The Nutritionist

Dr Baumgard presented work he has been doing in the area of leaky gut and the effects it may have on milk production and animal performance. He has evaluated how heat stress alters post-absorptive fuel selection in growing and lactating farm animals. He also focuses on the mechanisms that govern nutrient partitioning during the transition period of lactating dairy cows.  His primary goal is to identify nutritional strategies that can improve productivity and production efficiency in monogastrics and ruminants.

We are very pleased to host the professor emeritus from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. His research has focused on maintaining a healthy pH in producing dairy cattle. Some discussion was given to grazing situations for nutritionist who are striving to balance pasture diets.

We were especially happy to welcome Dr. Bauman so close after the Bauman Symposium at ADSA in late June

Dr. dale Bauman’s talk provided some historical perspective on past theories for the underlying causes of Milk Fat Depression. He brought us up-to-date with the current research.

Many of the questions at the end were very practically directed to on-farm troubleshooting. As Dale will be the first to state, his research and experience is more biochemical than preventative or curative. We have compiled the questions to pull together a posting with input from more extension focused educators. Stay turned, when complete, the link will be here.

We were very pleased to host a first, for us, webinar from the other side of the world. Ian Lean wears many hats serving as a veterinarian/nutritionist/ professor for Scibus, a nutrition extension group, and the University of Sydney. Dr Lean focused primarily on nutrition for the transition cow. He also covered the use of pasture in transition diets at the end of his discussion. Please note: The volume, especially for Dr Lean, is relatively soft. I increased it as mush as I could. You may need to set your system volume higher for this recording.

Dr Hanigan presented an argument against considering amino acid and protein in the traditional weakest link or single limiting aa hypothesis. He proposed that we consider it rather a leaky bucket with, perhaps, multiple aa shortfalls limiting efficiency and productivity.

She is currently overseeing a 3 year grant from FDA for outreach to animal agriculture groups about the new Veterinary Feed Directive and Antibiotic Stewardship.   She has given several presentations on this topic to veterinarians, farmers, feed companies and educators.

The new Veterinary Feed Directive went into effect 1/1/2017 creating changes in the availability, oversight and use of medically important antibiotics used in animal feed and water.  This presentation will help clarify the reasons for this change, what drugs are affected, the emphasis being placed on veterinary oversight of the use of these drugs on farms and the responsibilities of the veterinarian, feed company/mill and the farmer.

Dr Larry Chase, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, gave a presentation focused on Cows, Gases, and the Environment. Larry’s research in nutrition has long been focussed on reducing the effect of dairy cattle on the environment. In the last 10 years he has guided the feeding of protein to reduce excess nutrient deposition in the environment. As part of an ongoing study of feeding systems and the environment, Larry spoke of various ways of looking at ways to reduce negative climate effects.

Barry Bradford, from Kansas State University discussed the differing ways of measuring NDF and NDF digestibility. His talk focused on lab results and what numbers are important. Barry’s research focuses on interactions of inflammation and metabolism. The question and answer period was very focused on maintaining butterfat.

Dr VonKeyserlingk’s talk about rethinking methods for feeding and housing dairy calves completed the replacement animal mini-series begun in April with Dr. Jim Drackley on the nutrition of weaned and early post weaned calves and Dr. Mike VanAmburgh’s heifer to calving talk in July. Her talk focused on housing, behaviors, and quantity of feed rather than the breakdown of the nutritional components of the feed. Lots of questions and the end of an exceptional talk!

Dr Barbano is a noted Cornell Food Scientist whose work focuses on milk fat analysis. His recent research has worked closely with The Miner Institute and St Albans Co-op. Dr Heather Dann joined during the Question and Answer period to help with nutrition questions.