ForFarmers Rumibuff

Rumen buffer incorporating calcified seaweed and natural marine algae to provide effective control of acidosis

The acidosis challenge

Production benefits

C

ereals included in many feeds contain starch which ferments quickly in the rumen, producing volatile fatty acids (VFA’s) and a reduction in pH. Although the dairy cow will try to meet the acid challenge by ‘chewing it’s cud’ a natural process which produces sodium bicarbonate, this is particularly challenging when for example silage is wetter and acid loading is greater.

For many high yielding dairy cows fed high levels of feed to meet energy demands, this natural buffering process is not enough to meet the acidosis challenge from the diet, so they require additional buffer supplementation.

Rumibuff available buffering compared to Sodium bicarbonate over an 8 hour period

Available buffering at pH 5.5

ForFarmers Nutrition & Innovation Centre (NIC) 2014

Na-bi

Time of high starch fermentation and acid loading in the rumen

5

10

30

60

120

180

Minutes

Lactating dairy cows can produce over 200 litres of alkaline saliva every day, recycling more than 2.5kg/d of sodium bicarbonate into the rumen.

Recent work by ForFarmers shows sodium bicarbonate has only a short term effect in the rumen as a buffer, however it is produced by the cow steadily during the rumination process over the whole day which provides a continuous effect.

Ruminant Production Benefits INRA 2013

35

Control

30 25

Kg

20

+4%

15 10

+1.3%

5 0

DMI

Recent trials at INRA (2013) have shown increases in DMI of over 1.3% and milk yield of more than +4% accompanied with an increase in milk fat and protein content. Recent Milk yield farm trials have also shown milk fat and protein improvements as a result of better fibre digestion in the rumen and more energy made available to the cow.

The return on investment can be over 6:1 without taking into account other benefits such as reduced incidence of lameness and better fertility.

While this mechanism works for most cows, if sodium bicarbonate 240 320 380 420 480 is supplemented in the feed once or twice per day much of the buffering is lost either in the TMR mix or shortly after feeding.

The resulting milk fat yield and profile can be evaluated using ForFarmers Visiolac milk analysis leading to improvements in feed efficiency.

Visiolac milk analysis and nutrition tools provide the inside story on feed efficiency, cow health, saturated fats, Omega 3 and methane.

Rumibuff contains a balance of carefully selected natural marine algae and natural antioxidants sustainably sourced from the clear unpolluted seas around Iceland. Its original honeycombed structure increases the surface area and breaks down more slowly than conventional buffers in the rumen, providing a continuous buffering action to meet the acid production from the diet particularly when starch fermentation is at its maximum.

Rumibuff honeycombed micro structure

Rumibuff is an excellent, sustainable source of bioavailable minerals and trace elements which are deposited naturally from the sea. Together with a combination of natural antioxidants and vitamins, this helps to condition the rumen microbes for increased dry matter intake and improved performance.

Calcareous marine algae (L) and green algae (R)

The acidosis challenge

Production benefits

C

ereals included in many feeds contain starch which ferments quickly in the rumen, producing volatile fatty acids (VFA’s) and a reduction in pH. Although the dairy cow will try to meet the acid challenge by ‘chewing it’s cud’ a natural process which produces sodium bicarbonate, this is particularly challenging when for example silage is wetter and acid loading is greater.

For many high yielding dairy cows fed high levels of feed to meet energy demands, this natural buffering process is not enough to meet the acidosis challenge from the diet, so they require additional buffer supplementation.

Rumibuff available buffering compared to Sodium bicarbonate over an 8 hour period

Available buffering at pH 5.5

ForFarmers Nutrition & Innovation Centre (NIC) 2014

Na-bi

Time of high starch fermentation and acid loading in the rumen

5

10

30

60

120

180

Minutes

Lactating dairy cows can produce over 200 litres of alkaline saliva every day, recycling more than 2.5kg/d of sodium bicarbonate into the rumen.

Recent work by ForFarmers shows sodium bicarbonate has only a short term effect in the rumen as a buffer, however it is produced by the cow steadily during the rumination process over the whole day which provides a continuous effect.

Ruminant Production Benefits INRA 2013

35

Control

30 25

Kg

20

+4%

15 10

+1.3%

5 0

DMI

Recent trials at INRA (2013) have shown increases in DMI of over 1.3% and milk yield of more than +4% accompanied with an increase in milk fat and protein content. Recent Milk yield farm trials have also shown milk fat and protein improvements as a result of better fibre digestion in the rumen and more energy made available to the cow.

The return on investment can be over 6:1 without taking into account other benefits such as reduced incidence of lameness and better fertility.

While this mechanism works for most cows, if sodium bicarbonate 240 320 380 420 480 is supplemented in the feed once or twice per day much of the buffering is lost either in the TMR mix or shortly after feeding.

The resulting milk fat yield and profile can be evaluated using ForFarmers Visiolac milk analysis leading to improvements in feed efficiency.

Visiolac milk analysis and nutrition tools provide the inside story on feed efficiency, cow health, saturated fats, Omega 3 and methane.

Rumibuff contains a balance of carefully selected natural marine algae and natural antioxidants sustainably sourced from the clear unpolluted seas around Iceland. Its original honeycombed structure increases the surface area and breaks down more slowly than conventional buffers in the rumen, providing a continuous buffering action to meet the acid production from the diet particularly when starch fermentation is at its maximum.

Rumibuff honeycombed micro structure

Rumibuff is an excellent, sustainable source of bioavailable minerals and trace elements which are deposited naturally from the sea. Together with a combination of natural antioxidants and vitamins, this helps to condition the rumen microbes for increased dry matter intake and improved performance.

Calcareous marine algae (L) and green algae (R)

Cow signals

Another physical sign was measured by examining the quality of the manure. Manure was described on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 as being (1) very liquid, (2) too liquid for normal feed utilisation, (3) normal consistency with good balance of energy and protein, (4) too dry with feed passage too slow and (5) very dry.

Over a 6 week period there was an improvement in manure consistency with a gain of 0.5 points on manure score, due to improved rumen conditions and feed digestion.

80

Number of chews per minute

Rumination as measured by chewing movements improved on average over a 6 week period.

Effective rumination study measuring the number of chewing movements Farm A

Farm B

Farm C

Farm D

Farm E

Average

70

60

50

2

Weeks

4

3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4

Farm A

Farm B

Farm C

Farm D

Farm E

Average

2

4

Weeks

Daily feeding rates ForFarmers Dry, Moist & Liquid Feeds (DML) 0870 0500 306 info.dml@forfarmers.eu www.forfarmers.co.uk

6

Effective rumination study measuring the manure consistency

Manure score points

Some of the other methods used to measure the buffering effect included cow signals and in particular measuring the number of chewing movements, since the process of ‘chewing the cud’ is a good indicator of bicarbonate production and rumen function.

50–100g lactating Dairy Cows 25–100g Beef cattle (15g per 100kg liveweight) 10–20g Sheep/milking Goats

6