Real Science Exchange-Dairy

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Assessing Transition Cow Health: Integrating Traditional and Novel Biomarkers” from the conference proceedings with Dr. Andres Contreras of Michigan State University.What is a biomarker, and what makes a good biomarker? Dr. Contreras defines anything that can help assess a physiological response or pathological state. Two examples would be BHBA (beta-hydroxybutyrate) and NEFA (non-esterified fatty acids), both fat mobilization measures. (2:56)Dr. Contreras structured the paper in three sections of biomarkers: (3:54)Ones that can be measured by looking at cow records, like how many DAs or hypocalcemias occurred over a period of time.Cow-side measurements like BHBA in urine or blood.Samples must be sent to a lab to be measured. These generally cannot be used to make decisions immediately but can help assess how a transition program is working, for example.How many samples should be taken, and what cows should be sampled in a commercial dairy setting? Dairy size, pen size, and pocketbook size will all play a role in this decision. Experts usually recommend at least 10 head, and those 10 must represent the cows' population in your pen. If you have the ability to take more samples, Dr. Contreras recommends 10-12% of the cows in question. He then describes ideal times before and after calving to sample BHBA and NEFA for the most predictive value. (5:31)Setting a target that integrates BHBA and NEFA the first week after calving with measures like body condition score and/or body weight is ideal. Cows will mobilize fat post-calving no matter what, so the goal is to moderate the degree and intensity of fat mobilization. (11:38)Rumination and activity monitors are great for measuring biomarkers in real-time and are excellent tools for diagnosing problem cows early. Dr. Contreras has researched ultrasounds to measure fat mobilization, but this may not be practical in a commercial setting. Urine pH after calving might start to be a significant predictor of clinical ketosis. Healthy cows will have a higher urine pH than sick cows. (14:44) A transition cow experiences several types of adaptations: lipid mobilization to address negative energy balance, skeletal muscle mobilization to address negative protein/amino acid balance, calcium mobilization to compensate for calcium loss, and oxidative stress due to generating energy. The goal is to target biomarkers that reflect the intensity of those adaptive mechanisms. Many of these require sending samples to a lab. A dairy’s nutritionist, veterinarian, and farm manager work together to create a targeted suite of biomarkers to assess their cows and reach their goals. (21:11)Inflammation is often at the core of transition cow maladies. Measuring a panel of acute phase proteins the first week after calving and comparing the dynamics of how they occur through the year could help identify issues in closeup cows if those proteins are spiking. (26:03)The group discusses the importance of using individual herds’ baseline data for prediction and assessment and focusing on closeup cows when fresh cow problems arise. They also discuss biomarkers for excessive protein catabolism and a liver functionality index. This leads to a discussion of whether creating an index might be a better overall measure than making decisions on just one diagnostic value. What if someday there might be one perfect predictive biomarker, and what might that look like? (27:50)In summary, you should not rely on a single biomarker and start measuring early. Ideally, this would be in the dry period. If that’s too challenging, it would be at least a few days after cows go to the closeup pen. Cow-side biomarkers like BHBA, body condition score, and body weight can tell you a lot about transition cow health. Use all the biomarkers and herd records available to design your approach to transition cow health. (43:10)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll mail you a shirt.

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Major Accomplishments in Calf Nutrition and Growth” from the conference proceedings.Accelerated milk feeding of calves results in about a thousand-pound first lactation production increase. The mechanism is unclear: it could be isolated to the mammary gland or related to the functional ability of the digestive tract and liver to support lactation. Economic analyses have shown an advantage of $205 per calf. (6:04)Regarding amino acid requirements of dairy calves, whey-based milk replacers require additional methionine; lysine is also common. Threonine can be limiting in soy-based milk replacers. Establishing amino acid requirements was beyond the scope of what the NASEM committee could do, and more data is probably needed for calves. However, CNCPS has amino acid requirements defined, so it’s possible to get in the ballpark for amino acids. (12:00)What about feeding hay to young calves? The latest research has shown calves only over-consume alfalfa out of all the common forages. A study in Spain showed when offered alfalfa, calves consumed 14% of their total dry matter from alfalfa, decreasing the amount of starter they consumed. When offered grass hay or straw, calves only consumed 4-5% forage and they actually boosted starter intake and overall feed efficiency. Dr. Drackley recommends starting grass hay, wheat straw, or similar forages at 2-3 weeks of age. It should be just a sprinkling top dressed on their starter, or about 5% of the total if you’re feeding a mixed diet. (15:08)Dr. Drackley covers five major accomplishments in this paper. (18:06)Knowledge of colostrum, highlighting the establishment of different categories for passive transfer (excellent, good, fair, and poor) rather than just a yes or no. The four categories relate very well to the mortality and morbidity associated with young calves. Feeding more milk to young calves, highlighting a 2001 paper from Dr. Mike Van Amburgh’s lab that was the eye opener for the industry. The publication of the NRC in 2001, which had a separate chapter for calves, was perhaps the first time people started to think seriously about calves.Major growth in behavior research, particularly related to feeding behavior, shows calves fed conventional, limited amounts of milk are hungry as demonstrated by vocalization and increased restlessness.Publication of NASEM 2021.From a welfare research perspective, Dr. Drackley thinks cow-calf separation and group vs hutch housing will continue to be issues of concern for consumers. In Europe, there’s demonstration research keeping calves with cows during the milk-feeding period. (20:44)What about the post-weaning slump? The big issue is weaning too early before starter intake has increased adequately. Weaning at eight weeks instead of six weeks results in an improvement in total nutrient intake. A gradual step down in the amount of milk provided will also stimulate starter intake. Starter quality and composition is critical, and water availability can be an issue for many farms. (23:29) Concerning colostrum, a big advancement has been a better understanding of what colostrum does in addition to establishing passive immunity. The nutrition aspects of high protein, vitamins, minerals, and growth-promoting ingredients like hormones, growth factors, and cytokines all play a major role in calf health and development. Measuring colostrum quality is better and easier with the use of refractometers. Recent emphasis on how easily colostrum can be contaminated and how that negatively affects the calf has also been crucial. As much as we know about milk synthesis, we know very little about colostrum synthesis. Adequate metabolizable protein is important for quality and quantity, and immune-related vitamins and minerals are important. Beyond that, we do not have a good understanding of what regulates colostrum, particularly volume. (25:50)What’s next in calf nutrition? Establishing a good amino acid model and trying to minimize both costs and nitrogen excretion, colostrum quality and quantity from the cow side, continued research into workable systems for accelerated milk feeding with a smooth weaning transition, and post-weaning feeding programs are areas where Dr. Drackley predicts fruitful research opportunities. (31:36)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll mail you a shirt.

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Practical Aspects of Reducing Carbon Footprint by Dairy Farms Through Feeding” from the conference proceedings.In the U.S., livestock competes with oil and gas for the top source of methane emissions. While “carbon-neutral” agriculture may be easy for modelers to show, Dr. Hristov feels this is misleading and probably impossible in practical dairy farming. However, mitigation can be addressed in several directions, and nutrition can have perhaps the largest impact. Management practices, genetic selection, and manure management can be added to achieve large reductions in total methane from an intensive dairy production system. (2:43)As forage digestibility increases, methane yield and intensity will decrease. A forage with higher digestibility may gain a 10-15% improvement in methane intensity compared to a lower digestible forage. In addition, starch makes less methane than NDF does. Feedlot cattle produce half the methane of a normal dairy cow due to the increased starch in the feedlot diet. We know fats and lipids can decrease methane, but anything higher than 5-6% in the diet will disturb rumen function and lead to poorer performance. Comparing different forages, corn silage produces the least methane, with alfalfa in second place. (6:41)Feed additives have the potential to deliver compounds for methane mitigation. One of these is 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), the commercial version of which was developed in Europe. It is approved in Europe and Latin American countries. Australia and New Zealand are also working through the approval process. This compound inhibits the MCR enzyme (methyl coenzyme M reductase) which catalyzes the last step in methanogenesis. Dr. Hristov’s lab has consistently shown a 30% reduction in methane yield when diets containing 3-NOP are fed, with no impact on milk production and a slight increase in milk fat. 3-NOP is quickly metabolized, so it is most useful in a confinement system where it can continuously enter the rumen. The compound is stable in a TMR for up to 24 hours, and the optimum inclusion rate is 60-80 milligrams per kilogram of diet (60-80 ppm). (14:41)Regarding regulatory approval in the U.S., the FDA has indicated that 3-NOP must be approved as a drug, not as a feed additive. Dr. Hristov has concerns about an adaptation of the cows to the compound. One study in Holland fed 3-NOP for a year, and there was a definite decrease in efficacy over time. Furthermore, efficacy may depend on diet, as 3-NOP is less effective with high NDF diets. It’s unclear if the decrease in efficacy over time is because the microbes break down 3-NOP before it affects methane synthesis or if the microbes shift to a different pathway of methane synthesis. (22:04)Bromoform, a compound found in red seaweeds, is also a powerful methane mitigator. Dr. Hristov’s lab has observed 60-65% decreases in methane production early in the feeding period, dropping to 20-25% after 200 days. Other issues include the practicality of growing and transporting seaweed, the instability of bromoform, and the fact that bromoform is an ozone-depleting compound and a carcinogen. Seaweed extracts tend to decrease dry matter intake, and thus milk production and milk iodine increase dramatically. (25:54)In the U.S. dairy system, where manure is usually handled as a liquid, methane emissions from manure and from the cow are equal. Methane digesters and flaring of methane are common mitigation methods. Acidification is another method whereby decreasing pH can decrease methane emissions and ammonia and nitrous oxide losses. Dr. Hristov predicts a lot of additives to decrease methane emissions from manure will eventually be available on the market. (31:16)3-NOP has little effect on rumen dynamics but may increase butyrate. Dr. Weiss asks if different feed additives have synergistic effects, and Dr. Hristov thinks much more work is needed in this arena. (33:19)While methane mitigation probably has no silver bullet, many little interventions can add up to a big impact. Looking forward, so many people are working in this area; we will have solutions for methane mitigation. (43:56)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll mail you a shirt.

