack H Britt Consulting

This is the first in a series of presentations given at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. Epigenetics of different environments and reactions is the topic at hand, presented by Dr. Jack Britt of Jack H Britt Consulting.

Dr. Britt begins by clarifying that epigenetics (transmittable changes in genetic behavior of an individual), are only beginning to be understood. This is partly due to the intricacies of DNA. For instance, the expression of DNA can vary greatly and the process of synthesizing a protein is much more complex than DNA to RNA to protein. 5:32

The tendency of DNA to change over time is the focus of epigenetics, creating positive DNA changes is the focus of multiple dairy cattle studies discussed.

After pointing out that epigenetics is mainly influenced by environment and management, Dr. Britt discusses its implications by giving an example of the pregnant cow. Each pregnant cow represents three separate generations at one time: the cow, fetus, and ovaries in the fetus. 8:34

Genes multiply to produce new life and continue multiplying after birth in various types of cells. Thus, Dr. Britt notes that a change in a gene, such as when a methyl group alters DNA expression, that alteration multiplies along with the gene, creating an epigenetic effect. 11:25

Studying epigenetics is commonly done in twins, Dr. Britt gives the example of his identical twin brother. His brother died of Parkinson’s disease a few years ago, demonstrating that the disease is an epigenetic (due to environmental change) disease instead of a genetic one. 14:56

What are areas where epigenetics have significantly impacted the production of dairy cattle?

Numerous cases are detailed by Dr. Britt, one being the decrease in fertility that correlates with a body condition score loss after calving. An oocyte matures in approximately 101 days, meaning it begins to develop soon after calving, when the cow is potentially at the lowest weight. The egg produced by this cow typically dies 4-5 days after fertilization. 23:07

Technology has created improvements in environment and management factors. Dr. Britt references the University of Guelph, where a new technology is being used to monitor and distribute calves’ energy intake to ensure they consistently gain weight during weaning. 28:57

Concluding his talk, Dr. Britt poses the question: How can technology be used to create a reputable activity score of important factors among each herd? Such a score would allow for long term comparison across herds, allowing for epigenetics to estimate performance. 33:45

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Guests: Dr. Jim Drackley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University & Dr. Jim Quigley, Cargill

Our Real Science Exchange pubcast always has leading scientists and industry professionals discussing the latest ideas and trends, and tonight we have three distinguished guests. Dr. Jim Drackley, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, and Dr. Jim Quigley join us to discuss the weaning period and why it can be so traumatic for dairy calves.

Dr. Drackley leads off by describing that this topic is popular because it's still a problem. The advantages of feeding more milk during the milk feeding period are clear, but there can be system failure around the weaning transition from large amounts of milk to starter. There's often some slump in growth or even calf loss in some cases. (04:40)

Dr. Drackley emphasizes the importance of a properly texturized feed, starch content in calf starter, weaning age, and feeding too much hay which leads into a discussion about the importance of butyrate over propionate in rumen development. (05:31) 

Dr. Quigley tackles the idea of weaning age and rumen development, stating that research has found NDF digestibility isn’t mature until the calf has reached a threshold of about 15 kilograms of cumulative NFC intake. The latest NAHMS study suggested a typical weaning age in the industry of about nine weeks and this usually coincides with the NFC threshold (10:39)

Dr. Van Amburgh suggests that patience may be lacking when it comes to the weaning transition. Research shows taking more time to transition from milk to solid feed in a stepwise manner can lessen or remove the post-weaning performance lag. (19:41)

Dr. Van Amburgh goes on to reiterate the importance of butyrate production in rumen development and that the inclusion of simple sugars into calf starters rather than high levels of starch are beneficial. (21:26)

Dr. Drackley then reaffirms the importance of a gradual transition from milk given the cow’s natural lactation curve. A calf would be receiving less and less milk each day, not an abrupt shift to a different diet which often is not mimicked in weaning transition programs. (25:18)

Dr. Morrow gives the veterinarian perspective and agrees with the panel that a proper weaning transition program could take away a lot of the respiratory disease impacts on post-weaning performance. (27:14)

The panel shifts to speak to the long term impacts of a poor weaning transition program. Dr. Drackley emphasizes calves who experience disease have both lower longevity and lower milk production in the herd. (29:26)

Dr. Van Amburgh cites European research that showed if nutrition from weaning on didn’t achieve target body weights at certain stages of physiological development, reproductive efficiency was decreased as a heifer and as a lactating cow. (30:13)  

Each panelist gives an overview of the “perfect” calf weaning program. Dr. Quigley emphasizes a slow transition with high diet quality before and after weaning (32:46)

Dr. Van Amburgh further underlines the importance of calf starter diet quality, focusing on simple sugars and amino acids, rather than starch and crude protein (37:29)

