Nutritionists are often blamed for transition cow problems like high NEFAs, clinical and subclinical ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Dr. Baumgard suggests these symptoms are a result of one of two situations: 1. These are highly productive, healthy, and profitable cows; or 2. The symptoms are the metabolic reflection of immune activation, likely stemming from metritis, mastitis, pneumonia, or GI tract inflammation. In the first scenario, the nutritionist deserves a raise; in the second, t...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 123
The Balchem technical team selected abstracts of interest from the 2024 American Dairy Science Association meetings to feature on this episode of the Real Science Exchange. Whole Cottonseed and Fatty Acid Supplementation Affect Production Responses During the Immediate Postpartum in Multiparous Dairy Cows Guests: Jair Parales-Giron and Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University (0:58) The experiment had four treatment groups: no fat supplement, 10% of the diet from whole cottonseed, a 60:30 mix of...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 122
This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. Shakespeare wrote, “The eyes are the windows of the soul.” Dr. Ollivett believes the lungs are the window to calf health management. The lungs are an indicator organ: respiratory disease is a symptom of management failure. Failure of passive transfer, diarrhea, septicemia, poor nutrition, a dirty environment, and heat or cold stress can all negatively impact the lungs. Often, this...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 121
Dr. Nydam and Dr. LeBlanc recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on August 7, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience . Dr. Nydam begins with a brief overview of the concepts from the webinar, all based on understanding and applying information from different types of studies on dairy cow health and performance. Dr. LeBlanc adds that their goal was for the webinar to be useful for people with a practical interest in feeding and managing dairy cows. (4:12) Dr. Nyd...
Oct 29, 2024•55 min•Ep. 120
This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. The primary goal of a replacement program is to raise the highest quality heifer that can maximize profits when she enters the lactating herd. She carries no limitations that would detract from her ability to produce milk under the farm’s management system. Ideally, one would wish to optimize profits by obtaining the highest quality heifer at the lowest possible cost, usually in t...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 119
Dr. Mitloehner recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on September 11, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience . Dr. Mitloehner begins by sharing about the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at UC Davis. He established this research and communications center to combat misinformation about sustainability in animal agriculture. One unique aspect of the center is a diverse communications department composed of journalists,...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 118
Dr. Arshad begins by reviewing the inclusion criteria in the meta-analysis he conducted. He wished only to look at studies where lysine was supplemented in a rumen-protected form. The meta-analysis did not include studies that infused lysine into the abomasum or intestine. In addition, only completely randomized design or randomized complete block design studies were included. Feed ingredients and chemical composition of diets for each experiment were run through NASEM to predict the metabolizab...
Oct 08, 2024•57 min•Ep. 117
This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. Choline was discovered in 1862 in pig and ox bile (“chole” in Greek). It is a simple nutrient containing five carbons and a nitrogen. Choline is considered a quasi-vitamin since its requirements and de novo synthesis are both higher than the B vitamins it’s similar to. Pigs can synthesize more choline than chickens. Choline is considered to be a conditionally essential nutr...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 116
Dr. Kononoff’s lab evaluated retrospective feed mixing records collected from eight commercial dairy farms. Data was divided into 28-day periods. Daily TMR nutrient deviation was automatically calculated from feed mixer data as the actual amount of a nutrient fed minus the target amount from the original diet formulation, divided by the target amount. (5:43) Crude protein, NDF, fat, and starch were the nutrients evaluated in the study. (13:40) Variation was positive for every nutrient on the vas...