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Methane in the context of circular dairy farming” from the conference proceedings.What is circular dairy farming? The concept is that instead of extracting or using natural resources and then discarding the wastes in a linear kind of fashion, economies should try to be increasingly circular. This would include the concepts of reusing, recycling, upgrading, upcycling, etc. Traditionally, the focus on methane was about the inefficiency and leakage of energy and finding a way to minimize that from the perspective of energetic efficiency and productivity. More recently, the focus on decreasing methane has been the environment. (3:19)Dr. Newbold talks about the trade-off between circularity and methane. High fiber diets produce more methane than high starch diets. Adding fat to diets can also decrease methane production. However, starch and fat are human edible so if we leave starch and fat in feeds to decrease methane in dairy cattle, that leaves less starch and fat for human consumption. The concept of “local” also plays into circularity, whether that be feed production or milk processing. (7:01)What are the metrics of circularity? Two approaches to this present in the literature. The first is human edible efficiency: how much human edible food are we producing? In a dairy setting, the measurement would be how much human edible food are we putting into the cow compared to the amount of human edible food coming out of the system? The second metric is the alternatives for land use. (10:45)What is the best way to express methane production? Dr. Newbold shares three, and they are generally used in different contexts. First is methane production, usually presented as grams per cow per day. This is an easily scalable measurement, but may not be the best or easiest way to manage interventions on-farm. The second common metric is methane yield which is generally expressed as grams per kilogram of dry matter intake. Lastly, methane emissions intensity is grams of methane per kilogram of milk. (12:26)When considering the human edibility equation, the denominator consists of the human edible content of the feed. In principle, depending on how hard you worked and how much money you spent, you could extract some of the starch, fat, and protein and use it for human food. However, there's no consensus in the literature about this kind of edibility coefficient. In other words, what proportion of the protein in soybean meal or the proportion of starch that's left in wheat middlings or distillers grains is human edible? Greater consensus about what is and what is not human edible would actually be quite useful in allowing for better and more consistent calculations. (18:29)Dr. Newbold gives examples of relative efficiency comparing U.S. dairy production, a grass-based system, and a tropical grass based system. Each of these have a different human edible efficiency and a different amount of methane produced. (19:59)When it comes to lowering the environmental impact of milk production, don't focus on one metric in isolation of the rest of them. If you're setting off in a particular direction, whether that's trying to drive methane down or milk production up, think about the potential trade offs and unforeseen consequences. (32:12)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

This episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, where Balchem sponsored a Real Science symposium titled “New Discussions in Amino Acid Nutrition.” Each of our guests presented at the symposium, and their presentations can be found at balchem.com/realsciencemediaDr. Van Amburgh presented “Amino Acid Nutrition for Maximizing Milk Component Yield.” When considering nitrogen efficiency, we generally compare intake nitrogen, which includes non-protein nitrogen, against milk nitrogen. In high producing cows, aggregate amino acid values are running about 70 to 73% efficiency. But when we work that up to total intake nitrogen, then we're down to 30 to 35% efficiency range. How do we reconcile ruminal nitrogen requirements to a point where we can optimize the capture of recycled nitrogen and reduce the amount of nitrogen that's being excreted in the urine? (2:27)Dr. Hanigan presented “Understanding Amino Acid Bioavailability.” Our current methods for measuring bioavailability don’t all have the same precision. One of the classic methods, intestinal disappearance, has very low precision. Methods that rely on dilution of a marker or a label in blood or milk have much higher precision. Dr. Hanigan’s lab has worked to modify a carbon-13 labeled amino acid method to allow for evaluating changes in the supply of amino acids in the diet. (5:01)Dr. Lee presented “Current Understandings of Lysine Nutrition in Dairy Cattle.” Rumen-protected lysine has more variable responses than rumen-protected methionine or histidine. Amino acid requirements were developed based on the role of amino acids as the building blocks of protein. But there are many roles of amino acids which may influence their requirements. Dr. Lee suggests including that type of information in our modeling may increase the consistency of responses to feeding rumen-protected lysine. (11:24)Dr. Hristov presented “Histidine: A Limiting Amino Acid for Dairy Cows.” His group has worked with rumen-protected histidine to develop a dataset to define requirements. Microbial protein has considerably less histidine than methionine yet they are secreted at about the same level in milk and are metabolized similarly. All this together points to a higher histidine requirement. (18:02)The panelists agree that the advent of genomics have resulted in a rapid change in high producing cows and with that, their amino acid requirements (and other nutrients) are also changing. It’s a challenge for feeding and nutrition programs to keep up with rapid genetic change. (21:02)A question was posed by the audience about how Dr. Van Amburgh used amino acids to increase butter fat. In the research he presented, the diets did not overfeed fat and fed a blend of fatty acids, and also increased the sugar and pulled back the starch. (28:35)A discussion of histidine follows, including its unique body reserves, its role in hemoglobin concentrations, and its potential impacts on metabolic energy efficiency (34:08)Dr. Zimmerman asks about plasma histidine in very early lactation cows. Dr. Hristov is currently conducting a fresh cow experiment to assess this. His hypothesis is that because of low dry matter intake and high metabolic demand for amino acids, there will be a response to histidine supplementation. Dr. Lee agrees and feels that the fresh cow stage may be one of the most practical ways we can utilize rumen-protected histidine (39:39)A question from the audience about the use of blood meal in lower protein diets sparks a spirited discussion among the panelists. (41:55)In closing, each panelist provides a takeaway. Responses range from bioavailability of rumen-protected products to challenges to progress for ruminant amino acid research to comparing biological potential and economic response. (46:58)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

While Dr. Jardon only had milk in his glass for this pubcast, he did share about his bottle of “wheyskey” (whiskey made from whey) from Wheyward Spirit Distillery in California (https://www.wheywardspirit.com/). Iowa State Dairy Extension is offering a webinar, “Fermentation and Distillation of Whey to Produce Spirits at Copper Crow,” on May 15 at noon Central. Curtis Basina of Copper Crow Distillery in Bayfield, WI, will be the speaker. You can sign up for the webinar at https://go.iastate.edu/WHEY (4:13)Dr. Dhuyvetter presented a March 5 webinar on dairy economics, which can be found at balchem.com/realscience. Key consistent data across time indicate that more profitable dairies tend to be larger. This doesn’t mean that all dairies must be large, but more the reality of the large number of fixed costs in dairying. Diluting costs by having high production per cow is also a mark of a profitable operation. Kevin reminds the audience that he’s talking about averages and there are exceptions to every rule. The key message is that you need to strive to get better. In the long run, profits are equal to zero in a competitive industry, and dairying is no exception. Dr. Dhuyvetter includes all economic costs in his analyses, recognizing all assets, including skills and capital, such as land, facilities, and time. (8:08)Dr. Jardon suggests that exceptional operations emphasize efficiency and ensure they dilute maintenance costs well. Everything is fine-tuned: feed's always pushed up, stalls are full of bedding, and the time budget of the cows is usually spot on. Dr. Tully echoes this sentiment from his consultant experience. Phil also underlines the importance of focusing on how much it costs to make a unit of milk or income over feed costs rather than concentrating solely on saving money. Kevin agrees that all the little things done right and done consistently often make the difference in profitability. Further, if cutting costs negatively impacts production, then saving money is counterproductive in the long run (15:14)Dr. Dhuyvetter reminds producers not to automatically assume they have lower costs because you raise your own feed. More often than not, the opportunity costs of producing that feed haven’t been evaluated. If you can produce nutrients more efficiently and cost-effectively on your land, then home-raised feed is a very good thing. But if you produce low-quality home-raised feed, it might be better to purchase feed elsewhere. In addition, growing high-quality feeds takes time and energy away from dairying. Phil saw this when he was a practicing veterinarian. Jim suggests that those larger operations can have a field crew and a herd health crew who aren’t the same individuals. The panelists discuss the shift from getting paid for protein in milk to getting paid for fat in milk and what that means from a cow nutrition and profitability perspective.(22:51)Dr. Dhuyvetter then discusses how culling practices impact profitability. He expects successful operations to have very low cull rates because they have healthy, well-managed cows doing all the little things right. On the other hand, unsuccessful operations may also have very low cull rates because they struggle to produce heifers, get them pregnant, and keep them in the herd, leading to keeping cows longer than one should. Jim and Kevin emphasize that the culling rate is individualized and will vary by operation. Phil suggests that perhaps some of the available software tools to help with culling decisions may be underutilized. (35:10)Many dairies want to know if they should wait longer into lactation before rebreeding cows. Because production is up and reproduction has improved over the last 10-15 years, dairies are drying cows off while still giving a lot of milk. Dr. Dhuyvetter’s analysis of the data for Holstein herds in second- and greater-lactation cows suggests getting them pregnant as fast as possible and getting them back to peak milk sooner. (43:07)Phil, Kevin, and Jim then touch on comparative advantage and revealed preference and how those relate to shifts in the dairy industry away from some states and toward others. (50:29)In closing, Dr. Dhuyvetter suggests that the days of being very successful with gut-feel decisions are probably behind us. Making decisions based on the best information from data and analytics is the way forward. Constantly strive to get better, and don’t worry about what your neighbor’s doing. Control what you can control. (58:29)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Dr. Penner describes two primary factors of gut health to be absorption and barrier function or permeability. His lab’s work on permeability is suggesting that intestinal regions really drive total gut permeability to a much greater extent than ruminal permeability in dairy cows. (7:06)Ms. Bertens is Dr. Penner’s Ph.D. student and explains some new methodologies she developed for measuring gut permeability using chromium EDTA and cobalt EDTA. It’s common to use an oral dose of chromium EDTA as a marker to measure total tract permeability. Claire’s work, using cannulated cows, used a ruminal dose of chromium EDTA for total tract permeability and an abomasal dose of cobalt EDTA for post-ruminal permeability. Both of these markers are indigestible, non-metabolizable and have no transcellular transport mechanisms. Claire is working to publish the new method as a complete validation study has been completed. (9:15)While this method is currently limited to using cannulated animals, Greg and Claire could envision a less sophisticated and more applied on-farm technique to assess permeability. Until then, there are still a lot of management observations that can identify potential issues with gut permeability. The appearance of feces and the presence of mucin casts can both be indicative of gut issues. Certainly dry matter intake is a major influencer on gut health, and Claire also sees potential in new technologies like rumination collars or rumination ear tags. (13:47)Are there certain time points in a dairy cow’s life when she is at risk for increased gut permeability? Dr. Penner describes research suggesting if weaning is implemented too abruptly, that really increases the risk for decreased barrier function of the gut. Erratic feed intake patterns resulting from withholding feed for any reason at any age can also increase the risk of leaky gut. For example, depressed intake during the transition phase, along with anything that drives a response through an underlying systemic inflammatory response, probably creates risky situations for leaky gut. Claire is currently running a study looking at the impacts of intramammary LPS infusion on gut function. Greg envisions that learning more about gut function could create a new philosophy for treating sick animals. In the past, only antimicrobials were used to treat mastitis, but now it’s common to also treat with a NSAID for pain. Perhaps in the future, we will also provide treatment to accelerate the recovery of the gut to prevent secondary disorders. (16:15)How long does an off-feed event have to last to cause an issue in the gut? It seems a fairly acute time period is all that is needed. Most studies are trying to replicate what happens on-farm, for example during mastitis, heat stress or the transition period. Greg indicates that not only will permeability be impacted, but ruminal absorptive capacity can also decline rapidly in these conditions. In Claire’s LPS challenge study, cows’ rectal temperatures peak around six hours after the LPS infusion and usually resolve within 12 hours. But most cows do not eat for a solid 12 hours during the challenge, and they are slow to recover feed intake over the next few days. In cows that aren’t sick but experience feed restriction in experimental protocols, they tend to overeat when they are allotted the full ration and this can lead to ruminal acidosis. (21:57)Increased incidences of liver abscesses in beef-on-dairy calves are being reported in the industry. Dr. Penner speculates that perhaps these calves are not always achieving adequate passive transfer, and may not be receiving high enough levels of milk replacer to support a more robust immune system. It may be the increased beef cattle genetics in the calves are putting an added requirement on growth or muscle development that may not be met by lower levels of milk replacer or even lower colostrum feeding levels. (34:40)In closing, providing cows with a consistent environment where they can meet their needs by their own behavior such as free access to feed when hungry and to a comfortable stall when it’s time to rest. Cows reward consistency with health and production. Gut health in a commercial setting is a relevant issue and it might go undiagnosed or undetected. Research into where in the gut permeability is occurring will help define strategies to modulate