ISSUE FOCUS 38 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2023 Dairy cows are often thought of as metabolic super athletes, requiring hard work and a herculean effort to achieve high milk production... In reality, it’s just the opposite. HIGH MILK PRODUCTION IS A BIOMARKER FOR WELLNESS Ken Sanderson, DVM Sr. Director of Business Development Balchem Animal Nutrition & Health Productivity is an expression of health and vitality, not a result of the cow working under stress. Put a cow in a healthy environment, provide adequate nutrition and they’ll fully express their genetic potential in the form of exceptional milk production. Instead of involving hard work, we need to view high milk and component production as the ultimate indicator of wellness. Dairy cows are genetically selected to support high milk production, making it the animal’s default state. What restricts a cow from expressing its biological potential are the external factors, like heat stress, overcrowding or disease. One of the biggest barriers to milk production is inadequate nutrition. New cutting-edge research provides insights into requirements for additional nutrients that should be included in every ration for every cow to support her biological capacity for high production. And one of these required nutrients is choline. CHOLINE IS A REQUIRED NUTRIENT FOR OPTIMIZING DAIRY COW MILK PRODUCTION Choline is recognized by scientists as a required nutrient for most mammals. In dairy cattle, new studies are showing that choline is required for a successful lactation, which must first begin with a healthy transition period. Central to a healthy transition period is the ability of the liver to make enough glucose to support milk production. When nutrition and metabolism cannot keep up with the demands of milk production, cows fail to reach their genetic potential. Over the past 25 years, several studies and a meta-analyses (Arshad et al., 2020) demonstrated approximately a 2,2 kg/cow/day increase in milk production when diets are supplemented with rumen-protected choline during late gestation and early lactation. Five subsequent peer-reviewed studies, Zenobi et al., (2018), Bollatti et al., (2020), Holdorf et al., (2023), Swartz et al., (2023), and Potts et al., (2020), demonstrated a milk response ranging from 2,1 kg/cow/day to 8,7 kg/cow/day when cows were supplemented with ReaShure® Precision Release Choline. What’s remarkable about these trials is that milk production responses were seen in very high producing cows, regardless of body condition score. It’s becoming abundantly clear that choline isn’t just for cows with problems. It’s a required nutrient for essentially every cow.
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