RumiNation

Timestamps & Summary 

2:59

I was wondering if you could review some of the highlights for the audience to remind us of those key important areas.

Dr. Bill Weiss

For most minerals, what the committee tried to do is start at the cell. And we calculate, for example, how much mineral goes out and milk, how much mineral is free if an animal is growing, how much mineral is in that new tissue, and if she's pregnant, how much mineral is being deposited in the fetus, and we start there and we sum all that up. […]

8:29

What can you tell the audience today about the impact of mineral nutrition, whether positive or negative on the gut microbiome, and perhaps where some of the research should be focusing?

Dr. Bill Weiss

Bacteria need minerals, just like humans and cows need them. And we've known that for a long time so that the fact we have to feed the rumen bugs and the intestinal bugs in cows is well established. And in general, if you feed enough to the cow, the bacteria usually add enough and that's kind of where we left it. But more recently, there's been more and more studies looking at sources, not necessarily the amount of trace minerals but the source of the trace mineral. For example, organic versus sulfates or hydroxy versus sulfates, and so on. And some things we're finding at what I call the gross level is trace mineral affects fiber digestion, and fiber is digested only by bacteria so if you're altering fiber digestion, likely you're changing the room and population of bacteria. […]

13:09

What is a nutritionist should be looking for when looking to add chromium to a ruminant diet and the sources that they're utilizing?

Dr. Bill Weiss

I don't know other countries’ rules and regulations. But in the US, chromium propionate is the only one that's been approved. This is regulated by FDA because they're worried. I think they're most worried about environmental issues. But certain terms of chromium are also toxic. The form that we feed is not or not highly toxic. Other forms of chromium can actually be quite toxic. So, it's regulated in the US at point five milligrams per kilogram is the supplemental right. […]

Chromium is one of these nutrients… We know cows need it. Because we can find proteins or substances within animals, not just cows, people, etc. that require chromium to work. But in the new NRC, which is now called NASEM, we don't give a recommendation for chromium. And people say: Well if it's an essential nutrient, why don't you do that? Well, part of the problem is no one's ever identified a chromium deficiency. A lot of cows are not fed supplemental chromium and they live very productive happy lives. So, it's if you can't produce a clinical deficiency, it's hard to say this is a requirement. Part of the problem is feeds have chromium. […] Measuring chromium in feeds is really hard. So, we have very poor data on actual chromium concentrations. […]

18:50

What are maybe three or four key take-home messages you'd like to leave the audience when they're thinking about mineral nutrition at the farm level that they need to consider?

Dr. Bill Weiss

One of the first things is, and I see a lot of diets and minerals are needed but too much is too much. And very often they're over-supplemented grossly in both minerals and vitamins. And this adds cost but these metals at some of these absurd levels are detrimental. […]

The other thing is source does matter. As we do more and more stuff, the data is I think clearer on zinc than the other trace minerals that organic zinc or zinc from non sulfate sources, does things that zinc sulfate doesn’t. […]

So, look at everything: water, mineral composition, your basal diet, and make decisions on sources based on those things. But I guess the biggest thing is: be reasonable. And both feed enough but don't feed too much.

Timestamps & Summary 

1:49

Maybe share with the audience your personal and professional journey to starting Eyes on Horizon Consulting.

Monica McConkey

I am a farm girl, I grew up on a farm in northwestern Minnesota. And when I was younger, we had beef and hogs and crops. […]

I grew up in the 80s when the farm crisis was really difficult. And I remember my parents really struggling with anxiety and depression. I remember coming home from school and mom being in tears that we didn't get our operating loan. And as a kid, my thought was, what does this mean? We're going to have to move off this farm that my great-grandfather started, and live in town, our way of life is going to change. And so that really set the tone for just being aware of mental health in general.

After school, I got degrees in psychology and counseling. And for almost 27 years I've been in the mental health field primarily in rural areas. And three years ago, I was able to become self-employed and focus on mental health in agriculture. […]

4:13

Does mental health in rural farm communities differ from urban communities?

