Milking the Cow’s Rumen
Most dairymen are very famil
r with milking and recognize the
snefits of doing the job well,
fliat they may not fully appreci
e nor understand is that ita order
i get good milk production, they
lust also become skillful at
nilking” the cow’s rumen. What
) I mean by this?
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By
Glenn A. Shirk
Extension
Dairy
Agent
In addition to breaking down
feed and releasing nutrients for
absorption into the blood stream,
one of the main functions of the
rumen is to produce large, active
populations of microbes for
digesting feed. As these microbes
move out of the rumen, along with
the feed, they become a very valu
able source of protein for the cow.
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Microbial protein is a very high
quality protein, and a major source
of protein for the cow. You might
say that it is a form of by-pass pro
tein which is digested after it
leaves the rumen.
To “milk” the maximum
amount of microbial protein from
the rumen, the rumen must be
functioning at full capacity -- con
tinually. Throughput or dry matter
intake is also important. The grea
ter the amount of feed and the fas
ter it moves through the rumen,
the greater is the number of mi
crobes that become available for
the cow to digest. When microbes
move out of the rumen the rumen
produces more microbes in an
effort to maintain a high level of
rumen activity. As a result of this,
total microbial protein yield
increases. It’s similar to milking
cows’ udders; the more you milk a
cow the more room - and incen
tive - you give the cow for mak
ing milk and the more you dis
courage her from drying off.
How do we get maximum
microbial population in the
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Lancaatar Farming Saturday, January 13,1M0-Dl9
Lancaster Co. DHIA
Amos W Breneman
134 GrH
Alvin Z Zeiset
92 GrH
Ess-Creek Farm
Sandy
Neil Good
Gem RH
John J Speicher
60 GrH
Ivan K Horst
rumen, good feed throughput and
maximum microbial yield? Pro
vide the microbes the nutrients
and the environment they need,
and provide the right amount of
digestibility to move a lot of feed
through the rumen while being
careful it doesn’t escape digestion
by moving too rapidly.
This is hard to accomplish by
feeding forages of inferior quality,
and by feeding insufficient quanti
ties of good quality forage. Need
less to say, this is a big problem on
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many dairy farms this winter.
Consequently, production is flat.
As long as cows lack good quality
forage in the ration they’ll never
be able to attain and sustain high
levels of milk production, feeding
more grain can help recover some
of this lost production, but don’t
expect it to fully make up for the
loss of good quality forage.
Rumen microbes, like animals
and people, need nutrients to grow
and work well. They need a solu
ble or rumen degradable supply of
protein or non-protein nitrogen
(NPN), PLUS a readily available
supply of energy, vitamins and
minerals to match up with the pro
tein and NPN - in proper amounts
and at the right time.
Without an adequate supply
plus a proper balance and proper
matchup of nutrients, microbial
activity will decline. Digestion
will be incomplete, more long
fibrous particles and whole ker
nels may start appearing in the
manure, dry matter intake will be
lower and milk production will
suffer.
Excesses and imbalances of
nutrients available to rumen
can create other prob
lems too. If sufficient energy is
not available to match up with the
soluble protein or NPN, the solu
ble protein or NPN will not be ful
ly utilized. It’ll be absorbed into
the blood stream and excreted,
which is poor use of the protein
you fed. Or if the levels are exces
sive, toxic situations may develop;
blood urea nitrogen levels may
rise and reproductive problems
may develop. On the other hand,
excessive levels of readily avail
able energy may cause acidosis,
which reduces dry matter intakes,
depresses fat tests, predisposes
cows to displaced abomasums,
foot problems, etc.
Soluble vs. Insoluble-
This Year
In recent years much focus has
been placed on increasing the
amount of insoluble, by-pass, or
rumen undegradable nutrients in
the ration in an effort to support
higher levels of milk production.
This is good as long as we do not
overlook the cow’s need for solu
ble or rumen degradable nutrients
to keep the rumen functioning at a
high plane of activity. This may be
particularly important on many
farms this year.
Many of this year’s forage
crops were wealhered excessively,
and a lot of the very valuable solu
ble nutrients were leached out.
Because of this, some fanners
may need to include more soluble
protein in the ration. This could be
in the form of soybean oil meal,
NPN, etc. Then, be sure you have
enough readily available energy,
vitamins and minerals to match up
with the protein. That may require
feeding more barley or com, more
oil seeds, more fats and oils - and
feeding it close to the lime the sol
uble protein is fed. Feeding more
of these energy feeds may also
increase the need for buffers.
In many cases, poor weather
conditions delayed harvests.
Crops were more mature and more
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