Dr. Drackley focuses on the fact that digestive tract development is allometric during this time in the calf’s life, where the digestive tract develops at a faster rate than the rest of the body. Ensuring the calf has adequate nutrition to support this growth is imperative, and is an important focus for future research. (41:37)

Dr. Van Amburgh suggests that changing the way starter is presented to calves so they know it’s feed is critical because they may not be in an environment where they can learn from others. (48:18)

The panel wraps up with one piece of advice for calf weaning programs: be patient! (50:33)

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Guests: Emmillie Boot and Dr. Ramon Malheiros, North Carolina State University; Catherine Fudge, University of Georgia; Dr. Lisa Bielke, North Carolina State University; Kyle Venter, University of Pretoria; Letecia Orellana Galindo, Auburn University; and Dr. Ken Macklin, Mississippi State University; Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, PA; Cara Cash and Dr. Giri Athrey, Texas A&M University.

Today’s episode was filmed at the 2023 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA and is the second podcast of two from PSA. Balchem’s technical team chose abstracts of interest from the meeting and those researchers are our guests today. 

We kick off the show with Emmillie Boot and Dr. Ramon Malheiros from North Carolina State University. Emmillie’s research compared bell drinkers and gender-specific (different lines for roosters and hens) nipple-type drinkers for broiler breeders. She looked at the differences between egg production, egg fertility, and rooster fertility between nipple drinker lines and bell drinker lines. The major takeaway was that egg fertility was higher in the nipple drinker lines at the end of the flock cycle. (01:46)

Emmillie’s abstract is titled: “Comparison of bell drinkers and gender-specific nipple type drinkers, without catch cups, on broiler breeder fertility and egg production”

Our next guest is Catherine Fudge from the University of Georgia. Catherine is working to develop a histomoniasis infectious model for broiler breeders. Her lab is an Extension lab and a grower made an interesting observation that whenever he would place cedar shavings in his house, he noticed a drop in his insect population, and insects carry histomoniasis into chicken or turkey houses by way of a vector. Catherine began to evaluate this via benchtop experiments investigating the ability of cedar shavings and cedar extract to repel darkling beetles. (07:20)

Catherine’s abstract is titled: “Evaluation of cedar products against Histomonas meleagridis in vitro”

Next up is Dr. Lisa Bielke from North Carolina State University. Dr. Bielke presented research about the use of feed additives such as probiotics, symbiotics, organic acids, or essential oils as a way to prevent disease in poultry with the result being less antibiotic use. She emphasized that if birds are sick, and antibiotics are needed, then the birds should be treated with antibiotics, but that prevention is also key to bird health. (15:18)

Lisa’s abstract is titled: “Role of Feed Additives for Improving Health and Controlling Disease in Poultry”

Our fourth guest is Kyle Venter from the University of Pretoria. His research focuses on reducing dependence on rock phosphate by improving the digestibility of phosphorus in feed ingredients. Kyle pointed out that once phosphorus digestibility has been maximized from the diet, then one should formulate to the bird’s actual calcium and phosphorus requirements on a digestible basis, rather than using a total calcium, available phosphorus system. (23:12)

Kyle’s abstract is titled: “Evaluating the efficacy of three commercial phytase enzymes based on broiler performance and production economics” 

Next in the lineup are Leticia Orellana Galindo from Auburn University, and Dr. Ken Macklin from Mississippi State University. Their research evaluates egg translucency and color intensity with egg quality parameters. Hatchability is a major issue in the broiler industry and previous research found that less translucent eggs had higher hatchability and darker color intensity eggs also had higher hatchability. In this abstract, Leticia evaluated the relationship between translucency and color intensity with internal and external egg quality parameters. 

(31:05)

Letecia’s abstract is titled: “Relationship between eggshell translucency and color intensity with egg quality parameters on broiler eggs”

When in Philadelphia, what better guest to have than Dr. Benjamin Franklin? Ben tells us about his scientific research regarding electricity and lightning and gives a perspective on agriculture in his day. (45:23)

Our final guests are Cara Cash and Dr. Giri Athrey from Texas A&M University. Cara’s research is data analysis based and she modeled the impact that decreasing broiler breeder fertility could have on broiler production, the climate, and the economy. Her model predicts that declining fertility could result in large increases in the amount of feed required for broiler production and the amount of greenhouse gasses created by broiler production. (49:14)

Cara’s abstract is titled: “The Effects of Broiler Breeder Fertility on Global Food Security”

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Guests:  Andy Vance, PSA; Dr. John Halley, J. Halley Poultry Consulting; Addison Elstner, Texas A&M University; Dr. Chasity Pender, DSM Nutritional Products; Dr. Valentina Caputi, USDA-ARS Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit; and Dimitri Malheiros and Dr. Ken Anderson, North Carolina State University

Today’s episode was filmed at the 2023 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Balchem’s technical team chose abstracts of interest from the meeting and those researchers are our guests today. 