Monica McConkey

There are definitely some distinct differences. So, we know that suicide rates among farmers, especially our male farmers, are higher than in the general population. Calls I get really speak to the difficulties that stress on the farm plays in relationships and the toll it takes on relationships. How it differs when we look at rural to urban, accessibility rises to the top of the list. We don't have the same workforce in rural areas as in urban areas, we don't have the number of counselors, therapists, and psychiatrists, for sure, providing accessible care in rural areas. […]

8:30

I guess we've focused on the male because traditionally they were running the operations, but there's a ton of role women out there, whether they're producers themselves, spouses, partners, mothers, and how is that impacting them, and maybe also talk a bit about the LGBTQ plus communities.

Monica McConkey

I work with a number of women, of all ages, some are the primary producers of their operation, and some are in those supportive roles. And, you know, they have a unique set of challenges, especially those that are the primary operators. Agriculture is still very much a man's world. And so they struggle to have their voices heard, to be seen as competent. And when I work with rural women, specifically women on the farm, there's a lot of self-doubt and lack of confidence in their abilities because they just haven't heard feedback from those around them that they're doing well, that they are competent, they're making good decisions. […]

Speaking of the LGBTQ community, they are an underserved and under-noticed population in agriculture. And, those folks are dealing with stigma from a number of issues. And their sense of isolation in these rural communities is very pronounced. I met with one young lady who was in the LGBTQ community, and she really was struggling with being the next generation on her farm. Her parents were ready to transfer the farm over to her. But the thought was, Do I want to be in this small community where I don't have a peer group and I'm not accepted? And where the political views are very different from my own. So, it's impacting even on that level of continuing the legacy of farming operations and keeping them in the family.

11:37

The stigma around mental health is still massive and what prevents people from getting the help they need. And perhaps that challenge is being exacerbated in a rural community. Maybe just expand a bit more in the hope of removing the stigmas that people are perhaps inadvertently putting there and not realizing it?

Monica McConkey

Yes. You know, my dream would be that we are able to walk into the local gas station where the farmers gather for their cup of coffee in the morning and hear them talking about anxiety and depression on the same level as they're talking about their other physical health conditions. It's not unusual for us to be very open about physical maladies we have, whether it's arthritis or kidney issues, or being a diabetic, and that information is often freely shared, put on social media talked about openly, doctors being recommended and referred to, sharing of stories. I would love to have the same type of conversation happen when it comes to our mental health and mental illnesses, which would sound something like: I saw this therapist, and they understood the stress and strain that farmers and their families go through, they would be a great help to you.

Because I think that vulnerability, is really how we start attacking that stigma, by telling our own stories. And we're getting there. I mean, exactly what you're doing here, we are making progress in that area. And so, it's very exciting to see a business, a media, being supportive of campaigns and initiatives around stress and mental health and, often even telling their own stories about their struggles. […]

16:50

What can we do to ensure that we’re healthy, and we're aware of the situations with our clients or family?

Monica McConkey

I love that question. And I'm so glad you brought it up. Because those people that work with farmers and ranchers, with egg producers, it is hard when you're working with chronically stressed people day in and day out. And eventually, it's going to take a toll on you. So self-care is very important prior to you feeling burnout and struggling with your own mental health. So, if you look at it just, baseline: drink lots of water, eat healthy foods, get some exercise, like physically take care of yourself. Sleep. If you're not getting good sleep, figure out why and fix it. So that level, and then from there, it's really about making sure that you are doing things in life that feed your soul. Like something outside of work. Are you able to leave work and spend time with family or friends or do activities that really feed your soul? Are you able to talk to people when you are struggling, whether it's a peer or a mentor or supervisor, clergy, somebody you trust, a therapist, a counselor, or a doctor? Seek out help, you don't have to struggle on your own. So those are all things we can do to take care of ourselves. And I can talk about that all day long! […]

Timestamps & Summary 

1:25

Would you share what you see as the current state of mental health in rural communities, farm communities, particularly in Canada, and in Ontario more specifically?

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

It's really starting to be the up-and-coming sort of topic once people are starting to know about it. Even five years ago, when we started on our journeys of creating programming for mental health, people still weren't aware of even what mental health means because of the stigma that's attached to it. So, we started working towards destigmatizing that and really helping people understand what mental health is, how it impacts you. And for me, personally, my goal is to really help the agricultural community, the industry experts understand the connection between their mental health and what's going on in the agricultural world, […]

2:39

What are some of the trends that you're seeing in the mental health needs of agricultural producers? And are they changing? And what are the specific needs of those farm families as well?