Sep 24, 2024•42 min•Ep. 115
Balchem sponsored several abstracts presented at the 2024 ADSA Annual Meeting. This episode consists of five segments, each focused on an abstract. Segment 1: Evaluating the total mixed ration stability of rumen-protected lysine products. Guests: Kari Estes, Balchem; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia Tech This research compared the TMR stability of a Balchem prototype, several commercially available rumen-protected lysine products and a positive control of unprotected lysine. (3:39) A sample of TMR and...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 114
This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. Throughout the last 30 years, the dairy industry has moved to producing highly concentrated versions of milk proteins. In cows’ milk, about 80% of the protein is casein and 20% is in the serum or whey phase. These ratios vary by species. There are three major caseins in cows’ milk: alpha-S-casein, beta-casein, and kappa-casein. The first two are rich in phosphate for calciu...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 113
Dr. Overton presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on July 10, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience . This episode takes a deeper dive into the conversation. Dr. Overton begins by reminding listeners of the vast number of changes occurring in the fresh cow during the first two to three weeks after calving. Body fat and protein mobilization, some systemic inflammation, the potential for elevated NEFAs and ketones, and calcium dynamics all play a role in h...
Aug 27, 2024•57 min•Ep. 112
Dr. Callaway presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on June 4, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience . The following podcast takes a deeper dive into the conversation. For years, probiotics were known as direct-fed microbials (DFMs) in livestock and probiotics in humans. Terminology has been updated to reflect different modes of action and composition. (9:07) A probiotic is defined as a living microorganism that will be beneficial to the health and/or per...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 111
This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. Dr. Goff sees three main challenges for transition cows: negative energy and protein balance, immune suppression, and hypocalcemia. About half of all older cows experience hypocalcemia, and around 3% will experience milk fever. Cows develop hypocalcemia if they are unable to replace the calcium lost in milk from either their bone or diet. Compared to the day before calving,...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 110
Dr. DeVries presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on May 8, 2024, titled “Lessons Learned in Research on Nutritional Management of Robot Milked Cows.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience . Dr. DeVries begins with an overview of how his robotic milking research has evolved. In Canada, around 20%-plus of farms are using robotic milkers. He describes survey research in the US and Canada as to why producers choose to implement robotic milkers. (9:19) In Trevor’s webinar,...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 109
Dr. Cannas presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on October 17, 2023, titled “Diets of Productive Sheep & Goats: Performance & Health.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience . Dr. Cannas outlines the topics he covered in his webinar, including nutritional requirement differences between small and large ruminants, particularly in late gestation. Small ruminants have a shorter gestation and are more prolific than cattle, for example, and this means they have more...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 108
Dr. Zimmerman presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on December 12th, 2023, titled “Not All Rumen-Protected Products Are Created Equal.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience . Clay outlines four attributes of a good rumen-encapsulated product. They are feed and TMR stable, ruminal stable, nutrient bioavailability, and good efficacy biologically in the animal. (6:21) Kari describes a TMR stability test that Balchem has been perfecting based on a paper published in 2016...
Jul 09, 2024•59 min•Ep. 107
This episode comes to you from the “New Developments in Transition Cow Nutrition” seminar in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Dr. Santos, Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Zimmerman spoke at the seminar. Each speaker gives a brief overview of their seminar presentation, and then the panel takes questions from the audience. In his presentation, Dr. Santos discussed some of the latest research using rumen-protected choline in transition cows. There is substantial evidence that choline plays an important role in transi...
Jun 25, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 106
Dr. Harvatine gave a presentation on the Real Science Lecture series on April 2nd titled “High Oleic Soybeans, Where Do They Fit Into Dairy Diets?” Access the recording at balchem.com/real science. As Dr. Harvatine thinks back over his 15 years at Penn State, he didn’t think he’d do much fat supplement work. But we keep getting new questions, new products, and new challenges. One of these is high oleic soybeans, which could be an opportunity to grow some of our own fat on the farm. (6:35) High o...
Jun 18, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 105
This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Assessing Transition Cow Health: Integrating Traditional and Novel Biomarkers” from the conference proceedings with Dr. Andres Contreras of Michigan State University. What is a biomarker, and what makes a good biomarker? Dr. Contreras defines anything that can help assess a physiological response or pathological state. Two examples would be BHBA (beta-hydroxybutyrate) and NEFA (non-esterified...
