ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE February 2024 47 in dry matter intake and feed efficiency gains. The improvement in feed efficiency enables cows to produce more with fewer inputs. Ultimately, this leads to better nutrient utilization, enhanced onfarm and environmental sustainability and greater profit potential. This improves the sustainability of producers’ operations, makes the most of the ration investment and supports cows to be more profitable and productive. ZINPRO ISOFERM PROMOTES SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES Dairy producers are already active leaders in dairy farming sustainability with practices like recycling water, applying manure as a natural fertilizer and feeding human-inedible byproducts, such as canola meal, distillers’ grains, soybean hulls, corn gluten feed and many others. Nutritionists should capitalize on the upcycled fiber feedstuffs they are already including in the ration by including Zinpro IsoFerm in diet formulations to focus on fiber digestion. Improved fiber digestion equates to greater feed efficiency (FE) and income over feed costs (IOFC) – key metrics to drive dairy farm profitability. Peer-reviewed research has shown that adding BCVFAs to dairy diets increased fiber (NDF) digestion by more than 7.5%, conversion of ruminally-digested feed to microbial protein by more than 6.5% and production of microbial protein by almost 8.5%. With improved fiber digestion and protein utilization, lactating herds have seen decreased dry matter intake (DMI) by 2% and improved FE by 5.5%. What does this mean for producers? • Research and real-world experiences show 4.3% more energy-corrected milk (ECM) • Fewer feed inputs are required, which helps lower feed costs • By utilizing Zinpro IsoFerm in diets, dairy producers can further profit from a sustainable practice – feeding human-inedible fiber – that’s already commonplace on their operation Additionally, improvements in microbial protein yield may provide an opportunity to reduce dietary crude protein and more specifically rumen undegradable protein while maintaining performance. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER As an industry, we must focus on improving fiber digestibility as a key driver of feed efficiency, animal performance and producer profitability. Branchedchain volatile fatty acids (isoacids) play a critical role in improving the ability of rumen bacteria to effectively break down forages and human-inedible byproducts into useful nutrients for milk production. However, this is a complex process, and certain dietary conditions often make this process inefficient, limiting the cow’s ability to meet her BCVFA requirements. With the emergence of new technology, nutritionists now have the ability to directly supplement BCVFAs when deficiencies are present, fully meeting the requirements for fiber digesting bacteria. This new tool, along with a focus on harvesting high quality forages, yields benefits for the cow, the producer and the environment. About Dana Tomlinson, Ph.D. Dr. Dana Tomlinson earned his doctoral degree in animal science and dairy management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He serves as a dairy research nutritionist on the global technical services team for Zinpro IsoFerm, directing product research and technical support for global sales teams and customers
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