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

As we know, with farming, it's unique, based on everything that goes into working on a farm, the hours that are put into it. We all know that the weather is like the number one component of things. But there's also the little things that people really don't talk about [like] growing up on a farm is very task oriented. When you're working in the agricultural industry, there's always something to be done. […] So, the biggest thing for me is to helping people understand what that means. And then helping them really tailor whatever it is that they need, that works for them. […]

4:13

Could you expand more on the Farmer Wellness Program?

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

In 2019, the Lennox and Addington Federation of Agriculture and myself got together. I had an idea that I thought would work and so I left my job in the public system and decided to focus on private psychotherapy, therapist services for the farming community, and I approached LAFA, and they completely agreed, thought it was a great idea and we were able to secure funding right off the cuff in February of 2019 and start the Farmer Wellness Program which was specifically tailored services from a therapist who has agricultural background and eliminate that modality. […]

And then fortunately, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the provincial government decided to launch the Farmer Wellness Initiative, which is modeled after the program and now providing unlimited counseling service and crisis service to the farming and agricultural communities.

7:12

Is delivering virtual services work in this program?

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

Absolutely. We have clients all over Canada. And being able to provide podcasts like this, being able to have speaking engagements, really being able to connect people. And if I'm not capable of meeting with that person, or providing whatever type of service from here, I can get them connected to people that I know, in all the different areas. And so, making those connections across, it's really been helpful in the virtual world.

7:54

You've also mentioned some of the work that you've done with the Guardian Network and the In the Know mental health literacy programs. I was wondering if you could expand a bit on those two programs as well.

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

Canadian Mental Health Association is providing three core components of services that are tailored to the agricultural industry. They have the Farmer Wellness Initiative, for one. They have the In the Know mental health literacy, and the Guardian Network, which is tailored to suicide prevention. Those programs are being offered in Ontario, but also across Canada right now for In the Know. And what we're being able to provide is specific information that is tailored to the agricultural community. The Guardian Network was piloted two months ago, and has been successfully tracking a lot of people that are volunteering to be guardians, which is the suicide prevention. So, right now there's really a lot of traction that's been gained from the CMHA folks and being able to really tailor these services to the farming community.

11:15

What would you like the audience to resonate with and think about, after our discussion here today?

Dr. Deborah Vanberkel

I really want people to have a basic knowledge of what mental health means because it's different for everybody. Mental means your mind. And so, it's just having that basic understanding of where everything's coming from, and how it really impacts you, and what a person needs in order to be able to manage what's going on. […]

Timestamps & Summary 

4:56

Tell me what you see as some of the key impacts of adopting precision, nutrition approach.

Dr. Abdallah Zankar

Precision nutrition is a way to make an animal use a diet and the nutrients in a more efficient way. How can we make these animals use the feed efficiently? This is the main target behind every farmer, every nutritionist, that is working today in the feed industry. Understanding this, we will need to be sure that we are feeding the right quality of feed and that ensured the absorption of these nutrients. […]

6:50

When we talk about absorption, there are different innovative ways that we're delivering nutrients today to the lower intestinal tract and I'm wondering if you could expand a bit more on that concept and on how it relates to delivering a more precise diet to ruminants.

Dr. Abdallah Zankar

If we talk about ourselves her at Jefo. We have a technology that we have been testing for 25-30 years, and we have been successfully using it on the market. A small example: A product contains B vitamins or enzymes. This product is used in lactating cows, three grams per cow per day, 1.5 grams of these enzymes affecting an animal of 600-700 kilograms. And this is converting to around 5% feed efficiency, feed efficiency, to 3.3 to 5% more milk production. 50 grams of protein. 40 grams of fat and 20% less culling rates and expecting 9% to 10% less emissions. This is a huge three grams of products. So, I think the future will be in these technologies.

11:05

What are some of the key points you would like to leave with the audience today, when it comes to the subject of more precisely meeting the nutrient requirements of the ruminant animal?