response. While off-feed events for individual animals might be harder to recognize in a large dairy environment, new technology may allow for earlier diagnosis. (40:43)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Marcia Endres, University of MinnesotaDr. Endres begins with a description of a dataset she collected containing individual body weights from 34 robotic milking herds. Weights were collected for every cow; every time that she came into the robotic milking station. Dr. Endres’ team was interested in the relationship between the amount of body weight change in the first 21 days of lactation and subsequent production. (7:34)The team chose to use the first 90 days of production as their production measurement to make sure they had as many cows as possible in the dataset - the longer into lactation, the more likely to lose cows due to culling. Their results showed that 90-day production was extremely highly correlated with total lactation production. Drs. Weiss and Endres discussed the implications of young cows’ requirements for growth in the first and second lactation, which were easily observed in this dataset (13:13) Dr. Endres’ team found a quadratic relationship between body weight loss in the first 21 days and milk production in the first 90 days of lactation. This suggests that if cows don’t lose enough, they aren’t productive. Or, if cows lose too much, they aren’t productive. The optimum amount of weight loss for cows in their second or greater lactation was around 5%, while for the first lactation cows it was 7.4%. Dr. Endres hypothesizes that cows who lost more than the optimum may have been sick because they’re probably not coming to the bunk if they’re losing that much weight. And cows who gained weight might be animals who just do not have as much genetic potential to produce milk. (17:15)Dr. Weiss and Dr. Endres emphasize that today’s dairy cows are designed to mobilize body weight early in lactation. They are not able to eat enough to compensate for the amount of milk they are producing. Intake is going up as they move through early lactation, and cows can lose some weight and not have issues. The guests discuss the importance of an aggressive fresh cow management plan and designing diets specifically for the fresh cow group. (22:09)Dr. Endres explains at the extremes, the highest producing cows produced around 30-35 pounds more milk each day than the lowest producing cows. But even halfway in between, it was 10-15 pounds of milk per day and those are not small numbers! Monitoring and managing body weight change has tremendous management potential, particularly with the increasing technology available to dairy herds. Identification of poor performing cows could happen sooner and appropriate interventions could be identified earlier. (26:37)Is there any reason this can’t be extrapolated to conventional farms that are not using robots? Dr. Endres thinks it would carry over, even though the conventional farms are feeding differently and can’t supplement individually like the robot systems. These results point to feeding fresh cows in their own group while paying close attention to access to feed and limit overcrowding. If Dr. Endres could do the study over, she would like to have reproduction and health records to compare with the milk production and weight loss data. (28:22)Each panelist summarizes their takeaways from this research. Dr. Morrow suggests that the industry is probably not managing fresh cows nearly as intensely as they should. Their needs for calories as well as amino acids in early lactation are probably greater than we know, and we must do a better job supplying those nutrients and allowing cows to be comfortable, eat, and reach their peak potential. Dr. Weiss agrees and adds that female mammals are designed to mobilize body reserves. The idea that cows should not lose condition in early location is wrong. We don’t want them to lose too much, but losing some is perfectly normal. We need to work around that balance and include it in our formulation goals. Dr. Endres emphasizes the focus on fresh cows and suggests technology is going to allow for more and better data that will help monitor fresh cows and intervene as needed. (33:38)Dr. Endres wraps up with a brief description of the upcoming Four State Dairy Nutrition Conference in June and Balchem’s Amino Acid pre-conference symposium on the first day to open the conference. (35:40)The paper can be found here: https://www.jdscommun.org/article/S2666-9102(23)00041-8/pdfPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Director of Technical Services at Balchem. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/realscience and scroll down to the webinar presented on December 12th, 2023.Dr. Zimmerman begins with an overview of Balchem’s microencapsulation technologies in both human nutrition and health and animal nutrition and health businesses. (0:31)Encapsulation is a generic term, and huge differences can exist between products that protect the same compound. Balchem’s microencapsulation technology consists of packaging a substance in a lipid capsule for protection. Encapsulates can differ in design, technology, and performance. When it comes to performance in ruminant encapsulates, stability in feed mixing and TMRs and animal performance are evaluated. (6:50)Lipid encapsulation usually comes in one of two forms, a matrix encapsulation or a true encapsulation. A good analogy for matrix encapsulation is chocolate chip cookie dough, where some active compound is always at the surface. In the rumen, this leads to reduced protection and stability. True encapsulation, often called single-layer or multiple-layer encapsulation, is analogous to an m&m where there is no active compound at the surface, and this leads to greater protection and stability in the rumen. (12:00)So why do we encapsulate nutrients for ruminants? In general, for targeted delivery within the gastrointestinal tract of the animal because rumen fermentation often results in massive breakdown of most of these important compounds. For example, choline chloride is almost completely degraded in the rumen. (18:30)When developing or improving rumen-protected products for nutrients such as choline chloride, methionine, lysine, or niacin, the primary goal is to protect them as much as possible from ruminal degradation while achieving post-ruminal absorption. Once prototypes have good ruminal stability and good intestinal release, the next step is feed and mixing stability. Dr. Zimmerman goes on to showcase different research techniques for evaluating encapsulates in these three areas as well as in animal performance. (20:39)In summary, there are many differences in encapsulated products for dairy cows, due to the design of products; types, amount, and composition of coatings; manufacturing differences; and differences in nutrient content, bioavailability, and feed stability. True encapsulates, or multi-layered coating products, are preferred for ruminant applications due to their higher levels of ruminant and feed stability. Four really important features of a good ruminant encapsulate are good ruminal stability, good nutrient bioavailability, feed and TMR stability, and ultimately biological performance. (47:05)Dr. Zimmerman then answers questions from the webinar audiences about in vitro techniques and bioavailability, coating ingredients, the importance of base diet for rumen fluid donors in in vitro techniques, variation in products from in vitro to in vivo results, how long it takes to develop a new encapsulated product (Balchem spends years and even decades researching before a product release), and why nutrient contents differ so much in similar encapsulated products on the market. (49:58) Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Godden from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/real science and scroll down to the webinar presented on November 8, 2023.Dr. Godden begins with the reminder that despite decades of research and definite advances in colostrum management, there's still a lot to learn and research. Her goal is to give an update on new findings that can be utilized in your colostrum management program. (0:21)Promoting calf health and growth is a balance between maximizing immunity and minimizing infectious disease challenges. Colostrum is one aspect of maximizing immunity and provides passive immunity in the form of immunoglobulins. It also contains bioactive compounds, immune factors, growth hormones, leukocytes, and nutrients. (1:09)We can measure adequate transfer of passive immunity via serum immunoglobulin G levels, where anything greater than 10 grams per liter is a pass. Passive transfer of immunity is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality, especially in the first 2-3 months of life. Successful passive transfer has many other intermediate and long-term benefits, including improved growth rate and feed efficiency, leading to even longer-term benefits of decreased age at first calving and potentially improved milk production in the first and second lactation. (4:18)When building a comprehensive colostrum management program, Dr. Godden distills it down to the five Qs: quality, quantity, quickness, squeaky clean, and quantifying. Starting with quantifying passive transfer, in a perfect world, we would have a quick, inexpensive, on-farm serum IgG test that could be run on whole blood. Unfortunately, that test does not exist. In research studies, we send serum samples off to reference labs to have serum IgG tested. On-farm, we use indirect tests such as serum Brix or serum total protein. Historically, the literature has said that a serum total protein of somewhere between 5.0 and 5.2 grams per deciliter most accurately predicts that IgG value of 10 grams per liter. If greater than 10 g/L IgG is a pass, is a higher concentration better? Yes. A good goal would be for 90% of the calves to have serum IgG higher than 10 g/L. More specifically, goals are around 40% of calves in the excellent zone of 25 or greater, roughly 30% of calves in the good zone of 18-25, and around 20% in the fair zone of 10-18. Dr. Godden references the corresponding Brix and total serum protein readings in her slides. (7:24)Quality refers to the concentration of IgG in the colostrum, and experts have suggested that be at least 50 grams per liter or higher. This corresponds to a Brix reading of approximately 22% or higher. Several factors influencing colostrum quality are under our control, including the dry cow vaccination program, feeding a balanced dry cow ration, avoiding stressors during the dry period, avoiding excessively short dry periods, and milking cows out as soon as you can after calving. (16:18)When it comes to quantity, a larger volume at first feeding will result in higher IgG concentrations in the calves. One study compared feeding two or four liters at first feeding with a second feeding of two liters at 12 hours. The higher volume first feeding showed better results. (29:23)As for quickness, IgG absorption efficiency is optimal in the first couple of hours after birth but is then slowly reduced as gut closure occurs. Ideally, we want to feed the calf as soon as possible, hopefully within one to two hours of birth when possible. (30:35)The last Q is squeaky clean or cleanliness, specifically the level of bacterial contamination in colostrum. Obviously, we don't want to feed colostrum that is laden with pathogens that can cause disease. However, high bacteria counts in colostrum have also been associated with reduced absorption of IgG. Dr. Godden details a number of critical control points that can be assessed if colostrum cleanliness is an issue of concern. (38:19)Dr. Godden finishes the episode by taking questions from the webinar audience, ranging from average colostrum volume collected at first milking to what temperature colostrum should be frozen at to heat stress impacting quality and quantity of colostrum. (49:20)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Dr. Räisänen completed this research during her Ph.D. at Penn State. The meta-analysis included 17 different studies published between 1999 and 2022 investigating supplemental histidine for lactating dairy cows. They divided the type of supplemental histidine between infused histidine and rumen-protected histidine and the basal diets between corn silage-based and grass silage-based. (4:34)Primary response variables measured in the meta-analysis included dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, and milk component yields. The researchers also calculated the efficiency of utilization of histidine and other amino acids supplied to the cow by the diets. Lastly, they calculated marginal recovery of histidine and evaluated the interaction between histidine supply and energy supply and how that impacts the efficiency of utilization. (7:38)Dr. Lapierre gives a little history of histidine research. When recommendations were coming out about lysine and methionine requirements, the different studies recommended relatively similar amounts of lysine and methionine based on the proportion relative to MP supply. On the other hand, recommendations for histidine varied widely depending on the study, ranging from less than 2% to almost 4%. As emphasis has been placed on reducing the footprint of dairy production, interest has risen in feeding lower-protein diets. In this scenario, we would expect an increase in the microbial protein; however, microbes are relatively low in histidine content. If we look at the proportion of histidine relative to MP, as the crude protein concentration of a diet decreases, this proportion of histidine decreases. (8:34)The meta-analysis revealed a clear response to histidine in milk production, dry matter intake, and milk true protein yield. Susanna and Helene are not sure if the dry matter intake response was due to a pulling effect because of increased milk and milk protein yield or if histidine has an independent impact on the brain, as has been observed in some monogastric studies (16:15)Clay asks the guests what they think the histidine requirement is, and both agree that providing one number is not practical given the other interactions from basal diet to the efficiency of utilization to the concentration of other amino acids in the diet. (32:01)Practical implications from the meta-analysis include an understanding that lower protein diets may very well need supplemental histidine for optimum performance, and cows pay a penalty when inadequate histidine is supplied. (35:09)Helene’s take-home message is that histidine should be taken seriously. If you don't supply enough of it, then you'll have a penalty in your cows’ production. Further, the efficiency of histidine utilization will be affected by the energy supply, and we have tools with NASEM to assess if a herd is receiving sufficient histidine. Susanna echoes Helene’s message and adds that a rumen-protected histidine product on the market would be very helpful. (45:35)The paper can be found here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00416-2/fulltextPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Dr. Hristov started working with canola meal after he commissioned a review paper comparing canola and soybean meal when he was editor of the Canadian Journal of Animal Science. In that review, most of the studies used solvent-extracted soybean meal. Because canola has a higher oil content, it is always mechanically extruded to remove oil before solvent extraction. This paper is a more fair comparison because both meals were extruded and thus exposed to heat. (7:02)There were 24 cows per treatment, and it was a continuous study rather than a Latin Square design. No differences were observed in dry matter intake, even though many studies in the literature have shown a higher DMI for canola meal-containing diets. Both diets had similar milk production and feed efficiency. Cows on the soybean meal diet had higher milk fat than canola meal-fed cows. (15:09)Soybean meal-fed cows had higher total