Dairymen Find New Product Increases Production
KENNEDYVILLE - With the
top-producing herd in Maryland’s
Kent County already to his credit,
it didn’t seem likely that Allan
Wright would be able to squeeze
three more pounds of milk from
each of his cows in a matter of
weeks.
But that’s exactly what hap
pened on Kalangail Farms near
Kennedyville when Wright took the
advice of a neighboring dairy
manager and tried a new product
called Bio-Boost.
“Within a couple of weeks my
cows went from an average of 65
pounds of milk a day up to 68
pounds,” he reported about his
herd that is now boasting a rolling
average of over 22,000 pounds. “1
was pleasantly surprised at how
well it worked.”
Bio-Boost is a combination of
volatile fatty acids, vitamins and
other nutrients and enzymes. It is
being used with similar results by
a growing number of farmers from
the hills of Kentucky, Virginia and
Tennessee to Maryland’s Eastern
Shore and New York.
Produced by ROMAK Nutrition
of Kennedyville, Md., Bio-Boost is
coming available to dairymen
through their feed suppliers in the
Mid-Atlantic region and parts of
the South.
The product’s remarkable
results are of no surprise to Dr.
Marshall E. McCullough, a dairy
nutrition specialist at the
University of Georgia for 33 years,
and a frequent writer for Hoard’s
Dairyman.
At the university’s experiment
station, Dr. McCullough fed
volatile fatty acids to cows as far
back as 1968, when he first
recorded their ability to
dramatically increase production.
The acids are found naturally in
a cow’s rumen, reported the
recently retired expert, but a
product such as Bio-Boost is able to
stimulate their production and
effectiveness in helping the cow
make better use of her feed.
“A cow is a factory,” Mc-
Cullough said. “And like in any
other manufacturing process,
when there is an increase in the
rate of production, there has to be
an increase in the rate of inputs in
the factory. That’s what is being
done with this product. The ef
ficiency of the factory is being
increased.”
He emphasized, however, that
feeding a product like Bio-Boost
won’t turn an inferior feeding
program into a good one. “There’s
no free lunch in this business,” he
said. “Farmers have got to in
corporate this product with a
sound feeding program. That’s
when they’ll see results.”
In addition to higher milk
production, farmers feeding Bio-
Boost has noticed that their cow’s
manure is finer in texture with less
grain, an indication that the
digestive process is getting more
out of the feed.
“The first thing I noticed was
that the fiber in the manure was
really fine,” said Jonas Stoltzfus of
Millington, who began using Bio-
Boost in his herd of 55 cows about a
year ago. “In less than one week,
there was a lot less grain coming
through in the manure.”
Between January 1985 and April
1986, Stoltzfus’ rolling herd
average surged from 15,468 pounds
of milk and 575 pounds of butterfat
to 18,554 pounds of milk and 679
pounds of butterfat.
Because he also changed his
ration during that time, Stoltzfus
could not assess exactly how much
of the 3,000 pound milk increase
was attributable to Bio-Boost, but
he did say, “I’m personally con
vinced it increased production.
“It’s not magic. You have to
have the rest of the ration
balanced, too, but the number of
times I did run out, I could always
tell the difference immediately, in
the texture of the manure, as well
as in production. I’m confident that
it has been cost-effective.”
Wright, whose rolling herd
average increased about 2,000
pounds to 22,002 in just one year,
figured that at least 1,000 pounds of
the improvement was due to
feeding the new product.
“It’s easy to get an increase like
that when your cows are only
milking 45 to 50 pounds a day, but
when your production level is that
high, that’s an impressive in-
Donald Burdette
crease. I recommend it.”
Like Stoltzfus, he also noticed
the difference in manure texture.
“It looked creamier,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean anything in
the milk tank, but it does show that
something is happening. ’ ’
The most well-documented
production increase was on Fair
Hill Farms in Chestertown, owned
by the Fry family. With 520 cows
on test, milk production per cow
soared five pounds a day in just
three weeks.
When Edwin Fry began his test
on December 27, the Fair Hill cows
were producing just over 59 pounds
of milk per day. By Jan. 16, the
average was up to over 64 pounds.
