How a rumen buffer drives dairy performance

High dairy performance is related to very fermentable dairy cow diets to meet their nutrient demands. Such fermentable diets lead to increased concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in the rumen, which can accumulate leading to periods of reduced rumen pH (Whelan, et al., 2013). Hence, cattle have challenges with rumen acidosis and dairy performance is under pressure.

Formulating diets to provide adequate energy levels while also supplementing sufficient physically effective fibre to prevent rumen acidosis is extremely difficult and, in many cases, unsuccessful. Dietary mineral supplements such as rumen buffers can be very effective tools at regulating rumen pH and preventing some of the negative health and productive consequences associated with low rumen pH.

The definition of sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a decline in rumen pH below 5.6 for more than 3 hours per head per day (Gozho et al., 2005). On farm diagnosis of SARA is difficult. The most common method of diagnosis is through rumenocentesis carried out 2 to 4 hours after feeding and SARA is defined as > 3 cows out of 12 measuring a rumen pH of less than 5.5.

The prevalence of SARA is significant with up to 20% of dairy cows, in herds throughout the world, suffering from SARA (Kleen et al., 2013). According to O’Grady and co-workers (2008), cows consuming predominantly pasture diets can also suffer from SARA.

The following periods and feeding strategies increase the risk of SARA:

transition period
peak milk production
peak dry matter intake
feeding cattle diets high in starch & sugar
cattle diets lacking in physically effective fibre

Prolonged periods of low rumen pH or SARA can have many negative health and productive consequences, such as:

reduced abundance of beneficial rumen microbial populations
reduced milk composition, especially milk butterfat production
reduced fibre digestion
inflammation
diarrhoea
liver abscesses

Source: Mulligan et al. (2002) ; Plaizier et al. (2014) ; Allen, 1997

A novel rumen buffer

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

has been used in ruminant diets as a novel rumen buffer for many years now.

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

is derived from marine algae, and a 100% natural animal feed ingredient. Its unique marine mineral matrix consumes excess acid in the rumen and regulates long term optimum pH in the rumen. Simultaneously,

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

provides 74 rumen soluble minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. More details regarding rumen bioavailable minerals are described in the article “How to reduce the risk for grass staggers?”.

Previous research, from three different institutes, have reported increased dairy performance:

CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
increased feed efficiency (Bernard et al., 2014)
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
increased rumen pH and fermentation (Cruywagen et al., 2015)
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
improved dry matter intake (DMI) and milk protein production in early lactation (Wu et al., 2015)

The most recent work on

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

was carried out at the University College Dublin (UCD) by Neville and co-workers, and published in the Journal of Dairy Science in 2019. As part of this work, two experiments were carried out;

Experiment 1 (Rumen pH) utilised three rumen cannulated cows in a Latin square experiment design
Experiment 2 (Milk production) consisted of 42 intact dairy cows in a randomised complete block design with a starting days in milk (DIM) of 62 days

The objective of the experiments were to examine the effects of Acid Buf, in comparison to sodium bicarbonate and a control diet on rumen pH, milk production and feed efficiency parameters in mid-lactation dairy cows. The dairy cows were fed a TMR based on a combination of ryegrass silage, corn silage and ingredients typical of a European feeding system.

CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
improves rumen pH

The work of Neville et al. (2019) clearly demonstrates that:

CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
increased mean rumen pH compared to control at 2-4 hour, 6-8 hour, 8-10 hour and 10-12 hour after feeding
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
maintained a higher daily (24 hour) mean pH and reduced the time spent below pH 5.5 compared to the control group
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
also increased mean rumen pH compared to sodium bicarbonate at 4-6 hour and 8-10 hour after feeding
The sodium bicarbonate group spent more time below pH 5.5 compared to Acid Buf

Experiment 1: results rumen pH relative to feeding time (Neville et al. 2019)

[geot country=

^x,y Means within a row with different superscripts differ (P< 0.10)

^a,b Means within a row with different superscripts differ (P< 0.05)

The peer reviewed publication of Neville et al. (2019) confirms that

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

is also beneficial in a rumen friendly cattle diet and reduces the risk for rumen acidosis. When comparing rumen pH across the treatments, control diet showed a rumen pH remaining below 5.5 for 6 hours in the day. Sodium bicarbonate reduced this to 3 hours and less than 1 hour for the Acid Buf.

Video: results rumen pH and acidosis (Neville et al. 2019)

CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
drives dairy performance

Optimising rumen pH and rumen fermentation results in a clear response to increased production performance. The results of Experiment 2 show that:

Sodium bicarbonate increased dry matter intake (DMI) compared to the control, and was similar compared to Acid Buf
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
increased the production of milk butterfat compared to all other treatments
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
resulted in greater milk protein composition than sodium bicarbonate
Feed efficiency measured as energy-corrected milk efficiency (kg ECM/ kg DMI) was best for the
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
treatment compared to sodium bicarbonate
CalMin
ProMin
Acid Buf
yielded 120 ml more milk per kg dry matter intake

Experiment 2: results feed intake, milk production & feed efficiency (Neville et al. 2019)

[geot country=

^x,y Means within a row with different superscripts differ (P< 0.10)

^a,b,c Means within a row with different superscripts differ (P< 0.05)

Conclusions

The addition of

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

to “rumen friendly” dairy cow diets based on a combination of ryegrass and corn silage can effectively maintain rumen pH throughout the day. These effects on rumen pH explains subsequent increases in milk butterfat and protein production observed during Experiment 2.

The use of

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

in this study demonstrates significant increases in total milk solids production which will have economic benefits for dairy producers. This paper will also help dairy producers and nutritionists when comparing different types of rumen buffers.

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

showed feed efficiency benefits, which may become far reaching in the future. Sustainable farming and environmental constraints force dairy producers to optimise milk production per kilo of feed consumed by the dairy cow.

The work of Neville et al. (2019) confirms the results and conclusions of Cruywagen et al. (2015). Both papers show that

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

works in rumen friendly and rumen challenging diets. Further details on the work of Cruywagen and co-workers is presented in the article “How to increase milk butterfat?”.

The paper of Neville and co-workers is published in the Journal of Dairy Science. Download the full article here and get powered by our science.

CalMin

ProMin

Acid Buf

offers nutritional solutions for:

increasing milk yield and milk butterfat
long term pH optimisation in the rumen
healthy rumen functioning, reducing subclinical rumen acidosis (SARA)
increasing productivity per kg dry matter intake
global agriculture sustainability goals

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