Dr. Abdallah Zankar

I think in the coming years to be good is not enough. The challenge that we are having today in the feed industry and in the animal industry is huge. And that future will also be challenging. If we look at profitability, it has to be extraordinary. So good, as I said, is not enough. We have to be extraordinary in the future. Consumers today are not like before; they are much smarter. They look at us, and they look at the animal industry. They look at our cows, they want to know what these cows are eating, they want to know what we are injecting these cows, what we are feeding them. […] So, we have to be smarter. And we also have to look at how we can make these cows deliver and give a safe product. Safe milk. Safe meat. It's important, the safety of the food. This is the number one thing I want to raise and give to our attendees today. […]

Timestamps & Summary 

2:48

Let's remind the audience where you see the current status of reproductive efficiency in the North American dairy herd.

Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro

If we look at every metric, in large datasets from both the US as well as Canada, they tell the same story. And I think the first message that they tell us is that we are making progress. So dairy producers, they are improving reproductive efficiency in their herds, at least for the last 15 to 20 years. Another thing that we can take out of this large data set is that we still have huge variability. So, we still have herds that do very poorly in reproductive management, and herds that are excellent in reproductive management. […]

5:30

So, let's talk about embryonic loss.

• How best to measure reproductive losses after the establishment of very early conception?
• What are some of the biological minimums or key performance indicators we should be shooting for?
• How do we minimize this embryonic loss?

Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro

Excellent questions. To facilitate our discussion, I like to divide pregnancy losses in two types:

One is the early pregnancy losses that happen before early diagnosis of pregnancy. So, we're talking about the losses that occur in the first 30 to 40 days.

And then we have late pregnancy losses, occurring after the first pregnancy diagnosis, that can be measured on the farm. It is basically the proportion of cows that were pregnant in the first pregnancy diagnosis that do not deliver a calf at the end. […]

People might have an idea of the percentage that they are losing in the interval from the 30 to 40 to the 60 to 90 days but the losses after that are normally called abortion by producers. So, you have to put those out together. And sometimes the information is not entered correctly in the software that the producers use for management. So, if you put out together, it's not uncommon to see farms with 20–25% losses. So, we don't have large statistics on that number, which is a problem. So, we don't actually know what the average in North America will be. But based on our experience, there's a lot of herds on their range of 20–25% losses. And what producers should aim is to reduce that number the most they can. And if you're close to 10%, I would say that that's good. […]

On average, when we do studies, fertilization is around 80–85% for cows that have a successful ovulation around the time of breeding. So then, based on that, you could estimate how much you're losing based on the percentage of cows that are pregnant after the first diagnosis. But why you should work on is just to try to improve your pregnancy for AI. Basically, if you're doing that, you're reducing failures with time of insemination, fertilization of the egg, and also early embryonic losses or early pregnancy losses.

11:48

What are some of the things that a producer can do to minimize these losses, enhance the pregnancies through the early term, and in the end, minimize the losses in short and medium long term?

Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro

There are a few things that can be done. One is related to the genetics of the herd. It's not something that will have a huge impact immediately, but in the long term, it becomes important. So, it's important for producers to include fertility, health and longevity of traits in their genetic selection program. In the long term that will help and as more research is done in this area, more markers are included in those genomic tests. […]

25:08

So, take home messages for our audience today. What would you remind them to emphasize if they really want to try and maximize reproductive performance?

Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro

I think the first thing is to realize that excellent reproductive efficient is possible. So, we've made a lot of progress in the last 15 years. That improvement that we observe in reproduction was done in parallel with improvements in milk production, as well. […]

The second thing is, before you focus on pregnancy losses, make sure you fix everything that is easier to fix. So, then you can focus on pregnancy losses. […]

Timestamps & Summary 

2:10

Postpartum, uterine health, inflammation, immunity, impact on reproduction; what is it about this area that really intrigued you?

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

Well, I think it is a really interesting scientific challenge. There are a lot of complexity and interest here. But more to the point, it looks to be something that has got some real practical importance. We know that calving is an inflammatory event. So, the birthing process involves setting off a bunch of inflammatory processes and cascades. And even in the best-case scenario, there is going to be some tissue trauma and some bacterial contamination of the reproductive tract after calving. And so, the cow has to respond to that. Part of that is an immune and inflammatory response to repair tissue damage, to clear up some of these bacterial contaminants and keep the load of potential pathogens in check. […]

5:06

Tell us about how well we are capturing the information and awareness of these reproductive challenges post calving.