We kick off the show with Andy Vance, Executive Director of the Poultry Science Association. Andy speaks to the growth of the conference, the presentations and attendance and reinforces that the Poultry Science Association exists to advance science in the poultry industry. (01:20)

Our second guest is Dr. John Halley with J. Halley Poultry Consulting. John conducted an industry survey about how companies handle data. Are companies digitizing data or just staying with what they’ve been doing? John’s presentation covered how data flows through poultry companies today, as well as where we may be going in the future. (05:56)

John’s abstract was titled: “Current Data Insights and Practices for a Poultry Nutritionist”

Next on the guest roster is Addison Elstner from Texas A&M University. Addison’s research objective was to use a different basal diet than traditional corn and soy to stress birds with high inclusions of other cereal grains. This effort was to create a preliminary model of different cereal diets and their impact on intestinal health, performance and animal welfare. This preliminary work builds a foundation for the addition of feed additives and enzymes to those nontraditional diets in the future. (12:04)

Addison’s abstract was titled: “Phase ingredients change in the diet formulation as a possible model to test feed additive efficacy in broiler chickens” 

Our fourth guest is Dr. Chasity Pender from DSM Nutritional Products. Her abstract presented data compiled over the past year for vitamin A recovery levels. The DSM internal laboratory had samples of broiler, broiler breeder vitamin premixes, and broiler and broiler breeder feeds. With those samples, they measured vitamin A recovery levels and evaluated the variation in the different feedstuffs. (15:09)

Chastity’s abstract was titled: “Evaluation of Vitamin A Recoveries in Broiler and Broiler Breeder Premixes and Finished Feeds”

The next guest in our lineup is Dr. Valentina Caputi with the USDA-ARS Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Arkansas.The main objective of her research is to look for alternatives to antibiotics to fight the carriage of foodborne pathogens in the poultry industry. Dr. Caputi’s specific expertise is the study of the enteric nervous system, which is the nervous system that is intrinsic on the gut wall and is distributed throughout the overall gastrointestinal tract. Her abstract evaluated how heat stress during the pre-harvest stage of poultry production affects the enteric nervous system, the intestinal microbiota, and overall gut health and how this can predispose the animal to be susceptible to colonization by a food pathogen, such as salmonella or campylobacter. (21:34)

Valentina’s abstract was titled: “Heat stress induces regional-dependent modulation of aquaporin 4 expression in the enteric nervous system of broiler chickens”

Lastly, we are joined by Dimitri Malheiros and Dr. Ken Anderson, from North Carolina State University. Dimitri’s research assessed cage densities during the pullet rearing phase. While other previous studies focused on increased stocking densities, Dimitri and Dr. Anderson wanted to focus on lower stocking densities to evaluate if pullet welfare would be improved in less dense cages. (32:42)

Dimitri’s abstract was titled: “Influence of cage rearing density on pullet growth parameters and fearfulness.”

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Guests:  Dr. Gonzalo Ferreira from Virginia Tech and Dr. Bill Weiss from The Ohio State University

A Journal Club podcast is a staff and fan favorite, and joining us for today’s Journal Club is Dr. Gonzalo Ferreira from Virginia Tech and Dr. Bill Weiss from The Ohio State University. Dr. Ferreira will be discussing his paper about including alfalfa in multigravida Holsteins. 

Dr. Ferreira starts with an overview of his research and said that he did a preliminary trial in Virginia Tech and saw that the urine pH was being decreased by using a product called polyhalite. (5:36) 

Dr. Weiss pointed out that the study had a fair number of clinical hypocalcemia, about 10-15%, which is high. (27:39) 

Dr. Ferreira said that in testing the polyhalite, he included between 400-500 grams per cup per day. And everything was going well in the case of Calcium Chloride; it is stronger, so you can add less and have the same acidification process. (37:03) 

Dr. Ferreira wrapped up by encouraging people doing research not to get stuck in a theory. Sometimes you need to get out of the box and try different things. (48:45) 

You can find Dr. Ferreira’s paper here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00170-4/fulltext

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Today’s episode was filmed at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Joining us are the ADSA organizers and research winners to discuss their projects. Dr. Clay Zimmerman is our co-host this week. 

