014—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 7,1980
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Adjusting dairy cows to
sudden changeover from hay
to high energy rations after
calving can succeed by
feeding about one-third of a
pound of baking soda or
sodium bicarbonate in the
rations, according to Lee H.
Kilmer and Lawrence O.
Muller, dairy scientists at
Penn State.
They point out that dairy
Venezuela imports
Simmental bulls
BOZEMAN, MT. - Miller
Crest Farms of Bronson,
Florida, owned by Peggy
and Spencer Miller, recently
sold three Simmental bolls
to interests in Venezuela.
Two Venezuelian
Universities, in a
cooperative nature, intend to
use the yearling purebred
bulls to up-grade the native
herds in the area, according
to a spokesman for the
American Simmental
Association.
“They have been breeding
artificially for some time,
and will put these bulls on
some of their Simmental
halves,” Miller explained.
“The South American
people like to get their cattle
from Florida because they
Conodoguinet
4-H Sheep Club
to demonstrate
fitting
NEWBURG - The fifth
meeting of the Conocioguinet
4-H Sheep Club was held at
the home of Paul Wynn in
Newburg with President
Rick Cleland in charge.
Those present, with the 20
members, were the leaders
Marlin Rook, Bob Holtry,
and Mr. Duncan, the ex
tension agent.
The club’s next meeting
will be Thursday, June 19, at
the home of Bob Holtry at
which time sheep fitting will
be practiced.
Baking soda helps cows with ration changeover
cows are fed large amounts
of hay with only small
quantities of grain before
calves are bom. After
calving, cows that are group
fed are often switched
abruptly to high energy
rations containing silage and
grain needed for top volume
milkyieMs.
Unless the cow’s rumen or
stomach can adjust to
are already acclimated to
the heat down there,” said
Miller. “They have a
tremendous problem in that
weaning weights are only 200
pounds in their native cattle,
and the University people
are using Simmental in an
effort to increase produc
tion.”
According to Alvaro
Martinez of Maracay,
Venezuela, the Miller Crest
bulls are the first Simraental
cattle to be imported into the
country.
Initial contact with the
Venezuelans was made by
the Millers through the
Florida International
Agricultural Trade Council.
sudden feeding of grain
concentrates, excess acidity
develops, they said. Other
metabolic problems can also
occur, they noted, caused
by increased eating of highly
fermentable carbohydrates
such as sugars and starches
ingrain.
In experiments at Penn
State, cows were fed a ration
of 85 parts chopped hay to 15
parts grain concentrate
during the dry period and for
three days after calving. On
the fourth day after calving,
the cows were switched
abruptly to a complete
ration of 60 parts corn silage
and 40 parts grain silage. All
rations were fed free choice
twice daily for nine weeks.
Cows fed sodium bicar
bonate during the first four
weeks after calving con
sumed 13 percent more feed
and produced 16 percent
more milk than cows not fed
the “buffer,” a term for a
chemical that neutralizes
acids. Cows fed the “buf
fered” ration had less off
feed problems.
Over the total nine weeks
of the study, cows fed
sodium bicarbonate con
sumed nine percent more
feed per day and produced 10
percent more milk than cows
not fed the buffer.
Dr. Muller said cows fed
sodium bicarbonate reached
peak milk production earlier
than the cows not given the
baking soda. Fourteen of 30
cows fed the buffer reached
peak milk yield at over 80
pounds per day. In contrast,
only four of 15 cows not fed
sodium bicarbonate attained
80 or more pounds of milk
daily.
The results indicate that
feeding the baking soda
should be profitable for
dairymen under conditions
similar to this study, Dr.
Muller and associates
believe. The difference in
milk production amounted to
about six pounds per cow
daily.
At a price of $l2 per
hundredweight, the added
yield of milk produced 72
cents of additional income
daily for each cow.
The sodium bicarbonate
cost about 5 cents per cow
daily. It was mixed with the
feed at about one-third of a
pound per cow daily (0.7
percent of the total ration).
Cost of the additional feed
eaten by cows given the
baking soda was not
estimated.
The experiments at Penn
State were carried out
largely by Lee H. Kilmer,
graduate assistant in dairy
science, with the support of
Dr. Mueller and Dr. Paul J.
Wangsness, associate
professor of animal
nutrition.
“Lee Kilmer's research
was one of the first studies of
its type with dairy cows,”
Dr. Mueller said. “Earlier
studies on rapid changeover
in rations had been con
ducted with beef cattle and
sheep in several university
and industry experiments. ”
Muller and associates
would like to continue
studying buffers in dairy
cow rations. They especially
want to examine long-term
effects of such feeding
Experiments should test the
effects, if any, of withdrawal
of sodium bicarbonate after
short or long-term use. And
feeding of buffers with
different times of rations
should be studied.