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

Maybe not well enough. Let us go with Metritis. That is a cow first week postpartum, a sick cow, the cardinal sign is that she smells really bad at discharge from some barnyard microbiology. That tells us that she has got an infection with anaerobic bacteria. That is what makes it smell bad. So, you are not likely to miss those as a producer. But interestingly, even if we say that that's the case definition, if detection is a little bit passive -you notice the cow when she comes in the parlor, or when you're walking the pen, as opposed to, if you're locking the fresh cows up every day or every other day, and really proactively going hunting. On one end, you might say, I have got 5% of my cows that have Metritis. With the same definition, you could easily say I have 20% of my cows that have Metritis. And I do not know which one is actually the better approach; one is probably under diagnosing, and one might be over diagnosing if you're doing that every day […]

9:38

You recently published a review on the relationship between metabolism, immunity, and the neutrophil function. Could you summarize some of the key points of that review and how it relates to fresh cow health and reproduction?

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

By far, the number one line of defense are neutrophils. They are like the first responders. They are like little Pac-Man, and they will go around and gobble up bacteria, or even bits of dead tissue that are not normal. And probably the first big thing is that there should be enough of them, and that they get there quickly enough and in sufficient numbers and get the job done. And so that involves, again, generally feeding the immune system, because there's lots of work that shows that those first responders require a lot of nutrient inputs: energy, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, etc. We know from some of the work done at Iowa State and elsewhere now as well, that that is a very energy, intense process, you know, how much glucose is needed, how much calcium is needed, as well, for neutrophils to do its thing. And so again, we can add that robust, yet regulated immune response to the list of other reasons why we really got to try to dial in nutrition and management.

Last but not least, the part that we understand a lot less about is sort of the back side of that response curve. We are focused a lot on the response time, are the first responders sufficient? Sufficiently fast? Sufficiently well equipped? And so on. And clearly that has got to come first. But when we get thinking about chronic smoldering, reproductive tract inflammation in the Metritis, that probably has a lot more to do with how effectively that dial is turned back down again, in the days or weeks once that initial response is over. And that is a really hot area of research and we're just scratching the surface of with cows.

13:38

Do you want to expand a bit on that? They have this response, but then they come back to normal quickly.

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

Exactly. We think that if you could draw a visual of healthy neutrophil response or immune and inflammatory response, it would happen very quickly, sort of hours to a day or two after calving. So, accelerate very quickly, probably hit its peak, in days or within a few days after calving and get the job done. The uterus is not sterile but reduce the level of pathogens back down to a very low kind of background level, deal with the tissue trauma, help initiate healing, regrowing a new epithelium so that over weeks that the cow is ready and able to be pregnant again. That should all happen in days to a couple of weeks. And then that inflammatory state is dialed back down not to zero but to kind of a low baseline level and we think that is by about three weeks postpartum in a healthy cow. […]

19:27

We did not really talk about the numbers, but the impact of poor uterine health on reproduction is pretty significant.

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

Yes, absolutely. So, just to put it in pragmatic terms, for cows that have, or live through, any of Metritis, endometritis, purulent vaginal discharge a month postpartum, we are talking 20 to 30 plus extra days open, and 20% more cows that will fail to get pregnant by 250-300 days in milk by which point, it's too late. This is a meaningful problem. And again, at that prevalence of one in five, one in four cows, that can certainly start to become a meaningful thing, not just for a few exceptions, but actually a meaningful slice of a herd.

20:32

Just to summarize. If we were talking to the dairy producer, nutritionists today and reminded the importance of improving uterine health, you want to just highlight a few of the key things that you feel are really important to remind ourselves on?