Our first guests are Dr. Corwin Nelson, University of Florida and Kari Estes, Balchem. Dr. Nelson is the overall committee chair for the conference and said more than 1,300 abstracts were submitted. Of those, 1,254 were accepted to present at the ADSA conference. (1:44) Ms. Estes, who was a poster judge mentioned she looks for the aesthetics of the poster, but was also impressed with the rigor of research, especially with the winning posters. (5:22) 

Our next guests are presentation winner, Ursula Abou-Rjeileh, Michigan State University and her advisor, Dr. Andres Contreras, Michigan State University. Ursula is a second-time winner and her research focuses on the effects of fatty acids on lipid accumulation and mitochondrial function in the post-partum phase. Her research showed that supplementing oleic acid with pulmonary acid, especially post-partum means cows don’t lose a lot of body weight. Her presentation name is Oleic acid promotes lipid accumulation and improves

mitochondrial function in bovine adipocytes.(10:11) 

Our third set of guests includes master’s poster winner Corienne Gammariello, The Ohio State University - Wooster and her advisor Dr. Ben Enger, The Ohio State University - Wooster. Corienne spoke about their research methods and how unique they were. She used dead bacteria and was able to elicit an immune response of an udder half, they used a split udder design model. Her poster title is Killed Staphylococcus aureus intramammary challenge

induces subclinical mastitis and clear changes in milk composition but not milk yield.(15:11) 

Next, we have Richard Lobo, winner of the Ph.D poster contest, from the University of Florida. Richard’s research was trying to replace soybean milk with algae. He saw that replacing 100% of soybean meal results in no fermentation. (20:15) More research is needed, because it is not yet known if protein that was not degraded in the rumen is going to be degraded later on, and absorbed. So we are still in the process of understanding how to use these protein sources with dairy cows. His poster title is Utilization of algae biomass as a partial replacement for

soybean meal in the diet of dairy cows in vitro. (21:25) 

Our last guests are Luke Quian, Cornell University and Connor McCabe, University of California Davis, who are the President and Vice President of the GSD (Graduate Student Division) at ADSA. Connor said that scientific presentation is a large reason to attend ADSA, but there are equal benefits and opportunities through networking, career development and professional pieces. (28:52) 

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Guests:  Dr. Billy Brown, Kansas State University; Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kelli Brost, University of Illinois; Dr. Jim Drackley, University of Illinois; Dr. Sergio Martinez Monteagudo, New Mexico State University; Jair Parales Giron, Michigan State University; Tess Stahl, University of New Hampshire; Dr. Pete Erickson, University of New Hampshire;  Dr. Vinicius Machado, Texas Tech University

Today’s podcast is the second podcast filmed at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Joining us are researchers with abstracts of interest chosen by the Balchem technical team.

Our first guests are Dr. Billy Brown, Kansas State University, and Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Brown said results from feeding choline in utero showed no differences in the weight of the animal or ribeye areas, but they did have greater marbling, which is exciting. (4:19) 

Dr. Brown’s poster title is: Effect of in utero choline exposure on Angus × Holstein carcass characteristics

Our second guest is Dr. Sergio Martinez Monteagudo from New Mexico State University. Dr. Martinez Monteagudo mentioned that while upcycling is not new and is used in other industries, it is more difficult to do in the food industry. Dr. Martinez Monteagudo turned lactose into something more used, sweeteners. 

Dr. Martinez Monteagudo’s presentation title: Upcycling strategies of dairy byproducts and waste for value-added applications.

Next up is Kelli Brost and Dr. Jim Drackley, both from the University of Illinois. Kelli found in her research that there is an effect on cow’s milk protein and fat percentages when looking at summer versus non-summer seasons. When you look at winter versus non-winter or winter versus summer, she saw the exact opposite. (27:50) 

Kelli’s Poster title is: Relationships between birth and calving season on first lactation performance of Holstein dairy cows in the Midwestern USA

Now, we’re hearing from Jair Parales Giron from Michigan State University. Jair’s research showed that fat has different effects from a low or high-starch diet. He also recommended that if you can’t have a high-energy or low-starch diet, fatty-acid supplementation could work. 

Jair’s presentation title is: Fatty acid supplementation interacts with starch content to alter production responses during the immediate postpartum in dairy cows

Joining us next are Tess Stahl and Dr. Pete Erickson from the University of New Hampshire. Tess studied the effects of a DCAD diet on Jersey cows. she found that minus 40 cals without and with nicotinic acid or niacin were equally feed efficient. And then there was a decrease with the minus 80. So she assumes that minus 80 is too harsh of a DCAD. (54:24)

Tess’ poster title is: Evaluation of colostrum quantity, quality, and bioactive compounds from Jersey cows fed two concentrations of dietary cation-anion difference with or without nicotinic acid and its effect on calf performance

Lastly, we have Dr. Vinicius Machado from Texas Tech University. Dr. Vinicius didn’t have any solid conclusions in his research but did notice that raising beef-on-dairy calves takes a different focus and approach than dairy cows or traditional beef cows. Throughout his portion, he hypothesizes what some options are. (1:38) 

Dr. Vinicius Machado’s presentation title is: Management of beef-on-dairy calves: Should we raise them differently?

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