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Protected Fat Supplements |
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The need to feed Protected Fat - The principle reason that we feed protected fat to dairy cows is to raise the energy density of the diet. As dairy herd yields have risen, dairy herd fertility has fallen consistently over many years. Often the blame is laid at the door of the Holstein breed. Often at the door of the advocate of those who advocate feeding cows for high yields. The real problem has been the failure of the industry to properly manage the transition cow and the cows rumen during early lactation or to feed diets of sufficiently high energy density to meet the energy requirement of the high yielding dairy cow. |
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Our grandfathers new that you couldn't get a cow
in calf if it was thin and losing weight.
Whilst protected fats appear expensive per MJ of energy, because of their high digestibility their net energy cost is often comparable with other energy sources. In any event results speak for themselves. Protected fats are a simple and convenient means of raising the energy density of the cows diet. High yielding cows need an energy density or M/D of between 12.2 and 12.5 MJ/kg DM. When feeding at these levels cows perform better, lose less weight and hold better condition scores. Most importantly they are much easier to get back in calf. |
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Making best use of the wide range of feeds available is an area where our nutritional expertise is of particular benefit to our customers. What type of Protected Fat? Calcium Soaps Protected Fats - Magnapac / Megalac - Palm Fats protected in the form of calcium soaps have been widely used in the UK for many years. Calcium soap protected fats are available under a number of brand names, all of very similar nutritional characteristics. They contain 84% oil, 44% C16 palmitic acid, 9% calcium, 3.5% moisture and are 32.4 MJ / kg DM. This type of protected fat is a useful cost effective source of energy available at competitive prices especially when bought in 12 tonne or 24 tonne artic loads in 25 kg bags. Calcium soap protected fats are beneficial to milk yields and fertility, however have only limited effect in lifting butterfat percentage and may have a negative effect on both milk protein percentage and on total dry matter intake. An additional cause for caution is that they may partially dissociate at low rumen pH depress fibre digestion in the rumen especially when fed at high levels. Consequently diets should be formulated to avoid depressed rumen pH, with attention to long fibre levels, and preferably fed in conjunction with a live yeast supplement or suitable rumen buffer. High C16 Hard Palm Fat Prills - Butterfat Extra - There are a number of high C16 Fat Prills available in 25kg bags. These include Butterfat Extra, RP10 Energizer, Butter Boost, Palmit 80, Bergafat F-100 and are particularly useful in promoting extra butterfat production in high yielding dairy cows. Typical analysis is 100% pure fat at 37 MJ / /kg DM, 85% - 90% palmitic acid. Product specifications do vary - so beware. These high quality 100% fat products generally carry a premium in excess of £100 / tonne over calcium soap fats. The high melting point of 50 - 55oC gives these protected by-pass fats a very low rumen solubility. Therefore, they do not interfere with fibre digestion or rumen fermentation. Our product of choice which we regard as of an extremely high and consistent quality is Butterfat Extra. Butterfat Extra is more palatable than most other products available. It will consistently give us large increases in Butterfat percentage, whilst giving good responses on milk yield and no depression in milk protein % or dry matter intakes. |
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Golden Flake - Golden Flake is similar to Butterfat Extra but contains a combination of C16 palmitic acid and C18 stearic acid. Golden Flake has a net energy content 4.6 times higher than that of molassed sugar beet pulp. Whilst Golden Flake will give less of a lift in butterfat than Butterfat Extra, it is more positive for milk yield and fertility than any other by-pass fat that we have seen. We have had numerous reports from dairy farmers that since they started using Golden Flake they "haven't seen cows bulling like this in years". Increasingly Golden Flake is our protected fat of choice, fed either alone at 0.3kg - 0.5kg / cow / day or fed at a reduced rate in conjunction with Magnapac or Megalac. |
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Richard Webster Nutrition Ltd offers a full nutritional support package free of charge to our customers along with the most extensive range of high quality feed inputs available. |
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Working together for a more profitable future |
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