Dr. Stephen LeBlanc

Yes, and again, no marks for originality here. But I do think it really does come back to some of those really fundamentally important things. So, what does that mean? Right up near the top of my list would be sufficient space for feeding and lying for transition cows. So, although the evidence base is not as big as we might like it to be, having no more than 4 cows for five headlocks, or at least 30 inches of bunk space per cow. A little bit more cows than stalls and or 120-130 square feet of lying space on a pack situation for, for transition cows, abundant water, so two sources per pen, ten centimeters of linear trough space per cow, again, no marks for creativity on any of this stuff. Heat abatement for not only for fresh cows, but also for close up cows again. You know, sometimes producers are like “Yeah, I heard all that. But you know, and I am only doing part of it, because life is difficult. And, you know, it is complicated. But, you know, what else can I do?” Well, I get it, the whole art of farming is figuring out how to get as close as possible to doing those things. But really, if you can get those things done and find creative ways to do that, you are really kind of cooking with gas. And conversely, if you cannot, boy, you're fighting with one arm behind your back, or to mix metaphors, you're pushing water uphill a bit. So yes, I think those are the things that tomorrow can really help to support uterine health via good immune response and well-regulated inflammation.

Timestamps & Summary 

1:47

You recently participated in JEFO’s annual JEFO beef Academy and presented key management and nutritional approaches to improving feed efficiency in feedlot cattle. Could you summarize what you presented during that symposium?

Dr. Katie Wood

A lot of my research focuses on feed efficiency and understanding feed efficiency. But in the feedlot, the aspect of gut health influences feed efficiency as well. So, if we have challenges with gut health related to rumen acidosis, and liver abscesses, certainly that is going to impact how those animals are performing and ultimately, feed to gaining in cost production for producers. My research in the feedlot looks at how we can improve gut health and improve production efficiency through those aspects.

8:04

I know you mentioned some other points related to feed efficiency, but I did not want to leave fecal starch in uNDF too quickly, because I am pretty sure you've done some work with some NIRS with fecal starch and that seems practical and exciting. I am wondering if you could expand on that.

Dr. Katie Wood

Some colleagues at University of Saskatchewan are looking at fecal measurements of using NIRS. We are familiar in the feed industry with using NIRS as a measure for nutrients, but the same can be applied to the feces as well, we just need to build some of those standardization curves. There was a paper put out with University of Lethbridge and University of Saskatchewan, where they were looking at using the NIR to measure fecal starch and it can be done easily. Some of these larger feedlots potentially that may have an NIR on farm could simply measure fecal starch right there rather than sending it out.

9:56

So today you would really be encouraging field gut nutritionists to make sure that they are getting a 240-hour analysis done routinely?

Dr. Katie Wood

It is certainly something that we are finding, being able to more accurately predict what the growth curve will be and how those animals will perform. So, I would encourage a nutritionist to consider adding that as another analysis.

11:23

What are the other things that you would make sure are being looked after or considered to improve feed efficiency?

Dr. Katie Wood

The other important thing is reducing stress and improving consistency. And they go hand in hand. We know that variable intake and variation can cause rumen distress and inflammation and stress to the animal. And certainly, as we introduce more stress, that impacts nutrient partitioning, and therefore growth.

16:03

What do you want to focus on, either in your research or in the industry on improving feed efficiency and cattle?

Dr. Katie Wood

One thing I will mention is we are starting to realize that, particularly related to gut health and liver abscesses, is the longer we keep cattle on feed, and that trend towards increasing carcass weights, we know that's the end period, where we even start to see a little bit of decrease in performance of those animals. It is also a time period where we see increased risk of acidosis as opposed to earlier in the feeding period. And we know these cattle are heavy, we know that they are highly stressed, sometimes because of that weight. Sometimes we have some challenges with some feet issues. And we think that there could be some implications, again, related to insulin insensitivity and Energy Commission as well.

20:12

Is there any other points you'd like to stress when it comes to managing and improving feed efficiency and cattle?

Dr. Katie Wood

Certainly. Talking about that receiving period, which is kind of one of the higher risk time periods, you have cattle coming from all different sources, they may have been shipped across the country. So, do not forget about treating those receiving cattle well, because we know that it pays off in the long term. We do not have a good handle on how much that impacts the feed conversion over the rest of the feeding period. But certainly, we know, related to illness, it has a huge effect.

Timestamps & Summary 

1:47

What brought you to that area of research?

