Dairy Buzz

Healthier cows, a better yield, better fertility – well, these things could just be written into the future of a lot of US farmers if Agriking’s head of research Gbenga Ayangbile is to be believed. According to him, the research into the butyric acid levels and the effect on the rumen holds the key to the health of the herds. So feeds have to be analyzed for this because if there is too much of butyric acid produced, no matter what you do, it harms the livestock’s health and productivity.

What happens is that the bacteria in the rumen react to the feeds. So even if you do feed your cows energy foods, the butyric acid, if it is present will interfere with the animal’s health. To prevent this, the sugars in feeds should be up for analysis and there should be good levels of five-nitrogen sugars rather than six-nitrogen sugars so that the butyric levels are low enough to keep the bacteria in the rumen happy. Any imbalance in this area could mean that the cow’s metabolism won’t work the way it should. Well, if this is to be believed, we’ll soon have our cows being high-yielding and healthy to boot!