VFA production. Dr. Hristov attributes this to the additional free oil that was added to the canola meal diet having a slightly depressing effect on fermentation. The canola meal-fed cows had a higher proportion of propionate and a lower proportion of acetate than the soybean meal-fed cows. Serum amino acid concentrations were mostly similar with a few differences in individual essential amino acids. (21:40)Serum glucose concentrations were higher for canola meal-fed cows. Dr. Hristov believes this was probably a result of the increased ruminal propionate since it is a primary precursor for glucose production. He goes on to describe the digestibility results. (28:30)Bill and Alex discuss the nitrogen excretion data and how low in protein one could go before impacting milk production in an effort to reduce nitrogen excretion to the environment. (37:06)Dr. Hristov’s take home message is when you are comparing these two feed ingredients in similar diets, if feed intake is not affected you'll have a similar response between extruded soybean meal and canola meal. Comparing solvent-extracted soybean meal with canola meal is not a fair comparison. (51:05)The paper can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223004101Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Dr. Godden opens this episode with a 30,000-foot view of colostrum management. Colostrum management has been a hot topic for decades, and herds still have opportunities to improve. Researchers continue to learn how to advance colostrum management. The basics include the three Qs: quality, quantity, and quickness. Other critical factors are cleanliness and feeding clean colostrum. Dr. Godden also briefly discusses important monitoring measures to assess a colostrum program. Research continues on the value of post-closure feeding of colostrum after the first 24 hours when the gut can no longer absorb antibodies. Several studies have demonstrated improved health, reduced scours, reduced bovine respiratory disease, reduced antibiotic use, and enhanced gain. Tricia gives an overview of their program, where they feed transition milk to their calves. (5:15)Nutrition, adequate dry matter intake, pre-calving vaccination programs, cow comfort, and dry period length are all factors impacting colostrum quality and, to some degree, quantity. Tricia and Sandra describe a seasonal effect observed for colostrum quantity and quality associated with the fall months. While the mechanism of action is unknown, it is thought that day length and cold stress may play a role. Tricia indicates she is hard-pressed to get a 24 or 25 Brix reading on her herd’s colostrum in October. To prepare for this, during spring and summer, the dairy freezes 26-27 Brix colostrum to have on hand for use in the fall. (14:14)The relationship between the volume of colostrum produced and its quality is very weak. Dr. Godden recommends using a Brix refractometer to measure all colostrum. Tricia has observed a correlation between the amount of colostrum produced and udder edema, where more edema results in less colostrum. In Tricia’s system, she likes to feed anything over a 24 Brix as a first colostrum and anything from an 18 to a 22 as a second colostrum. They feed four quarts at the first feeding within the first two hours, shooting for the second feeding of two quarts within 8 to 12 hours. (29:18)Tricia details the calf herd recordkeeping on the farm, which includes weekly serum protein data measured with the same digital Brix refractometer used for colostrum measurements. This data lets the farm see when the program isn’t working and when calves are stressed. The farm also records all treatments and can reflect on previous treatments over the animal's lifetime. She gives an example of a small problem in the colostrum management program having a large impact. The agitator flaps on the pasteurizer were in the wrong position resulting in denatured colostrum.(35:14) Dr. Godden details some of the critical points in colostrum management, including adopting a routine monitoring program to measure Brix readings in colostrum and follow up with bleeding calves to measure serum protein. Cleanliness is very critical, and she sees a huge opportunity for farms to clean up their colostrum more. Not only do we not want to feed contaminated colostrum from a pathogen exposure standpoint, but research has also shown that high bacteria counts in colostrum negatively impact the absorption of the IgG into the circulation of the calf. This can be monitored by culturing the colostrum being fed, then backtracking through critical control points to determine where the contamination occurs. Tricia describes some of the important steps she’s taken over her 15 years at Shadycrest to improve their colostrum program. (42:57)Tricia reminds the audience to remember that your first feeding of colostrum is setting up your milking dairy cow. If you set her up to do poorly because her first feeding of colostrum is poor, you're going to end up with a poor milking cow. Every calf born on the farm needs to have supreme colostrum inside of them because they're going to become a supreme cow. Dr. Godden echoes this sentiment: there are long-term economic benefits to the producer for getting their colostrum program right. These include an improved rate of gain, lower age at first calving, and more milk in the first and second lactation. It's well worth your while to get that job done correctly and get that calf off to a good start. (1:01:32)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Today’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.Our day two episode opens with Dr. Eric Ciappio and Dr. Jonathan Bortz of Balchem, summarizing day one’s focus on pregnancy and early life and previewing day two’s focus on the latest choline research targeting adult nutrition. (1:03)The next guest on our roster is Dr. Mark Manary, a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine. Mark’s symposium talk discusses choline and food aid. Food aid products are specially designed to address needs from crisis situations. These specialized food aid products are standardized to meet great deficiency or inadequacy needs. On the most extreme side, there is a product called ready-to-eat therapeutic food for children who are starving to death. Other food aid products include those for severely underweight children. Dr. Manary’s research consists of clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa that include different nutrients in food aid to see if there are improvements in children’s responses. One trial with the inclusion of DHA found a 6-15 IQ point difference by adding fish oil or DHA. Mark hypothesizes that a doubling of that effect will be observed when choline is added. (6:42)Dr. Rima Obeid from Saarland University Hospital in Homburg, Germany, joins us next. Her symposium presentation focused on choline and pregnancy outcomes. Their research group has found that low or insufficient amounts of choline in the mother’s diet during pregnancy are associated with a higher risk for serious birth defects in babies and that the liver health of the infants is also negatively affected by low choline intake of the mother during pregnancy. Rima’s future research includes investigating the impacts and interactions of folate and choline consumption during pregnancy on neural tube defects such as spina bifida. In another study, she will focus on the relationship between the severity of congenital heart defects compared to neural tube defects. In particular, they wish to look at the association with low choline in the blood of the children, the mother and the father, because a pilot study suggests a family pattern, which could be due to some genetic background. (17:18)Our next guest is Dr. Susan Smith, Deputy Director of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute. One of her presentations centered on choline genetics and cognition. Her research has found genetic variation in choline uptake from the diet. One research question was, “Are there choline variants that affect how powerful that choline is in treating a disease condition?” In particular, Dr. Smith was investigating if choline could be used to treat children who have brain damage from prenatal alcohol exposure, and the answer is yes, it’s very helpful. Then, they evaluated if some children benefit more than others and found that there is a gene variant that affects how efficiently choline is absorbed from the diet. Children with the variant that reduced choline uptake benefitted the most from supplemental choline. In addition, there was an impact of the gene variant on cognitive function regardless of prenatal alcohol exposure. Children who carried one or two copies of this particular variant had reduced cognitive performance as compared to those children who were lucky enough to be born with the other variant. While we still don’t have a blanket recommendation for how much choline pregnant women should consume, Dr. Smith’s message to pregnant women is that eating enough choline lets your baby achieve its full potential. (23:32)Dr. Isis Trujillo-Gonzales and Dr. Evan Paules, both with the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute join us. Isis focuses on choline and brain/eye development, while Evan focuses on choline and metabolic health. Dr. Trujillo-Gonzales’s research has found that the neurons in the eye that receive light and connect to the rest of our brain are impacted by choline absorption. Her lab has also investigated the mechanism of action for choline’s effect on brain development. The stem cells in the brain that give rise to neurons are very sensitive to choline availability. If a pregnant mom is not consuming enough choline, these cells in the baby’s brain are not proliferating adequately. Choline is important in the microRNA that fine-tunes the regulation of this pool of stem cells. Dr. Paules’s research is focused on the metabolic symptoms of obesity and the impact of choline on them. For example, giving choline to someone who is deficient can ameliorate the symptoms of fatty liver disease. One area emerging in his work is the loss of lean mass as people age. It appears that increased loss of lean muscle is observed in people who aren’t consuming adequate choline. This suggests that as we age, making sure we have sufficient amounts of choline intake may help prevent the loss of lean muscle tissue. (32:58)Dr. Br

Co-host: Tom Druke, Balchem Corporation & Dr. Eric Ciappio, Balchem CorporationGuests: Dr. Stephen Hursting & Dr. Susan Smith, University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute; Dr. Steven Zeisel, University of North Carolina; Dr. Kevin Klatt, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Richard Canfield, Cornell University; Dr. Colin Carter, Columbia University; Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell UniversityToday’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.Our first guests are Dr. Stephen Hursting and Dr. Susan Smith, the director and deputy director of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute. Steve and Susan give some background regarding the inspiration behind the conference as well as what will be covered during the symposium. The gathering is an opportunity to get the leading choline researchers together to update each other and build the momentum of choline research. The last time choline researchers gathered was in 1998, when requirements were set. (0:50)The next guest on our roster is Dr. Mark Manary, a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine. Mark’s symposium talk discusses choline and food aid. Food aid products are specially designed to address needs from crisis situations. These specialized food aid products are standardized to meet great deficiency or inadequacy needs. On the most extreme side, there is a product called ready-to-eat therapeutic food for children who are starving to death. Other food aid products include those for children who are severely underweight. Dr. Manary’s research consists of clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa that include different nutrients in food aid to see if there are improvements in children’s responses. One trial with the inclusion of DHA found a 6-15 IQ point difference by adding fish oil or DHA. Mark hypothesizes that a doubling of that effect will be observed when choline is added. (6:52)Next up is Dr. Kevin Klatt with the University of California - Berkeley. His symposium talk consisted of choline and DHA, focusing on two areas of his work. The first is dietary choline’s impact on the production of phosphatidylcholine species enriched in the omega-three DHA, specifically in pregnancy. The second is interactions between lauric acid and choline, where a phosphatidylcholine species can actually bind to proteins that turn genes on and off. In one experiment, Kevin’s group hypothesized that inadequate choline intake during pregnancy compromises the efficient handling of DHA by the liver. They showed in a randomized controlled trial that supplementation with choline dramatically improved the status indicators of DHA status. (17:33)Our fourth segment features Dr. Richard Canfield from Cornell University, whose symposium talk focused on choline and neurodevelopment. Rick is a developmental psychologist by training who works in infant and early child cognition. He has researched visual cognition and speed of information processing with babies in the first year of life for women who received a diet containing the recommended intake of choline and those who received double the recommended intake during pregnancy. They found that cognition improved for babies in the high choline group over their first year of age, which was maintained until seven years of age. The cohort is now 14 years old, and additional testing is being conducted to see if in utero exposure to choline still impacts the children 14 years later. (29:51)Dr. Robert Colin Carter from Columbia University is our next guest. His talk focused on choline and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). His research has mainly been fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, with a particular interest in how both maternal and child nutrition might impact the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the most common preventable cause of developmental delay worldwide, and a common view might be that women should just stop drinking. Dr. Carter argues that view is shortsighted because alcohol use is a really complicated problem for a lot of people. Asking someone who has an alcohol use disorder to stop drinking is probably not realistic for a lot of women. In animal models, supplementing a pregnant dam with choline seems to ameliorate at least some of the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Dr. Carter has completed a pilot study of 70 women from South Africa where beneficial effects of choline treatment during pregnancy were observed for growth, neurobehavior, and memory in their children. Another clinical study with 300 participants is now underway. (51:38)We end our day one episode with a wrap-up from Dr. Dr. Susan Smith with the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute and Dr. Joe McFadden with Cornell University. Susan emphasized the recurring message that choline is so important in prenatal health and in early postnatal periods. Pregnant and lactating women generally don’t t