Dr. Lance Baumgard

When I was at the University of Arizona, we started working on heat stress. And through a series of experiments over a period of about 10 years, we middle our way down to the gut. And what we are very confident in is that most of the negative consequences of heat stress on all farm animals stem from what we generally refer to as a leaky gut. When an animal becomes heat stress, there is a diversion of blood and, the barrier function of the gut breaks down. Now, unwanted molecules, antigens and pathogens can get in and cause a host of all sorts of negative problems.

Then, we started to notice, almost by accident, that many of the negative consequences of heat stress, the metabolic, the endocrine, and the inflammatory responses are very similar to other pathologies or other negative problems that are typical on a farm. So, since then, we have looked at other very common on farm issues that cause leaky gut. And that is what we have been concentrating on lately.

4:02

In a recent presentation at the Animal Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon back in May, “when your gut isn't happy, you're not happy” was a quote that you have used. Can you explain more the biology behind that?

Dr. Lance Baumgard

It is a very common problem in humans, about 1/3 of the adult population of humans has a gut barrier problem. Crohn's disease, celiac, colitis, these are all different pathologies, but the result is too much in infiltration of immune cells into the gut, leading to hyper permeability, or in other words, more antigens leaking out, and stimulate an immune response, be it bloating or any other uncomfortable or painful situation.

6:25

I was hoping to talk about how stress relates to that. I wonder what the impact of stress or stressors and strain as in the gut health of animals?

Dr. Lance Baumgard

That is fascinating emerging area led by a good friend of mine named Adam Moser, veterinarian PhD from Michigan State University. He has done a fantastic job characterizing how emotional stress is connected to your gut. How that works is, when you get stressed, you release this hormone called corticotropin releasing hormone. Most of your neurons are in your gut. And they communicate with your immune cells, called mast cells. When you get stressed, this hormone causes these mast cells to release a variety of different compounds, and those compounds then cause the gut barrier, that would normally be tight, to be leaky. 

The immune system has a very high priority for all animals. It might even have a larger importance than the central nervous system. So, in other words, when an animal becomes sick, it will prioritize the immune system over all other functions: making of milk, making them a fetus making of wool, making a muscle. When the animal becomes sick, infected by the gut or any other infection, now the immune systems is top of the list when it comes to priorities, and nutrients that would otherwise have gone for the synthesis of milk or what other function is now being partitioned towards the immune system.

10:25

And this is the link where some of these subclinical immune challenges on a dairy farm, whether it is health, high somatic cells, mastitis, uterine infections, they are just not as productive as they could be, right?

Dr. Lance Baumgard

That is exactly right, Chris. It is probably not a problem for most of the cows. But for this small percentage of cows that are not able to eat when they want to eat, or they are not able to lay down when they want to lean down or get bossed around, they are having this emotional response. And that comes at the cost of milk.

12:07

What are take home messages for researchers, nutritionists, veterinarians, and producers in relates to gut health and ruminants?

Dr. Lance Baumgard

We are starting to realize that gut is very important. And luckily, the industry, including companies like JEFO, is trying to identify compounds and target molecules and strategies to help maintain good health. So, this is at the infancy, but I think it is just a matter of time before we start dialing in on strategies to help maintain good health.

Timestamps & Summary 

1:25

So, Dr. Azahal, I was hoping you would expand a bit for our audience about meeting the nutrient needs of early lactation cows, making sure we have high health, high component yield and successful rebreeding.

Dr. Ousama AlZahal

This is really an important topic that we always find ourselves going back to and discussing it with farmers and producers. And it is that cows have different requirements, and these requirements change throughout the whole lactation. And it is important that we ensure that these nutrients are delivered precisely and accurately. That does not only include the amount of feed that we give, but also the concentration of these nutrients and the bioavailability of those nutrients. So hence, it is important to measure dry matter intake, as much as possible, how much we are feeding and also do a frequent assessment of forage analysis and ration balancing.

7:36

Can you expand a bit more on how negative nutrient balances may play into hampering the performance?

Dr. Ousama AlZahal

Cows cannot eat enough to produce that amount of milk. And it runs into what we refer to very grossly as negative energy balance. But basically, energy itself is not a nutrient. But basically, that trend encompasses several nutrients. So, cows, during that time, are actually false negative in protein. So that will be a negative protein balance, minerals, vitamins, and some of these important molecules like the methyl group.