At Rockingham Mill in
Harrisonburg, Va., sales manager
Steve Collins reported that 11
herds began feeding Bio-Boost
about three months ago.
“The farmers have been seeing a
three to four pound milk increase
pretty much across the board,”
Collins said. “They saw the in
creases within three weeks. Some
saw it in less than two weeks.”
Alan Chiles, a dairyman in
Auburn, Ky., who is being supplied
with Bio-Boost by Music City
Supplements in Nashville, said his
55 cows have upped their
production between 2.5 and 3
pounds of milk each at a time when
they would normally be slacking
off.
“They usually drop off pretty
fast at this time of year,” he said,
“so I’m probably seeing more
increase than that.”
Another benefit farmers feeding
Bio-Boost have seen is greater
forage bunk life.
“The forage doesn’t seem to
spoil as quickly, especially in the
summer,” reported Donald
Burdette of Chestertown. “Plus,
the cows seem to clean it up a little
better.”
Which brings up the point of
palatability. Dairymen have
reported that the cows like the
product, and, if anything, eat more
feed when it has been added to the
ration.
Specific testing on a fistulated
cow at Fair Hills in Maryland
revealed increased salvia
production in the rumen, another
indication that digestion is being
improved by Bio-Boost.
Laboratory testing verified that
the increased digestibility results
in proper rumen pH, and the
bottom line is more energy intake
directed towards milk production.
Fair Hills Dairy Manager, Roger
McKnight, began researching the
role of volatile fatty acids in dairy
cattle nutrition when he became
aware of a product called IsoPlus,
developed by Eastman Kodak Co.
“We developed Bio-Boost
because the Kodak product was
unobtainable.” McKnight ex
plained. “But I think I’ve come up
with something even better.”
The primary ingredients in Bio-
Boost work differently than do
those in IsoPlus, and at least one
farmer who tried both was left with
no doubt about which was more
effective.
“I was on IsoPlus for six weeks
and I didn’t see any difference,”
reported dairyman Burdette. “But
when I went on Bio-Boost, I saw a
big increase and the butterfat
percentage stayed the same. I was
really surprised.”
McKnight recommends feeding
2H 4 ounces of Bio-Boost per cow per
day by incorporating it with the
total mixed ration or putting it
directly onto the forage. If it’s
mixed with the gram, he recom
mends that the grain be top
dressed on the forage.
To farmers starting with the
product, for the first four days
McKnight recommends using only
half of the suggested rate to make
the change more gradual for the
cows.
His experience has shown that a
response is evident within a average cost is just under 20 cents
maximum of three weeks. per cow per day.
From a cost standpoint, Bio- Farmers interested in trying
Boost is very economical, Bio-Boost should contact their feed
McKnight noted. Although prices supplier for information on
for the product may vary from availability,
area to area, he estimates that the
Hog Numbers
WASHINGTON D.C. - Hog
numbers plunged to an 11-year low
as of June 1, the USDA announced
Monday.
Experts predicted a normal 2
percent decline from last year in
the hog population instead of the 7
percent drop indicated by the
USDA survey. The number of
female hogs kept for breeding
declined 9 percent from a year
earlier.
As a result of the Monday report,
livestock and meat futures soared
the permissable limit this week in
anticipation of shrinking red-meat
supplies.
In the last few years there has
been little profit in the hog
business, therefore hog producers
have severely limited expansion,
according to H. Louis Moore, Penn
State professor of agricultural
economics.
He added that in recent months
there has been no expansion due to
lonas
ight
Plunge
decreasing prices. Moreover,
publicity from the dairy herd
buyout program produced a
detrimental psycological effect,
causing beed and hog prices to
drop even further. With the
government adding to the meat
supply in this manner, many hog
producers felt there was no future
in the hog industry.
With the lastest USDA report
and the futures market up, op
timism has returned to the hog
market.
Moore speculated that with a
favorable corn crop and low prices
on com, producers will begin to
think about holding back breeding
stock. Offspring from these pigs
will not hit the market for seven to
ten months, creating a short
supply of pork for this period.
Despite the lower pork supplies
prices are expected to be held in
check by an abundance of beef am}
poultry.