Jun 04, 2024•46 min•Ep. 104
This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Major Accomplishments in Calf Nutrition and Growth” from the conference proceedings. Accelerated milk feeding of calves results in about a thousand-pound first lactation production increase. The mechanism is unclear: it could be isolated to the mammary gland or related to the functional ability of the digestive tract and liver to support lactation. Economic analyses have shown an advantage of...
May 21, 2024•39 min•Ep. 103
This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Practical Aspects of Reducing Carbon Footprint by Dairy Farms Through Feeding” from the conference proceedings. In the U.S., livestock competes with oil and gas for the top source of methane emissions. While “carbon-neutral” agriculture may be easy for modelers to show, Dr. Hristov feels this is misleading and probably impossible in practical dairy farming. However, mitigation can be addresse...
May 14, 2024•46 min•Ep. 102
This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Methane in the context of circular dairy farming” from the conference proceedings. What is circular dairy farming? The concept is that instead of extracting or using natural resources and then discarding the wastes in a linear kind of fashion, economies should try to be increasingly circular. This would include the concepts of reusing, recycling, upgrading, upcycling, etc. Traditionally, the ...
May 07, 2024•35 min•Ep. 101
This episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, where Balchem sponsored a Real Science symposium titled “New Discussions in Amino Acid Nutrition.” Each of our guests presented at the symposium, and their presentations can be found at balchem.com/realsciencemedia Dr. Van Amburgh presented “Amino Acid Nutrition for Maximizing Milk Component Yield.” When considering nitrogen efficiency, we generally compare intake nitrogen, which includes non-protein nitrogen, against ...
Apr 30, 2024•53 min•Ep. 100
While Dr. Jardon only had milk in his glass for this pubcast, he did share about his bottle of “wheyskey” (whiskey made from whey) from Wheyward Spirit Distillery in California ( https://www.wheywardspirit.com/ ). Iowa State Dairy Extension is offering a webinar, “Fermentation and Distillation of Whey to Produce Spirits at Copper Crow,” on May 15 at noon Central. Curtis Basina of Copper Crow Distillery in Bayfield, WI, will be the speaker. You can sign up for the webinar at https://go.iastate.ed...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 99
Dr. Penner describes two primary factors of gut health to be absorption and barrier function or permeability. His lab’s work on permeability is suggesting that intestinal regions really drive total gut permeability to a much greater extent than ruminal permeability in dairy cows. (7:06) Ms. Bertens is Dr. Penner’s Ph.D. student and explains some new methodologies she developed for measuring gut permeability using chromium EDTA and cobalt EDTA. It’s common to use an oral dose of chromium EDTA as ...
Mar 19, 2024•47 min•Ep. 98
Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Marcia Endres, University of Minnesota Dr. Endres begins with a description of a dataset she collected containing individual body weights from 34 robotic milking herds. Weights were collected for every cow; every time that she came into the robotic milking station. Dr. Endres’ team was interested in the relationship between the amount of body weight change in the first 21 days of lactation and subsequent production. (7:34) The team chose to ...
Feb 27, 2024•40 min•Ep. 97
This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Director of Technical Services at Balchem. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/realscience and scroll down to the webinar presented on December 12th, 2023. Dr. Zimmerman begins with an overview of Balchem’s microencapsulation technologies in both human nutrition and health and animal nutrition and health businesses. (0:31) Encapsulation is a generic term, and huge differen...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 96
This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Godden from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/real science and scroll down to the webinar presented on November 8, 2023. Dr. Godden begins with the reminder that despite decades of research and definite advances in colostrum management, there's still a lot to learn and research. Her goal is to give an updat...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 95
Dr. Räisänen completed this research during her Ph.D. at Penn State. The meta-analysis included 17 different studies published between 1999 and 2022 investigating supplemental histidine for lactating dairy cows. They divided the type of supplemental histidine between infused histidine and rumen-protected histidine and the basal diets between corn silage-based and grass silage-based. (4:34) Primary response variables measured in the meta-analysis included dry matter intake, milk production, milk ...
Jan 09, 2024•49 min•Ep. 94