Kirby begins with a description of the mechanism of amylase-enhanced corn. The amylase is located in the kernel and, once activated by temperature change, works to increase the digestibility of the starch. A small amount of activation is thought to occur during silage fermentation, with further activation once it reaches the rumen. This paper evaluated digestibility and milk production in cows fed corn silage made from a hybrid with the amylase-enhanced gene compared to the same hybrid without the genomic enhancement. (4:51)The experiment was designed as a factorial with four treatments combining the two different types of silage with either 25% or 30% starch in the total diet. Only the silage was amylase-enhanced, not the corn grain that was fed. Kirby expected the amylase-enhanced silage group at 25% starch to perform best because he expected some subclinical rumen acidosis and potentially some feed intake issues at the higher dietary starch concentration. (9:09)The experiment was eight weeks long, consisting of a two-week covariate and then a six-week feeding period with 11 cows on each of the four treatments. Blood and milk samples were collected weekly. Total tract digestibility was evaluated twice over those six weeks, once soon after silage harvest (approximately 40 days) and again six weeks later to evaluate whether the impact or efficacy of the enhanced starch enzyme changed over time. (13:29)One surprising result was that the two silages had different in vitro NDF digestibility during week one of the feeding period. The amylase-enhanced silage had higher fiber digestibility even though the genomic enhancement is for starch digestibility. Kirby is unsure of the mechanism but hypothesizes that the amylolytic enzyme may free up some simple sugars or polysaccharides that allow microbes to have greater action and more energy available to digest fiber. By week six, the in vitro NDF digestibility of the two silages was essentially the same (15:09)Kirby mentions that if he could do this experiment again, he would do a longer-term study for 12 or 18 weeks and start feeding the silage as green chop right away to evaluate if ensiling takes away some of the benefits of the amylase-enhancement. (19:02)From the production data, the alpha-amylase enhancement didn't provide a benefit, but a fairly consistent benefit of additional dietary starch was observed, including increased feed efficiency, increased energy-corrected milk, and increased milk protein yield with few to no interactions in these results.Kirby also would like to have some data looking at the impacts of these types of diets on fresh cows since the cows in this experiment averaged 160 days in milk at the start of the feeding period. (24:11)The alpha-amylase-enhanced silage did not impact body weight, body condition, or feed intake. Kirby anticipated that the higher starch-fed cows would experience greater body weight gain in the later lactation period, but he observed the opposite. At the end of the study, an interaction was observed for feed intake where the high starch cows ate a little less - around three pounds. This resulted in a difference in feed efficiency for the high starch cows, where their intake decreased, but they maintained milk production. (25:29)Bill asks if the feed efficiency data was adjusted for the difference in body weight change, but Kirby responds that it was just gross feed efficiency, milk over feed. Bill wonders if that adjustment would make the two groups’ feed efficiencies closer together, where it’s more of a difference in how nutrients are being partitioned rather than a difference in feed efficiency (27:26)Another follow-up experiment Kirby would like to conduct is another factorial with the enhanced silage variety and the non-enhanced combined with a higher and lower rumen degradable protein concentration. (35:16)Bill wonders if this experiment was conducted with silage at a later maturity, say 40-42% dry matter, would the amylase have a bigger effect? Kirby thinks there is a chance that as the kernel dries down, the amylase may have a greater impact. (38:53)Kirby’s take-home messages for the audience are to consider the amylase-enhanced gene as an approach to bridging an inventory challenge gap from year to year and not to avoid dietary starch due to worries about subclinical inflammation. Kirby’s paper can be found here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00309-0/fulltextPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Paul Fricke and PhD Candidate Megan Lauber, the University of Wisconsin-MadisonDr. Fricke starts this episode by describing the long-term negative trend for reproductive performance in dairy cows that took place from the mid-1950s to around 2000. The reversal of this trend is due to the use of genomics to select for fertility and the use of synchronization and fertility programs in dairy cows. (6:07)Dr. Fricke explains the high fertility cycle starts with a change in body condition. Observations from the late 1980s and early 1990s showed that cows who calved at a higher body condition and lost condition after calving had worse reproductive performance than cows who calved at a lower body condition and did not lose as much condition after calving. This is known as the Britt Hypothesis. (13:27)Paul describes studies aimed at finding the mechanism of action for differences in fertility. One study split cows into groups based on performance in a superovulation and embryo flushing protocol. Cows who gained body condition after calving had the best quality embryos, while cows who rapidly lost condition and didn’t gain it back had very poor quality embryos. (18:50)In another experiment, cows were body condition scored at calving and 21 days later to measure postpartum condition change. All cows were on a double ovsynch fertility protocol. About 40% of cows lost condition over that time period, 35% maintained condition, and 25% lost condition, but milk production was the same for all. This implies that cows gaining or maintaining condition were eating more feed than those losing condition. Cows who lost condition after calving had a 25% conception rate. Cows who maintained condition had around a 40% conception rate, and cows who gained condition after calving had over 80% conception. These differences were not dependent on the synchronization protocol. (21:18)Megan said many large farms are starting to body condition score cows at calving and 21-30 days after calving to measure and manage this. She also said cows who lose are less fertile and have a higher pregnancy loss than cows who maintain or gain condition post-calving. In a study where cows who lost three-quarters of a condition score or more from dry off to 30 days in milk had a 25% conception rate, while cows who maintained or gained body condition over that same time period had over 50% conception. (26:24)One of Megan’s studies found cows bred with sexed semen who were submitted to a double ovsynch fixed-time protocol showed a 6-7% advantage compared to cows submitted to AI after estrus detection. The entire treatment effect was observed in cows who lost the most condition after calving. (33:18)Paul and Megan encourage dairy producers to body condition score cows at dry off, at freshening, and 21-30 days after that. If cows are losing a large amount of condition, that could be playing a critical role in reproductive performance. In addition, the first test, fat-to-protein ratios, also tells a story about fat mobilization. A cutoff of over 40% might indicate that cows are mobilizing body fat and losing condition rather than going up to the bunk to eat to drive milk production. (40:03)Megan and Paul said that taking a herd from a low fertility cycle to a high fertility cycle includes an aggressive reproductive management program, evaluating somatic cell count and mastitis to ensure those aren’t impacting fertility, and taking a critical look at the nutrition program, including grouping cows with different rations. (46:54)Megan’s final thought for the audience is that having cows in the high fertility cycle with aggressive reproductive management to increase our reproductive performance really gives us a lot of power. Managing cow body condition score drives profitability and allows a lot of opportunities. (1:01:05)Paul concludes that over his 25 years on faculty at Wisconsin, he’s lived through the whole reproduction revolution in the dairy industry. Right now, the high fertility cycle is the big barrier to the performance on dairies, but this is very doable. If you get herds into the high fertility cycle, everything is easier. Cows are healthier. Milk production is great. Reproduction's good. (1:01:55).Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Limin Kung, University of Delaware, and guest Bonni Kowalke, Stem Ag ConsultingOur Real Science Exchange pubcast always has leading scientists and industry professionals discussing the latest ideas and trends, and tonight, we have two distinguished guests. Dr. Limin Kung and Bonni Kowalke join us to discuss wild yeasts in silage.Dr. Kung begins by giving an overview of the impacts of wild yeast on silage, where they're either going to anaerobically ferment sugars to ethanol or aerobically; these wild yeasts can lead to spoiled silages and spoiled TMR. (8:32)Bonni and Limin then go on to detail management strategies and practices for reducing the impacts of wild yeast on silage and TMR, including harvest speed, silage moisture content, pack density, feed-out rate, and additives. (10:59)Bonni gives her perspective as a consultant about how she works with clients ahead of silage harvest to be able to prevent wild yeast infestation or any other problems. Most of her notes come right after harvest is finished with a list of things the farm wants to do differently next time, which she likens to a game plan for a team sport. (18:09)Dr. Kung describes how to determine if you have an issue with wild yeast in silage. Primarily, one would see aerobic instability via heating and perhaps molding. There will be a distinct telltale odor as well. Unfortunately, there is no on-farm test; samples must be sent to the lab for analysis. (23:10)Limin and Bonni give their top issues in regard to silage quality that they see in the field, along with ways to help producers get the very best quality silage off their fields each year. (26:40)This takes a turn into a discussion about how drone technology could be used in the future for perfecting silage moisture content predictions in the field before chopping. (32:02)Scott asks Bonni and Limin about the addition of NPN (such as urea or anhydrous ammonia) or sugar sources (such as molasses) to silage and what kind of impact that might have on silage quality. (37:24)Bonni gives an overview of silage inoculants and additives. (47:13)Limin and Bonni conclude by comparing the stability of legume silages and corn silages, an overview of inoculation best practices, and their take-home messages to ensure high-quality silage. (51:28)As mentioned in the show, Bonni Kowalke’s contact information at Stem Ag Consulting is [email protected] subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Alex Bach, ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), and Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State UniversityIn this journal club episode, Dr. Alex Bach with the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies joins Dr. Bill Weiss from the Ohio State University. Dr. Weiss introduces the paper as one that's immediately applicable to the industry and answers a question he received a lot during his Extension career: What's the cost of moving cows? This research gives us some real data to help producers on cow management. (3:49)Dr. Bach states that grouping cows is necessary, and the goal is to feed cows as close to their requirements as possible. But in a practical world, that can be difficult, and producers may resist moving cows due to the increased work and perceived drop in milk production. Dr. Bach gathered data from the field to see if that's the case or not by evaluating three farms with different diets and evaluating income over feed cost. (4:33)Dr. Bach goes on to describe the farms and the methods his team used for estimating individual cow intakes in a group pen setting. Cow pen/group changes coincided with a diet change. Individual farms made their own ration decisions and pen movement decisions. (8:17)In general, cows moved from a high to a medium to a low diet over the course of lactation. Primiparous cows moved from the fresh pen to the medium diet. If diet differences were adequate between groups, the loss in milk was compensated by the lower cost ration, and producers made an additional 20-30 cents per cow per day in income over feed costs. However, if the diets were more similar, lower feed costs did not compensate for the loss in milk production. (15:30) Dr. Weiss asks Dr. Bach if he could only build two rations, a high and a low, how would he do that? Dr. Bach’s approach is to look at a histogram of milk production in the pen and split that into quantiles. His goal is to make a ration that satisfies at least 70% of the animals in the pen for the high diet and around 60% of the animals in the pen for the low diet. (24:36)Dr. Bach also ran a sensitivity analysis evaluating how results would change if milk prices or feed costs (or both) went up or down. He found that the higher the milk price, the more resilient a farm will be to a single diet and that feed cost is the opposite. The most interesting scenario is high feed costs and low milk prices - that's where it's almost mandatory to make groups, if you want to survive on a dairy. (27:23)Dr. Bach evaluated the change in nutrient intake for the diet switch and projected the milk production change from that nutrient change compared to how the cows actually performed. The cows always lost less milk production than predicted. Dr. Bach thinks the main reason is that the cows were overfed before moving. (37:46)Dr. Bach invites the audience to experiment a little bit with grouping cows. Don't be afraid of losing milk, and look beyond milk. Put in place mechanisms on the farm that allow you to measure income over feed costs as the ultimate goal. Cows are flexible, so don't be afraid of making a mistake. If something goes wrong, it will go wrong for a short period of time. You can correct it. You can change the diet right away, and the cows will recover. (46:14)You can find this episode’s journal club paper here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22875Author: Dr. Alex BachPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guest: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State UniversityIn this episode, we welcome back the fan-favorite journal club podcast. Dr. Bill Weiss joins Scott and Clay for this episode, discussing a large study from Germany evaluating the time spent in the pre-fresh group and its impacts on health and production. Dr. Weiss begins with a description of the study’s overall research question of “How long should a cow stay in the pre-fresh pen?” - and the researchers’ hypothesis that time periods too short or too long would be detrimental to both cow health and production. (3:14)The study had a wide range of days in the pre-fresh pen, ranging from around seven days to about a month, with a mean of 18 days. This is similar to the general industry recommendation of 21 days. (7:16)Diets were typical of a U.S. diet, although DCAD concentrations would be considered moderate. (9:42)The longer heifers were in the pre-fresh pen, the higher their milk production was. A quadratic effect was observed in the multiparous cows, where too short was detrimental to milk production, and too long was detrimental to milk production. (11:56)If the time spent in the pre-fresh pen was less than seven days, both cows and heifers were at higher risk for retained placenta. (14:30)On the other hand, more extended periods of time in the pre-fresh pen were related to higher incidences of clinical hypocalcemia. (16:40)Metritis and ketosis were also higher for cows who spent shorter periods of time in the pre-fresh pen, with three weeks best for these health issues. (19:26)From these results, Dr. Weiss recommended that if calcium metabolism is an issue on a farm, leaning toward a shorter pre-fresh period of around two weeks may be beneficial. On the other hand, if other issues like mastitis, metritis, and retained placentas are an issue, leaning toward three weeks may be most appropriate. Regardless, don’t put cows in the pre-fresh pen for less than a week or more than 35 days. (20:37)Dr. Weiss suggested an interesting next-step study would be to feed a DCAD diet for the full dry period to both cows and heifers. (28:32)Dr. Weiss detailed some of the differences observed between cows and heifers in this study and how more research needs to be done around first-lactation cows because heifers are not just little cows. (35:35)You can find this episode’s journal club paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223002230Authors: P.L. Venjakob, W. Heuwiese, S. BorchardtPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Pete Hansen, University of FloridaTo conclude this mini series, Dr. Pete Hansen of the University of Florida presents on the topic of using methyl donors to regulate an early embryo and create an epigenetic effect. This talk was given at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, and is the fourth part of this series.Beginning his presentation, Dr. Hansen highlights how nutrition can cause epigenetic reprogramming of the fetus. Methyl groups can be added to increase the pattern of DNA methylation in cells and change the phenotype. 