Sliced on our morning cereal or perched on top of our iconic New Zealand dessert Pavlova, kiwifruit deliver a tasty powerpack of valuable nutrients for us humans. What about ruminants? Are reject kiwifruit from your local packhouse equally as good for our dairy cows and other animals on farm? Yes! A valuable source of energy delivered largely as water soluble carbohydrates, whole kiwifruit can be a very useful feed. However… as for any byproduct feed, kiwifruit may not always meet our expectations as a stockfeed.

Join us for this latest podcast that explores the good, the bad and the (occasionally) ugly aspects of kiwifruit as a feed for ruminants, with a specific focus on kiwifruit feeding to lactating dairy cows.

Although this is a kiwifruit-focused topic, we include content that applies equally to the feeding of other byproduct fruit and vegetables. Enjoy!

Where to find the various topics within this podcast:

2.35 Overview of the episode

5.35 The nutritive value of kiwifruit – “so changeable as the fruit ripens”

6.45 Water soluble carbohydrates (WSC)

7.45 Neutral detergent fibre (NDF)

8.30 Crude protein (CP)

10.40 Ash and mineral content

13.10 Risk of rumen acidosis associated with kiwifruit feeding

19.00 Best practice approaches to minimise risk of rumen acidosis when feeding kiwifruit

20.30 The importance of knowing your kiwifruit on a dry matter (DM) basis - and not just a wet weight basis

21.35 Gradual adaptation by ruminants to a kiwifruit diet

22.40 The protective role of a rumen-full of long stem fibre in reducing risk of rumen acidosis

23.10 Day to day consistency when feeding kiwifruit is the key!

23.50 Maximum daily amounts of kiwifruit you can feed to dairy cows. The answer? “It depends”

25.05 Feed planning with kiwifruit – the “Three Versions” of a diet that contains kiwifruit

27.30 The role for Kiwi ingenuity and innovation when feeding kiwifruit

33.15 Handling kiwifruit storage on farm

34.00 What to do if kiwifruit is overripe?

35.00 Are rumen additives protective against kiwifruit-induced acidosis?

37.00 Risk of “choke” and rumen bloat with kiwifruit feeding

41.00 Know how much your kiwifruit are costing you. Converting $ per tonne wet weight to $ per tonne DM

44.15 The paperwork. Dairy Feed Declaration. Making sure your kiwifruit are fit to feed

45.45 Preventing birds from eating your stockpiled kiwifruit, helping out your local Regional Council.

A fundamental basic of ruminant nutrition – energy density of feeds – is covered in this latest Rumen Room Podcast.

Expressed as Megajoules of Metabolisable Energy per kilogram of dry matter (MJME/kgDM), energy density is an important driver of animal productivity and profitability.

In a down to earth, practical “gumboot level” manner, Dr Charlotte Westwood explores the basics of MJME as a concept and covers how feed testing laboratories measure MJME. How we use MJME values of a feed on farm on a day to day basis is explained. The strengths and possible limitations with the use of MJME in our day to day farm-level decisions is discussed.

Don’t be put off by what is often thought to be a rather "dry" topic of MJME - actually, it’s a straightforward concept - we’re sure you’ll learn a lot from this latest podcast!

Here’s where to find the various sections within the MJME podcast, below:

2.02 Outline of this MJME podcast

3.40 What is “energy”?

6.30 Defining Megajoules and Metabolisable Energy

7.50 Megajoules compared to Megacalories – what’s the difference?

10.25 What is gross energy and why might we be interested?

14.25 Why ruminants can’t use all of gross energy in feeds for useful things

15.10 Faecal energy – what a waste! (#1)

16.10 Digestible energy

17.25 Methane – what a waste! (#2)

18.10 Finally arriving at the MJME number…. How this is calculated

19.00 How different feeds change energy losses as methane

21.00 Measuring MJME – inside the sheep

23.00 Feed testing laboratories estimates of MJME

25.40 Using the digestibility value to calculate MJME

26.20 NIRS technology - digestibility and MJME

31.15 Strengths and weaknesses of MJME as a measure of feed quality – an overview

32.00 Typical MJME values of feed

34.40 Valuing our feeds on a cents per MJME basis – a simple task on farm! Valuing a bale of pasture baleage on an MJME basis as an example

38.00 Using MJME as part of your feed budgeting – MJME demand vs. MJME supply. A 30kg liveweight lamb as an example

40.30 Limitations of MJME as an indicator of suitability of a feed for animals

41.30 MJME is a calculated measure only!

42.00 MJME doesn’t tell us about all of the other interesting stuff in feeds

44.10 Summing up the MJME topic

Our latest podcast explores DCAD - one specific aspect of the diet of “springer” (“close-up”) dairy cows.

The Rumen Room Podcast has briefly discussed DCAD previously (Episodes 10 and 34).  Changing the DCAD of a springer cow diet potentially reduces risk of hypocalcaemia (low blood calcium) in cows before, during and immediately after calving.

This latest episode takes a deeper dive into the detail of DCAD, explaining what DCAD is, what stock class stands to benefit the most from changing dietary DCAD, and how dietary DCAD influence risk of hypocalcaemia. Practical approaches to DCAD management for pasture-fed cows are covered and options for dietary DCAD additives are investigated.

Location of topics within our latest podcast.

1.00 DCAD as just one aspect of the springer dairy cow diet.

1.45 Introduction to the DCAD podcast

4.55 The definition of DCAD

5.45 Dietary cations and anions explained

6.45 The four dietary elements contributing to DCAD: Potassium, sodium, sulphur and chloride

7.50 The DCAD equations – there are a few out there, we like “equation 1” for calculating DCAD

9.10 How does changing DCAD work? DCAD simplified!

10.50 What’s the “ideal” DCAD for springer diets?

11.35 How long should springer dairy cows be exposed to low or negative DCAD diets before calving?

12.55 DCAD once a cow has calved

14.41 How slight changes to blood pH reduce risk of hypocalcaemia  

22.00 High potassium ryegrass (and other types of feeds) and DCAD in springer diets

23.40 Ryegrasses can accumulate lots of potassium!

24.42 Whey applied to pasture as a risk factor for high potassium and high DCAD pastures

25.45 Lucerne silage, baleage or hay and DCAD and calcium in springer diets

27.25 Sodium as a driver of DCAD for New Zealand pasture-fed springers

28.35 Lower DCAD feeds for springer diets – Maize (corn) silage

30.40 Additives that change the DCAD of springer cow diets

35.30 “Do no harm when trying to solve a milk fever problem” – the risk of reducing feed intake by springer cows when unpalatable / not very tasty anionic products are added to diets

37.45 Negative DCAD additives that also deliver calcium: Calcium chloride & calcium sulphate

40.35 Measuring DCAD of feeds – the role for feed testing and springer cow urine testing

43.20 Concluding / summing up the DCAD podcast