Managing Winter Dairy Diets

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Thompsons’ Dairy Specialist, John Anderson discusses dietary changes that can lead to performance improvements this winter, with the ‘real time’ views of Country Tyrone producer Ryan McElduff.

Dairy producers across Northern Ireland, of a certain age, will have witnessed many significant changes to their industry over the past thirty years. But for those in the younger age bracket, even the recent unpredictable weather conditions have been challenging enough. This has prompted a shift in trends, with many producers moving from a traditional grazing set up, to a fully housed system. When this is coupled with improved genetics, the increased use of concentrate feedstuffs and an uptake in robotic systems, the result is an increase in average milk yields across the board. Just as the energy and protein requirements of dairy cows have changed to achieve these yields, so too has the need for minerals and trace minerals into the diet. 

Feeding innovation

With a continual motivation to find innovative tools that will improve cow health and performance in a way that can benefit their customers, over ten years ago, Thompsons partnered with Zinpro Performance Minerals. Utilising their research and trace mineral packages and applying them to Northern Ireland’s dairy industry, Zinpro’s Availa Minerals soon became a household name. Bringing a significant body of research that was proven both globally and locally, delivering results on farm, through lameness reduction, fertility management and udder health. Over time Zinpro continued to reevaluate the mineral requirements of the dairy cow and as a result 12months ago, Thompsons was able to launch Availa Dairy. This package of performance minerals combines a specific combination of Zinpro’s highly metabolically available trace minerals, Zinc, Manganese and Copper, which have been delivering a superior level of performance on farm. 

Unique Mode of Action 

A large proportion of basic inorganic minerals in the diet, and some low-quality organic trace minerals, get inactivated in the gut, subsequently they are not absorbed and become unavailable to the cow as they are excreted. Efficient and effective trace minerals should be stable at a low pH, not be affected by antagonists, they should be soluble and therefore easily absorbed. The trace minerals in Availa Dairy, where the metal is structurally bonded 1:1 to certain amino acids, have these superior characteristics. They are uniquely and more efficiently absorbed through specific ‘amino acid transporters’ in the gut. Once in circulation they are metabolised differently from other metal sources, allowing the cow to utilise the trace minerals more effectively. 

Improved Performance 

In trials Availa Dairy has been shown to increase milk yield by 4%, improve feed efficiency by around 9%, and reduce blood ketones by 34% in early lactation. It also supports udder and hoof health, increases reproductive performance and the quality of colostrum is enhanced by increased immunoglobulin levels. These improvements help to optimize overall herd performance and contribute to a more sustainable milk supply chain. 

Granagh Farm, Carrickmore in County Tyrone is home to Ryan McElduff and his Fiancé Orlaíth who over the past ten years have established a herd of 80 cows, a growing poultry enterprise and some readers may know them from their online presence as ‘Action Agri’. Starting out as a Friesian cross, high EBI grazing herd, with high solids, Ryan struggled with milk yields throughout the early years with unfavourable ground & weather conditions leaving it difficult to have an extended grazing season. But like many producers in a similar situation, Ryan has gradually moved away from grazing and 2024 was the first year that cows have been fully housed with the grazing platform now in a three-cut system with the aim to cut four times in 2025. 

Successful strategies

The breeding strategies have gradually changed towards Holstein lines, which combined with a properly balanced diet, the herd is now currently achieving 8,400 litres with a butterfat percentage of 4.34 and protein at 3.41. But this is just the beginning for Ryan and Orlaith, who have set the long-term target of 1 tonne of solids per cow, while upholding their fertility profile. Ryan attributes significant improvements in herd performance to the addition of Availa Dairy into the diet. “The cows no longer have to deal with the pressure of bad weather conditions and the inconsistency of grass proteins and energy. Now we run a confined system, we analyse silage regularly and balance diets accordingly to ensure that there is consistency to the nutritional input. The great benefit of the Availa Dairy programme is that it has greatly improved negative energy balance in early lactation, meaning that clinical ketosis has been kept at bay resulting in an ideal body condition score leading up to breeding,” adds Ryan. 

The herd at Granagh Farm is certainly on the upward trajectory with changes to the system and the nutrition in place to support that. If you would like to find out how Availa Dairy could help improve the health and productivity of your herd, contact your local representative or get in touch directly by phone or through socials. 

Availa® Dairy, offers improved production, better cow wellbeing and an excellent return on investment of at least 10:1.

 

Posted 14,10,24 by allison.

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