3:55To elaborate on DNA methylation, Dr. Hansen gives the example of placenta vs. embryo cells. A micrograph of both cell types shows that placenta cells have much larger amounts of methylation than embryo cells, indicating that placenta cells are specifically programmed while methylation of embryo cells can still be influenced by the environment. 4:57Continuing on the topic of methylation, Dr. Hansen discusses how DNA methylation silences specific genes, such as in skin cells or mammary glands. The methylation in the dam can be recapitulated in offspring, representing an epigenetic pattern. 14:42Opportunities to increase DNA methylation exist. Dr. Hansen points out that altering the environment of an embryo by growing it in vitro for just seven days changes the phenotype. 23:10How can this knowledge be used to the advantage of the dairy industry?Seeking to answer this question, Dr. Hansen and his graduate students added large amounts of choline (excellent source of methyl groups) to cultured embryos. They found the addition of choline to increase triglyceride accumulation and DNA methylation. 31:45After allowing the choline-treated embryos to mature in the recipient cattle, Dr. Hansen and his colleagues found the dams to have longer gestation lengths. This likely led to the higher birth weight of the calves which persisted into weaning. While a high birth weight is not particularly beneficial, a higher weaning weight certainly can be. 36:30Finishing up his presentation, Dr. Hansen refers to the common animal science equation: phenotype = genetics + environment. He praises the dairy industry’s proficiency in using genetic selection to create better offspring, but he states that improvements could be made in the environment, suggesting that more focus be placed on the prenatal environment. 41:37Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guest: Dr. Eric Ciappio, Balchem CorporationPart three of the podcast series from the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference is Dr. Eric Ciappio’s presentation about the importance of choline in prenatal human nutrition. Dr. Ciappio is with Balchem Corporation.Dr. Ciappio begins with an overview of one of the main roles of choline in the body: supporting overall brain health and cognitive function, primarily through its role as a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. (3:20)Eric then reviews several key pieces of research from the literature, beginning with a prospective cohort study looking at choline intake of the mother during pregnancy and the visual-spatial memory of their child seven years later. Moms who were in the highest quartiles of choline intake were correlated with significant improvement in visual-spatial memory of their children measured seven years later. (5:45)Researchers at Cornell investigated two levels of choline supplementation for pregnant women during the second and third trimester. One group received low choline, 25 milligrams, or 550 milligrams a day of choline, slightly more than the daily recommended intake for pregnant women. Women in the high choline group had higher blood choline throughout the experiment and that increased choline was also observed in cord blood at delivery. (6:48)Another Cornell study compared two groups of pregnant women, one who received approximately the recommended daily intake for choline and one who received roughly twice the recommended daily intake of choline during the third trimester. These were achieved through a controlled diet prepared in a metabolic kitchen plus supplemental choline. Once babies were delivered, cognitive testing was performed regularly from four months to 13 months. Babies born to mothers who consumed the higher dietary choline level had significantly faster visual processing speed compared to those born to the lower dietary group of women. Additionally, the number of days of prenatal exposure to choline was actually significantly associated with a faster reaction time, even within the lower choline intake group. (8:39)These same children were followed up at seven years of age with no additional intervention and subjected to a sustained attention test. Children born to the high choline-supplemented group of women had a significantly higher score overall on the sustained attention test. The beneficial effects of maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy are still present at age seven. (14:46)Choline also has a second important role in lipid metabolism, primarily to help generate phosphocholine and phosphatidylcholine which play both structural and functional roles: a structural component in the overall cell membranes and helps to transport specific lipids throughout the body. In particular, choline is critical for DHA transport. DHA is critical for maternal nutrition, as it is implicated in reduction of risk of preterm birth and overall support of the development of the eye and the brain (19:54)In the study with 25 vs 550 milligrams of choline supplementation during the second and third trimesters (6:46), the researchers also supplemented the two groups with DHA. Supplementation with choline plus DHA during pregnancy improved DHA status better than just supplementing with DHA alone. (22:48) In large dietary intake surveys of choline across the United States, just 6% of adult women in the United States get enough choline in their diet. Less than one in 20 pregnant women are getting enough choline in their diet relative to the daily recommended intake. Reviewers of the dietary guidelines showed that many prenatal supplements do not contain choline or only contain small amounts inadequate to meet recommendations. Similar observations have been reported worldwide. Furthermore, DHA inadequacy is common in pregnant and lactating women. (24:11)Dr. Ciappio concludes his presentation with the reminder that choline is an essential nutrient that helps support the growth and development of the brain and supports brain health throughout the lifespan. Despite these benefits, just 4% of pregnant women in the United States get enough choline in their diet. Expert groups are calling on manufacturers to increase the amount of choline in prenatal supplements. (26:25) Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Jimena Laporta, University of Wisconsin-MadisonCovering the topic of Fetal Hyperthermia, Dr. Jimena Laporta of the University of Wisconsin is the second podcast at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Conference. This makes up part two of the conference series.Heat stress is known to be a significant issue for dairy cattle with both global temperatures and sensitivity of dairy cattle to heat rising. Dr. Laporta adds that negative effects of heat stress last for multiple generations and lactations. 1:16While heat stress affects all cattle, Dr. Laporta focuses on dry cows and their offspring, to provide a more holistic view of its effects. Beginning with the dry cow, she notes that heat stress lessens milk production, as it derails involution and redevelopment. 3:59Epigenetics play a role in fetal development in the dry cow - fetal hyperthermia creates changes in the DNA of the fetus, altering the epigenome. 11:22What are the effects of fetal hyperthermia short term and long term, as well as across generations?Dr. Laporta details many short term hallmarks of prenatal heat stress: the dam experiences a reduction in gestation length leading to a premature calf that has organ alterations, less of an immune response, less feed intake, and a higher core body temperature. 16:31Analyzing a large data set of cattle affected by fetal hyperthermia, Dr. Laporta finds long term effects. The daughters had lower survival rates and less production each lactation, which carried over to the next 2-3 generations. Heat stress effects cost the dairy industry $1.4 billion. 23:08Turning her focus to the molecular signature of heat stress, Dr. Laporta discusses her findings from inspecting a mammary gland, concluding that heat stress causes a lower cell proliferative capacity and negatively impacts protein synthesis. Both lead to compromised milk storage and synthetic capacity. 29:28Wrapping up, Dr. Laporta states that heat stress negatively affects growth, organ development, immune function, survival, longevity, and milk yield for multiple generations. However, she believes that management and nutritional intervention can reduce such effects. 36:58Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Jack Britt, Jack H Britt ConsultingThis is the first in a series of presentations given at the 2022 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. Epigenetics of different environments and reactions is the topic at hand, presented by Dr. Jack Britt of Jack H Britt Consulting.Dr. Britt begins by clarifying that epigenetics (transmittable changes in genetic behavior of an individual), are only beginning to be understood. This is partly due to the intricacies of DNA. For instance, the expression of DNA can vary greatly and the process of synthesizing a protein is much more complex than DNA to RNA to protein. 5:32The tendency of DNA to change over time is the focus of epigenetics, creating positive DNA changes is the focus of multiple dairy cattle studies discussed.After pointing out that epigenetics is mainly influenced by environment and management, Dr. Britt discusses its implications by giving an example of the pregnant cow. Each pregnant cow represents three separate generations at one time: the cow, fetus, and ovaries in the fetus. 8:34Genes multiply to produce new life and continue multiplying after birth in various types of cells. Thus, Dr. Britt notes that a change in a gene, such as when a methyl group alters DNA expression, that alteration multiplies along with the gene, creating an epigenetic effect. 11:25Studying epigenetics is commonly done in twins, Dr. Britt gives the example of his identical twin brother. His brother died of Parkinson’s disease a few years ago, demonstrating that the disease is an epigenetic (due to environmental change) disease instead of a genetic one. 14:56What are areas where epigenetics have significantly impacted the production of dairy cattle?Numerous cases are detailed by Dr. Britt, one being the decrease in fertility that correlates with a body condition score loss after calving. An oocyte matures in approximately 101 days, meaning it begins to develop soon after calving, when the cow is potentially at the lowest weight. The egg produced by this cow typically dies 4-5 days after fertilization. 23:07Technology has created improvements in environment and management factors. Dr. Britt references the University of Guelph, where a new technology is being used to monitor and distribute calves’ energy intake to ensure they consistently gain weight during weaning. 28:57Concluding his talk, Dr. Britt poses the question: How can technology be used to create a reputable activity score of important factors among each herd? Such a score would allow for long term comparison across herds, allowing for epigenetics to estimate performance. 33:45Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Jim Drackley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University & Dr. Jim Quigley, CargillOur Real Science Exchange pubcast always has leading scientists and industry professionals discussing the latest ideas and trends, and tonight we have three distinguished guests. Dr. Jim Drackley, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, and Dr. Jim Quigley join us to discuss the weaning period and why it can be so traumatic for dairy calves.Dr. Drackley leads off by describing that this topic is popular because it's still a problem. The advantages of feeding more milk during the milk feeding period are clear, but there can be system failure around the weaning transition from large amounts of milk to starter. There's often some slump in growth or even calf loss in some cases. (04:40)Dr. Drackley emphasizes the importance of a properly texturized feed, starch content in calf starter, weaning age, and feeding too much hay which leads into a discussion about the importance of butyrate over propionate in rumen development. (05:31) Dr. Quigley tackles the idea of weaning age and rumen development, stating that research has found NDF digestibility isn’t mature until the calf has reached a threshold of about 15 kilograms of cumulative NFC intake. The latest NAHMS study suggested a typical weaning age in the industry of about nine weeks and this usually coincides with the NFC threshold (10:39)Dr. Van Amburgh suggests that patience may be lacking when it comes to the weaning transition. Research shows taking more time to transition from milk to solid feed in a stepwise manner can lessen or remove the post-weaning performance lag. (19:41)Dr. Van Amburgh goes on to reiterate the importance of butyrate production in rumen development and that the inclusion of simple sugars into calf starters rather than high levels of starch are beneficial. (21:26)Dr. Drackley then reaffirms the importance of a gradual transition from milk given the cow’s natural lactation curve. A calf would be receiving less and less milk each day, not an abrupt shift to a different diet which often is not mimicked in weaning transition programs. (25:18)Dr. Morrow gives the veterinarian perspective and agrees with the panel that a proper weaning transition program could take away a lot of the respiratory disease impacts on post-weaning performance. (27:14)The panel shifts to speak to the long term impacts of a poor weaning transition program. Dr. Drackley emphasizes calves who experience disease have both lower longevity and lower milk production in the herd. (29:26)Dr. Van Amburgh cites European research that showed if nutrition from weaning on didn’t achieve target body weights at certain stages of physiological development, reproductive efficiency was decreased as a heifer and as a lactating cow. (30:13) Each panelist gives an overview of the “perfect” calf weaning program. Dr. Quigley emphasizes a slow transition with high diet quality before and after weaning (32:46)Dr. Van Amburgh further underlines the importance of calf starter diet quality, focusing on simple sugars and amino acids, rather than starch and crude protein (37:29)Dr. Drackley focuses on the fact that digestive tract development is allometric during this time in the calf’s life, where the digestive tract develops at a faster rate than the rest of the body. Ensuring the calf has adequate nutrition to support this growth is imperative, and is an important focus for future research. (41:37)Dr. Van Amburgh suggests that changing the way starter is presented to calves so they know it’s feed is critical because they may not be in an environment where they can learn from others. (48:18)The panel wraps up with one piece of advice for calf weaning programs: be patient! (50:33)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Emmillie Boot and Dr. Ramon Malheiros, North Carolina State University; Catherine Fudge, University