Ingestion of soil during grazing of pastures and forage crops is a common and unavoidable event. Soil contamination of silage and baleage is another challenge that we sometimes need to deal with. Our latest episode explores the whole topic of soil ending up where it doesn’t belong. How much mud and dirt do animals eat during grazing? What factors increase risk of animals eating too much soil? Are there any health or nutrition issues we need to think about when animals eat too much mud and dirt? What happens when we get soil contamination of silage? All this and more. We hope you enjoy our latest podcast.

2.25 Overview of content of our current podcast

4.00 How ruminants end up eating soil

4.30 Post-grazing residual management – it’s not only about soil ingestion

6.55 Soil type and structure

9.00 Plant pulling during grazing

11.00 Earthworms – wonderful things but how about those worm casts?

12.45 Hot, dry dusty conditions

13.15 Flood irrigation

13.55 Annual forage crops, including bulb crops (Fodder beet, swedes, turnips)

14.35 Different types of bulb crops and risk of soil ingestion

17.00 Sugar beet and soil tare

18.00 When soil contaminates conserved feeds. Risks for spoilage of silage

23.30 Listeriosis risk when soil-contaminated silage pH is high

25.05 What parts of a feed test reports could indicate the presence of soil in your silage sample?

27.20 Soil ingestion when animals have a depraved appetite and eat soil (pica)

29.20 How much soil do grazing ruminants eat during grazing?

34.45 Potentially good aspects of soil ingestion

39.00 Potentially not so good aspects of soil ingestion.

44.50 Risk of physical damage to the gastrointestinal tract when ruminants eat soil

Well known New Zealand-based veterinarian, nutritionist and farmer Dr Sue Macky joins Charlotte Westwood in our latest podcast. Sue steps us through everything to do with the individual dairy cow during the dry and transition periods - from the cow's point of view. Too often we get overly focused on the detail of the diet and management dry and transition dairy cows - and forget about focusing specifically on the cow herself. Not in this latest episode, this is very much about the cow herself!

Sue discusses a cow-centric approach to managing dairy cows from dry off, during the far-off dry period and into the “springer” period (close-up dry period) and colostrum mob. This is one episode you simply will not want to miss!

0.40 Introducing Dr Sue Macky, defining her lifetime of global experience in dairy cow feeding and management

3.35 The dairy cow is an elite athlete, and should be treated as such

4.35 The New Zealand dry (non-lactating) cow period - redefined

5.10 Managing cows heading into dry off including redrafting cows for the dry period. Impacts on an individual cow with changing herd social structure discussed

7.10 Cow body condition score at dry off through to calving

7.50 Gut fitness in dairy cows; Capacity and muscularity during the dry period

10.20 Feeding cows through dry off – “don’t confuse the cow”

10.50 Immune functionality through dry off

11.40 Stock water supply and access by cows during the dry period

13.30 Late dry period through to the transition period – setting cows up well

14.00 “Calves are obligate parasites during late pregnancy”

14.40 The challenges of pasture-based diets in late pregnancy

15.30 Mob size for springer (close-up) dry cows, it’s all about compromise

16.05 How long should cows remain in the springer mob?

16.30 The calving cow – the importance of access by cows to feed and stock water

17.50 The cow-newborn calf bond

18.45 Feed, water and calcium for freshly calved cows

20.10 Cow behaviour after calving – the modern cow vs. the cow of ancient times

21.05 Milking out a cow after calving (“energy in, energy out”)

21.35 Once-a-day milking of cows after calving, it’s all about gut fill and rumination

All plants would be green slime growing sideways along the ground if it wasn’t for lignin– True! Find out more in our latest podcast covering everything from the good, the bad and the ugly about lignin. Learn how lignin impacts overall quality of ruminant feeds, and how feed management decisions change how animals process and digest lignin in their day-to-day diets. Find out how the lignin content of feeds changes with feed type and feed management, and what you can do to reduce intake of lignin in the diet of your sheep, cattle, deer or goats to improve animal productivity.

Here’s where to find the key sections in this our latest podcast talking all things ruminant nutrition.

0.51 Defining lignin

2.00 Just what does lignin mean for sheep, beef, deer and goats?

4.55 Lignin and plant cell walls – holding hands

7.10 If it weren’t for lignin, where would plants be?

7.30 How lignin messes with feed quality for animals

9.50 Plant cell contents aren’t bothered by lignin – why not?

10.35 Lignin, feed digestibility and MJME

12.45 How high is high? Interpreting lignin results as part of feed test results

13.55 Lignin alongside NDF, NDFd, and ADF

15.10 “Book value” lignin results for common New Zealand feeds

17.00 Do zero lignin feeds exist?

17.30 Lignin content of some common “dry” byproduct feeds

20.25 Lignin and NZ pastures

23.30 Plant maturity influences lignin content

26.15 Weather, pasture and forage crops and lignin

31.20 Managing pastures for reduced lignin content

34.05 Plant breeding and lignin, including BMR forages

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

Our latest podcast carries on with our heat stress 'theme' from episode 43, where we explored the challenges of hot temperatures on pasture species.

We’ve moved the theme of heat stress across to how heat stress effects dairy cows. We discuss how heat stress bothers cows, and investigate strategies to reduce the effects of summer heat on lactating cows of hot summer temperatures.

Featuring expert heat stress guest podcaster, Lori Grinter, this episode covers a wide range of heat-related topics. Lori first explains how her heat stress studies as part of her Masters undertaken at the University of Kentucky uncovered different cow responses to heat stress, and gave industry new insights into how cows respond to hot weather.

The remainder of the podcast returns very much to a New Zealand-based discussion around how heat stress influences lactating cows, and farm-level strategies that reduce the heat load on our cows.

If you’re short on time listening to our latest podcast, here’s where to find the various discussion sections:

1.46 Introducing guest heat stress podcaster, Lori Grinter

3.05 University of Kentucky heat stress research completed by Lori

4.12 Cows voluntarily taking a cool shower (we kid you not!)

9.10 The 5 hour time delay between exposure by cows to heat and cows seeking a cooling shower

12.45 “THI” the temperature humidity index defined – knowing when conditions are hotting up

15.15 Signs that our cows show us, when they’re getting hot and bothered

17.00 The rumen heat chamber – high fibre feeds and heat stress

17.20 Rumen acidosis risk, as worsened by heat stress

22.15 Shady dealings – The importance of shade for keeping cows cool

28.55 Exercise – hotting things up, the importance of walking and moving cows during cooler parts of the day

32.20 Cow nutrition – Concepts for keeping cows cooler during hot conditions

40.45 Cool clean stock water – a critical factor when managing hot cows

44.10 Cow wearable technologies – useful things to monitor for early signs of heat stress

47.00 Resources for learning more about hot and bothered cows

Below are the links for Lori Grinter’s publication in the highly esteemed Journal of Dairy Science

https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(19)30151-1/fulltext

https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(22)00677-4/fulltext

(Note that this heat stress study made editors choice!)