10:56

What role does dry matter intake play in negative nutrient balances how does it impact B vitamin synthesis?

Dr. Ousama AlZahal

That is a great question. Actually, in new research, new modeling coming out from University of Guelph geneticist’s lab, they tried to model the ruminant output of B vitamins, I think they precisely were working on B12, where they've seen that one of the biggest predictors for the output of B vitamins is basically dry matter intake. That goes back to the first point where the cows cannot eat enough during early stages to cover requirements, and they run into negative balances. Now B vitamins are unique and that dietary requirements are insufficient or basically non-existing. And the ruminant animal relies on ruminal synthesis.

16:33

You talked earlier about the role of methionine, contributing to creating methyl groups but also there is a key point where B12 and folic acid play a role as well, right?

Dr. Ousama AlZahal

Yes, that's true, methionine is an essential amino acid, but there is some misunderstanding that mammals cannot synthesize it. Methionine synthesis basically requires a coupling of two cycles. The first one is the folate cycle which folate is B9, and the second cycle is the methionine cycle. And what really couples the two is B12. Basically, if you have a deficiency in B12 it can lead to a secondary deficiency in folic acid. I think there is quite a significant amount of research from Christiane Girard’s lab, just showing how the status of these two B vitamins are basically linked. So, methionine is really interesting. How it is very well connected, and also plays a role in the transformation pathways, which is the production of antioxidants.

Timestamps & Summary 

1:50

Could you summarize your findings in evaluating impact of ruminant agriculture versus what is what we often see reported in the media today?

Dr. Frank Mitloehner

There is a lot of confusion out there. That is largely caused by people not understanding how the contributions of livestock to greenhouse gases are really quite different compared to let's say, other sources such as fossil fuel sources, because of the role that methane plays methane is the most important greenhouse gas from animal agriculture. What is often times left out of the discussion is the fact that methane, while very potent, is also short-lived. That means that once it is in the air, it stays there for about a decade or so. Then, it meets another molecule in the air that destroys it. Contrast that to carbon dioxide, which is by far the most abundant greenhouse gas, which stays in the air for 1000 years.

So, that's not to say methane doesn't matter. Methane matters and we try to reduce it. But methane is different in so far that if we reduce it, we can actually reduce warming by reducing methane and that makes animal agriculture part of the climate solution.

3:43

You have also presented on what we would call the five pillars of sustainability. I was wondering if you could review those for our audience today.

Dr. Frank Mitloehner

When people hear the term sustainability, they think they know what it means. To most people, it means environmental sustainability. Sustainability in the food sector is really broader than that. If you were to ask farmers what sustainability means, they would certainly list environmental sustainability as only one of the five pillars. The second one is animal welfare. The third one is food safety. Keeping the food that we produce as safe as we can. A fourth one is attracting and retaining a qualified workforce. The fifth pillar is financial viability.

5:24

What role can livestock producers, nutritionists, veterinarians and other influencers in the industries play in ensuring that these five pillars of sustainability are in fact respected and prolonged?

Dr. Frank Mitloehner

What is important is that the different players work together because when we are dealing with such a diverse set of objectives, we need to have experts from different areas working together to uphold sustainability overall. And it doesn’t happen enough. What is also important is that we communicate very clearly with the public, with policymakers and others as to how important sustainability is holistically, in all aspects, and what it takes those players to work together.

7:59

Are there any key other take home messages that you would like to leave with the audience today, in relation to the five pillars of sustainability?

Dr. Frank Mitloehner

What has really changed over the last few years is the younger generation which is more and more interested in where their food comes from, how it's grown, how it should be prepared, how it should not be wasted, and so on. In the past, farmers were just doing what they did best: grow food. They did not really have to worry about the rest. Now, they do. And they're not really trained to talk to people outside their profession. I think that is about to change, because people want to know, and I think that many farmers have a good story to tell, but they are too shy to tell it. They need to tell their community. Most of them have really good stories to tell and something to be proud of. In fact, our entire society should be proud of those folks, and work with them in those areas where improvements are needed.