RWN News Digest
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Minerals - An Integral Part of Dairy Cow Nutrition. Issue No. 6 |
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As genetics have improved and animal output has increased both in dairy cows and in replacement heifers, mineral requirements have become a neglected area of nutrition in the UK. Often supplementation has been given lip service, due to an over reliance on minerals supplied from compound feed which is increasingly fed as a lower proportion of the total diet. Minerals, trace elements and vitamins should be treated as an integral part of the total nutrition package of equal importance to energy, protein, starch and fibre. Mineral nutrition is essential to the health, well being, productivity, fertility and longevity of the modern dairy cow. It matters not how much cake you throw at a cow, if she is mineral deficient she will not perform or thrive. The introduction of new legal maximums for various micro nutrients in January 2004, together with the search for greater efficiency and lower feed costs mean that it is no longer acceptable or economic to pay lip service to mineral nutrition by using cheap 'off the shelf' minerals without reference to actual requirements of the modern cow or to the individual farm situation. Nor is it wise to ignore the need to supplement cows at grass. Not surprisingly the same mineral deficiencies, which routinely occur in grass silage, also occur in grazed grass. It is not at all uncommon to find minerals being fed which do not match farm requirements. There is absolutely no justification for use a product which doesn't meet the cows requirements or worse, may even be harmful, just because it was cheap. In the absence of other commercially available ration programs geared to balancing mineral requirements for dairy cows, RWN has developed it's own software over the past two years. The RWN Mineral Program takes full account of availability of minerals from different sources, background levels of nutrients supplied from straights, compounds and other feeds including the individual farms own forage. In addition and of particular importance to UK conditions we take account of the effect of antagonists and trace element lock up problems. The RWN Mineral Program has proved extremely successful in optimizing mineral and trace element supply on many farms, with considerable cost saving and major benefits in terms of performance and profitability. Not all minerals are equal. At RWN we source our minerals to custom specifications to meet the requirements of individual farms. Manufacture is by Trouw Nutrition locally in Cheshire. Trouw are global leaders in ruminant nutrition operating Worldwide with massive research capabilities. They produce to the highest specifications and have developed a number of exclusive and innovative products including Cuprex which has particular relevance to the UK dairy and livestock sectors. In addition Trouw have a clear advantage having Optimins as part of their organisation. Optimins protected organic mineral chelates continue to lead the industry and have clear advantages when dealing with the widespread mineral lock up problems seen in the UK. Now is an ideal time to review your long-term future feeding strategy. Investing in sound nutrition now will increase future milk yields and profitability. For more information or for an in depth consultation contact Richard Webster. |
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Working together for a more profitable future
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