of Georgia; Dr. Lisa Bielke, North Carolina State University; Kyle Venter, University of Pretoria; Letecia Orellana Galindo, Auburn University; and Dr. Ken Macklin, Mississippi State University; Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, PA; Cara Cash and Dr. Giri Athrey, Texas A&M University.Today’s episode was filmed at the 2023 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA and is the second podcast of two from PSA. Balchem’s technical team chose abstracts of interest from the meeting and those researchers are our guests today. We kick off the show with Emmillie Boot and Dr. Ramon Malheiros from North Carolina State University. Emmillie’s research compared bell drinkers and gender-specific (different lines for roosters and hens) nipple-type drinkers for broiler breeders. She looked at the differences between egg production, egg fertility, and rooster fertility between nipple drinker lines and bell drinker lines. The major takeaway was that egg fertility was higher in the nipple drinker lines at the end of the flock cycle. (01:46)Emmillie’s abstract is titled: “Comparison of bell drinkers and gender-specific nipple type drinkers, without catch cups, on broiler breeder fertility and egg production”Our next guest is Catherine Fudge from the University of Georgia. Catherine is working to develop a histomoniasis infectious model for broiler breeders. Her lab is an Extension lab and a grower made an interesting observation that whenever he would place cedar shavings in his house, he noticed a drop in his insect population, and insects carry histomoniasis into chicken or turkey houses by way of a vector. Catherine began to evaluate this via benchtop experiments investigating the ability of cedar shavings and cedar extract to repel darkling beetles. (07:20)Catherine’s abstract is titled: “Evaluation of cedar products against Histomonas meleagridis in vitro”Next up is Dr. Lisa Bielke from North Carolina State University. Dr. Bielke presented research about the use of feed additives such as probiotics, symbiotics, organic acids, or essential oils as a way to prevent disease in poultry with the result being less antibiotic use. She emphasized that if birds are sick, and antibiotics are needed, then the birds should be treated with antibiotics, but that prevention is also key to bird health. (15:18)Lisa’s abstract is titled: “Role of Feed Additives for Improving Health and Controlling Disease in Poultry”Our fourth guest is Kyle Venter from the University of Pretoria. His research focuses on reducing dependence on rock phosphate by improving the digestibility of phosphorus in feed ingredients. Kyle pointed out that once phosphorus digestibility has been maximized from the diet, then one should formulate to the bird’s actual calcium and phosphorus requirements on a digestible basis, rather than using a total calcium, available phosphorus system. (23:12)Kyle’s abstract is titled: “Evaluating the efficacy of three commercial phytase enzymes based on broiler performance and production economics” Next in the lineup are Leticia Orellana Galindo from Auburn University, and Dr. Ken Macklin from Mississippi State University. Their research evaluates egg translucency and color intensity with egg quality parameters. Hatchability is a major issue in the broiler industry and previous research found that less translucent eggs had higher hatchability and darker color intensity eggs also had higher hatchability. In this abstract, Leticia evaluated the relationship between translucency and color intensity with internal and external egg quality parameters. (31:05)Letecia’s abstract is titled: “Relationship between eggshell translucency and color intensity with egg quality parameters on broiler eggs”When in Philadelphia, what better guest to have than Dr. Benjamin Franklin? Ben tells us about his scientific research regarding electricity and lightning and gives a perspective on agriculture in his day. (45:23)Our final guests are Cara Cash and Dr. Giri Athrey from Texas A&M University. Cara’s research is data analysis based and she modeled the impact that decreasing broiler breeder fertility could have on broiler production, the climate, and the economy. Her model predicts that declining fertility could result in large increases in the amount of feed required for broiler production and the amount of greenhouse gasses created by broiler production. (49:14)Cara’s abstract is titled: “The Effects of Broiler Breeder Fertility on Global Food Security”Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of the Real Science Exchange! If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Andy Vance, PSA; Dr. John Halley, J. Halley Poultry Consulting; Addison Elstner, Texas A&M University; Dr. Chasity Pender, DSM Nutritional Products; Dr. Valentina Caputi, USDA-ARS Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit; and Dimitri Malheiros and Dr. Ken Anderson, North Carolina State UniversityToday’s episode was filmed at the 2023 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Balchem’s technical team chose abstracts of interest from the meeting and those researchers are our guests today. We kick off the show with Andy Vance, Executive Director of the Poultry Science Association. Andy speaks to the growth of the conference, the presentations and attendance and reinforces that the Poultry Science Association exists to advance science in the poultry industry. (01:20)Our second guest is Dr. John Halley with J. Halley Poultry Consulting. John conducted an industry survey about how companies handle data. Are companies digitizing data or just staying with what they’ve been doing? John’s presentation covered how data flows through poultry companies today, as well as where we may be going in the future. (05:56)John’s abstract was titled: “Current Data Insights and Practices for a Poultry Nutritionist”Next on the guest roster is Addison Elstner from Texas A&M University. Addison’s research objective was to use a different basal diet than traditional corn and soy to stress birds with high inclusions of other cereal grains. This effort was to create a preliminary model of different cereal diets and their impact on intestinal health, performance and animal welfare. This preliminary work builds a foundation for the addition of feed additives and enzymes to those nontraditional diets in the future. (12:04)Addison’s abstract was titled: “Phase ingredients change in the diet formulation as a possible model to test feed additive efficacy in broiler chickens” Our fourth guest is Dr. Chasity Pender from DSM Nutritional Products. Her abstract presented data compiled over the past year for vitamin A recovery levels. The DSM internal laboratory had samples of broiler, broiler breeder vitamin premixes, and broiler and broiler breeder feeds. With those samples, they measured vitamin A recovery levels and evaluated the variation in the different feedstuffs. (15:09)Chastity’s abstract was titled: “Evaluation of Vitamin A Recoveries in Broiler and Broiler Breeder Premixes and Finished Feeds”The next guest in our lineup is Dr. Valentina Caputi with the USDA-ARS Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Arkansas.The main objective of her research is to look for alternatives to antibiotics to fight the carriage of foodborne pathogens in the poultry industry. Dr. Caputi’s specific expertise is the study of the enteric nervous system, which is the nervous system that is intrinsic on the gut wall and is distributed throughout the overall gastrointestinal tract. Her abstract evaluated how heat stress during the pre-harvest stage of poultry production affects the enteric nervous system, the intestinal microbiota, and overall gut health and how this can predispose the animal to be susceptible to colonization by a food pathogen, such as salmonella or campylobacter. (21:34)Valentina’s abstract was titled: “Heat stress induces regional-dependent modulation of aquaporin 4 expression in the enteric nervous system of broiler chickens”Lastly, we are joined by Dimitri Malheiros and Dr. Ken Anderson, from North Carolina State University. Dimitri’s research assessed cage densities during the pullet rearing phase. While other previous studies focused on increased stocking densities, Dimitri and Dr. Anderson wanted to focus on lower stocking densities to evaluate if pullet welfare would be improved in less dense cages. (32:42)Dimitri’s abstract was titled: “Influence of cage rearing density on pullet growth parameters and fearfulness.”Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the additional highlights from the 2023 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in future podcast episodes. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Gonzalo Ferreira from Virginia Tech and Dr. Bill Weiss from The Ohio State UniversityA Journal Club podcast is a staff and fan favorite, and joining us for today’s Journal Club is Dr. Gonzalo Ferreira from Virginia Tech and Dr. Bill Weiss from The Ohio State University. Dr. Ferreira will be discussing his paper about including alfalfa in multigravida Holsteins. Dr. Ferreira starts with an overview of his research and said that he did a preliminary trial in Virginia Tech and saw that the urine pH was being decreased by using a product called polyhalite. (5:36) Dr. Weiss pointed out that the study had a fair number of clinical hypocalcemia, about 10-15%, which is high. (27:39) Dr. Ferreira said that in testing the polyhalite, he included between 400-500 grams per cup per day. And everything was going well in the case of Calcium Chloride; it is stronger, so you can add less and have the same acidification process. (37:03) Dr. Ferreira wrapped up by encouraging people doing research not to get stuck in a theory. Sometimes you need to get out of the box and try different things. (48:45) You can find Dr. Ferreira’s paper here: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00170-4/fulltextPlease subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Today’s episode was filmed at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Joining us are the ADSA organizers and research winners to discuss their projects. Dr. Clay Zimmerman is our co-host this week. Our first guests are Dr. Corwin Nelson, University of Florida and Kari Estes, Balchem. Dr. Nelson is the overall committee chair for the conference and said more than 1,300 abstracts were submitted. Of those, 1,254 were accepted to present at the ADSA conference. (1:44) Ms. Estes, who was a poster judge mentioned she looks for the aesthetics of the poster, but was also impressed with the rigor of research, especially with the winning posters. (5:22) Our next guests are presentation winner, Ursula Abou-Rjeileh, Michigan State University and her advisor, Dr. Andres Contreras, Michigan State University. Ursula is a second-time winner and her research focuses on the effects of fatty acids on lipid accumulation and mitochondrial function in the post-partum phase. Her research showed that supplementing oleic acid with pulmonary acid, especially post-partum means cows don’t lose a lot of body weight. Her presentation name is Oleic acid promotes lipid accumulation and improvesmitochondrial function in bovine adipocytes.(10:11) Our third set of guests includes master’s poster winner Corienne Gammariello, The Ohio State University - Wooster and her advisor Dr. Ben Enger, The Ohio State University - Wooster. Corienne spoke about their research methods and how unique they were. She used dead bacteria and was able to elicit an immune response of an udder half, they used a split udder design model. Her poster title is Killed Staphylococcus aureus intramammary challengeinduces subclinical mastitis and clear changes in milk composition but not milk yield.(15:11) Next, we have Richard Lobo, winner of the Ph.D poster contest, from the University of Florida. Richard’s research was trying to replace soybean milk with algae. He saw that replacing 100% of soybean meal results in no fermentation. (20:15) More research is needed, because it is not yet known if protein that was not degraded in the rumen is going to be degraded later on, and absorbed. So we are still in the process of understanding how to use these protein sources with dairy cows. His poster title is Utilization of algae biomass as a partial replacement forsoybean meal in the diet of dairy cows in vitro. (21:25) Our last guests are Luke Quian, Cornell University and Connor McCabe, University of California Davis, who are the President and Vice President of the GSD (Graduate Student Division) at ADSA. Connor said that scientific presentation is a large reason to attend ADSA, but there are equal benefits and opportunities through networking, career development and professional pieces. (28:52) Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the additional highlights from the 2023 ADSA Annual Meeting in future podcast episodes. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Billy Brown, Kansas State University; Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kelli Brost, University of Illinois; Dr. Jim Drackley, University of Illinois; Dr. Sergio Martinez Monteagudo, New Mexico State University; Jair Parales Giron, Michigan State University; Tess Stahl, University of New Hampshire; Dr. Pete Erickson, University of New Hampshire; Dr. Vinicius Machado, Texas Tech UniversityToday’s podcast is the second podcast filmed at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Joining us are researchers with abstracts of interest chosen by the Balchem technical team.Our first guests are Dr. Billy Brown, Kansas State University, and Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Brown said results from feeding choline in utero showed no differences in the weight of the animal or ribeye areas, but they did have greater marbling, which is exciting. (4:19) Dr. Brown’s poster title is: Effect of in utero choline exposure on Angus × Holstein carcass characteristicsOur second guest is Dr. Sergio Martinez Monteagudo from New Mexico State University. Dr. Martinez Monteagudo mentioned that while upcycling is not new and is used in other industries, it is more difficult to do in the food industry. Dr. Martinez Monteagudo turned lactose into something more used, sweeteners. Dr. Martinez Monteagudo’s presentation title: Upcycling strategies of dairy byproducts and waste for value-added applications.Next up is Kelli Brost and Dr. Jim Drackley, both from the University of Illinois. Kelli found in her research that there is an effect on cow’s milk protein and fat percentages when looking at summer versus non-summer seasons. When you look at winter versus non-winter or winter versus summer, she saw the exact opposite. (27:50) Kelli’s Poster title is: Relationships between birth and calving season on first lactation performance of Holstein dairy cows in the Midwestern USANow, we’re hearing from Jair Parales Giron from Michigan State University. Jair’s research showed that fat has different effects from a low or high-starch diet. He also recommended that if you can’t have a high-energy or low-starch diet, fatty-acid supplementation could work. Jair’s presentation title is: Fatty acid supplementation interacts with starch content to alter production responses during the immediate postpartum in dairy cowsJoining us next are Tess Stahl and Dr. Pete Erickson from the University of New Hampshire. Tess studied the effects of a DCAD diet on Jersey cows. she found that minus 40 cals without and with nicotinic acid or niacin were equally feed efficient. And then there was a decrease with the minus 80. So she assumes that minus 80 is too harsh of a DCAD. (54:24)Tess’ poster title is: Evaluation of colostrum quantity, quality, and bioactive compounds from Jersey cows fed two concentrations of dietary cation-anion difference with or without nicotinic acid and its effect on calf performanceLastly, we have Dr. Vinicius Machado from Texas Tech University. Dr. Vinicius didn’t have any solid conclusions in his research but did notice that raising beef-on-dairy calves takes a different focus and approach than dairy cows or traditional beef cows. Throughout his portion, he hypothesizes what some options are. (1:38) Dr. Vinicius Machado’s presentation title is: Management of beef-on-dairy calves: Should we raise them differently?Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the additional highlights from the 2023 ADSA Annual Meeting in future podcast episodes. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Omid McDonald, Vodkow; Andres Ortega & Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University; Matheus Santos & Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro, University of Guelph; Dr. Faith Reyes, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mariana Marinho and Dr. José Santos, University of Florida; and Dr. Alex Tebbe, Purina MillsToday’s episode was filmed at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Joining us are researchers with abstracts of interest chosen by the Balchem technical team.The first guest is Omid McDonald, founder of Vodcow, the chosen drink at tonight’s pubcast. Vodcow is made with a dairy byproduct called milk permeate. The sugar is fermented and turned into alcohol, with which they make vodka and blend it with Canadian Cream. (4:11) Our second guest is Andres Ortega and Dr. Mike Van Amburgh from Cornell University. In Andres's research, to represent mp, they tried to show metabolizing all proteins and break that down into the individual essential and nonessential amino acids. They created two diets; one that met all of the MP requirements and one that didn’t. Based on the difference of MP there, they knew how much they would infuse. (12:07) Andre's presentation is titled: Abomasal infusion of essential and non-essential amino acids to evaluate energy and amino acid utilization, productive efficiencies, and metabolism in lactating dairy cattle. Next in our lineup are Matheus Santos and Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro from the University of Guelph. Matheus’ research found that lower feed intake and greater body weight had a less positive energy balance. A negative energy balance can lead to high immunosuppression and development of clinical disease. (24:14) Matheus' poster is titled: Prepartum feed intake level is associated with transition metabolism and subsequent milk production in dairy cows. Our third guest is Dr. Faith Reyes from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Faith said that in dairies, we would like to see decreased competition. Previous literature has shown a linear relationship when you increase the stocking density leads to increased competition. In her research, Dr. Faith found that there was the most competition at a two-to-one stocking density. (35:02) Faith’s research is titled: Individual feeding consistency across stocking densities and feed efficiency in lactating cows. Joining us now is Mariana Marinho and Dr. Jose Santos from the University of Florida. Mariana mentioned that more efficient cows have improved rumination per kilogram of intake. More efficient cows also have lower pH and more concentration of ammonia nitrogen. With the findings from her research, Mariana suggests that the site of digestion plays a more important role in differentiating more efficient versus less efficient cows. (52:45) Mariana’s presentation is titled: Associations between residual feed intake(RFI) and digestibility or hepatic mitochondrial respiration in Holstein cows. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the additional highlights from the 2023 ADSA Annual Meeting in future podcast episodes. Lastly, we are joined by Alex Tebbe from Purina Mills. Alex is focused on transition cows, both the dry period and fresh period and how they are so influential to the cow’s long-term performance. Alex said that we could hone in on the nutrition of dry cows and fresh cows to produce a lot of milk in the future. (59:52)Alex’s presentation is titled: Dairy nutrition to improve feed utilization - Recognizing the contributions of ADSA Fellow Dr. Bill Weiss beyond prevention of metabolic diseases: Feeding transition dairy cows for optimal performance. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Lance Baumgard, Iowa State University and Dr. Jim Drackley, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignOur Real Science Exchange pubcast always has leading scientists and industry professionals discussing the latest ideas and trends, and tonight we have two very well-known guests. Dr. Lance Baumgard and Dr. Jim Drackley join us to discuss cow management and the dogma that has developed over the years. Dr. Baumgard kicks off by explaining the dogma of the transition period - two metabolites reduce the animal’s immune system and predispose them to health disorders. (5:38) Dr. Drackley continued by saying he was influenced by research that could show in a clinical case of ketosis, there is an underlying subclinical, perhaps inflammatory pressure, causing the problem. (20:39) Dr. Baumgard mentioned utilizing ketones comes at a metabolic disadvantage: a loss of energy. So what could cows be doing if they’re able to increase their feed intake enough so they don’t have to make ketones? (27:18) Dr. Drackley said the million-dollar question is if inflammation is the key, what do we do about it? How do we prevent it or treat it? (31:38) Dr. Baumgard explained his thought process is that if even healthy cows have some level of immune activation going on in the transition period, some of this subclinical hypocalcemia that’s occurring in the transition period could be caused by immune activation. (43:50)Dr. Drackley said as we select for high-milk production, perhaps part of that is enhanced ability to use ketones. The idea of a tenant of high milk production is you’ve got the time of lower insulin and high growth hormone driving lactation. Those are all tied up with genetic selection. (46:40) Dr. Baumgard wrapped up by saying from a producer or veterinarian perspective, it’s easy to treat and get out, but what really needs to take place is a full examination; where did this immune activation come from? (54:56)Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Evine van Riemsdijk from NEDAP Livestock Management and Stefan Borchardt from the Free University of BerlinIn this episode of the Real Science exchange pubcast Scott leads a discussion on cow monitoring technology and its benefits for cows, farmers and the environment. Ms. van Riemsdijk gives some history of cow monitoring, stating it started for identification of an animal and the feeding station for the purpose of separating milk. (6:58) Ms. van Riemsdijk said the sensors help see heat behavior as a whole in your barn, they help you find a scout and who has shorter heat periods, when heat starts and helps calculate optimal insemination time, even when you are not in the barn. (15:02) Mr. Borchardt said that a major drawback of the industry is integration, bringing these different technologies together into the herd management software. As an industry, how can we bring data and programs together to make smarter decisions? (26:29) Ms. van Riemsdijk said the sensors can be used while breeding cows. It can also be used as an intervention to understand why cows are not cycling correctly. (39:11) Mr. Borchardt said that when farmers adopt the sensor system, they realize there are some cows already showing a health alarm and most of the time they wouldn’t realize these cows are sick without the sensor. (47:23) In summary, Mr. Borchardt said that with farms, sensor technology and increased genomic data, we can get to a place where we are managing cows on an individual basis like precision feeding and reproductive management. (52:14) Ms. van Riemsdijk concluded by saying you can use data points from the sensor in heat behavior in the voluntary waiting period to make more strategic decisions with other experts on the farm. (58:40) Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Katharina Unger & Dr. Pratibha YadavJoining the pubcast to discuss insect protein as an alternative for the future is Katharina Unger and Dr. Pratibha Yadav. Unger is the CEO and founder of LIVIN Farms and an expert in edible insects and food innovation. She led the conversation by introducing her background and briefly mentioning the transformation of using insects as food protein. 8:35Unger said she started questioning early in her career the required resources needed to produce livestock at a larger scale. After many years of research, carbon emissions studies and searching, an additive that can grow protein on the smallest possible footprint came to the forefront; insect protein. 9:41Unger mentioned insect protein is highly digestible and for animals has an attractive taste. In addition, the environmental impacts of turning waste into protein is an effective organic byproduct. 11:05Dr. Yadav discussed how the opportunity to utilize the black soldier fly was a decision based on its opportunity to offer low quality substrates and synthesize biomolecules into amino acids quickly. 19:30While LIVIN Farms continues to have projects in Europe, Unger mentioned the team also does additional research in other regions which allows a wide variety of demographics to study when analyzing substrates and improvement factors. 23:17Dr. Yadav said byproducts are already there for certain insect substrates and byproducts. In fact, she went on to say it’s a practical option as livestock production systems can be fed insects by crushing, mixing or distributing them as a way to save on costs and processing fees as well. 32:52 While the entire insect larva process is vertical farming, Unger mentioned from the start of production to the automated warehouse and then into the two layer systems, they are never dependent on the soil. 39:10In an effort to produce with the smallest possible footprint, the input substrate must have an adequate amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates during the nutrient composition, Dr. Yadav mentioned. 41:43Wrapping up the conversation, Unger summarized the visionary work being done with insects as protein alternatives and restated the value the resource has on the planet's ability to secure the food system and provide indefinite solutions for the future. 1:07:25Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Lara Moody with the Institute for Feed Education and Research and Dr. Steve Lerner with Chr. HansenGathering around the pubcast to discuss key environmentally sustainable animal agriculture practices are Lara Moody and Dr. Steve Lerner. Visionary leader and executive director for The Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER), Lara Moody, shared her background in stewardship and sustainability. She then introduced Dr. Lerner with Chr. Hansen. 2:30Leading the conversation, Moody described the sustainability roadmap project and highlighted the value IFEEDER has found in delivering measurable sustainability metrics. In addition, she touched on the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social and governance. A roadmap project started 18 months ago and is aimed entirely at gauging a bigger picture of the sustainability landscape. Moody said it involves everything from understanding supply chain needs and how to support the industry. 14:51Shifting gears to, Dr. Lerner shared that Chr. Hansen was founded by Christian Deli AOR Hansen who was the first to extract rennet from calves and now remains a highly effective research partner. 23:06After deciding how to best bring sustainability innovation to the table by gathering with all different kinds of people, Moody shared that the Sustainable Agriculture Summit was founded in 2021 with the idea to collaborate about the World Wildlife Fund. Additionally, she said the summit collectively brought together the whole value chain to work on solutions, understanding that feed is 40 to 80 percent of the footprint for livestock and poultry production. 27:50As dairy farms continue to consolidate, Dr. Lerner stated that he believes operational management has also improved through the addition of inoculants in their seed treatment, ensuring proper fermentation and staying focused on efficiency. 38:21Not only does improving the overall health of both plants and animals increase nutrient absorption but research shows drastic benefits to gut health as well. So how are you speaking about sustainability? Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Moody shared on the importance of shaping your story to highlight individual cost savings, efficiencies and the importance of utilizing the toolkit for the entire value chain. 57:47Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University and Dr. Corwin Nelson, University of FloridaJoining together for another Journal Club to discuss vitamin D as a lactation influence on dairy cows are dairy leaders and nutritional experts Dr. Bill Weiss and Dr. Corwin Nelson. Dr. Weiss, professor emeritus at The Ohio State University spent nearly 33 years of his career focused on dairy cattle nutrition and has published more than 140 journal articles. He began the conversation, introducing the article “Effect of prepartum source and amount of vitamin D supplementation on lactation performance of dairy cows” and mentioning Mike Piondexter as the first publishing author. 2:20Discussing the research study in depth was Dr. Corwin Nelson, Piondexter’s advisor. He began by introducing the Journal of Dairy Science article, highlighting the nutritional effects of supplementing vitamin D and the connection between feeding two different forms. 6:15Dr. Nelson shared studies dating back to 1980 to indicate some vitamin D degradation. But added that most rations have between 30,000 to 50,000 units of vitamin D3 on top of basic international units. 9:40In the article, the abstract shows productive measures such as body weight and condition, dry matter intake and factors. However, Dr. Weiss mentioned the majority of research data derived from cows during their last few weeks of weaning. 13:21Dr. Nelson said that research also analyzed net energy between using colostrum and vitamin D, adding that feeding the 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the ration resulted in higher results of energy. 14:14When looking at energy corrected milk, Dr. Nelson said in about 42 days he’s seen interaction between cows producing the most milk and the three milligrams per day of 25-hydroxyvitamin D supplementation. 19:01Anti-inflammatory is another mode of action vitamin D has shown to effectively decrease in cows with lower serum. In fact, three to four weeks is the optimum benefit when it comes to supplementing less than the elevated 25-hydroxyvitamin D recommendation. 32:55It was also mentioned that there may be a possible United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant opportunity to look at the long term effects of cow responses, maternal and neonatal vitamin D nutrition and a more focused approach to the immune system are all upcoming research modes of actions. 42:27Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Mike Van Amburgh (Cornell University), Dr. Jose Santos (University of Florida), Dr. Heather White (University of Wisconsin-Madison)Gathering together at the 2023 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference for the Balchem Mini-Symposium “New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition” are speakers Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Dr. Jose Santos and Dr. Heather White. The mini symposium featured topics such as better understanding essential versus required nutrients, choline research as a nutritional requirement and insights on gaining the next five pounds of milk. Dr. Van Amburgh of Cornell University led the discussion, summarizing his report on essential and required nutrients such as amino acids and choline. He mentioned when formulating diets for lactating cows, it’s important to understand there are other nutrients that aren’t necessarily essential but are required. 4:53Shifting the conversation, Dr. Van Amburgh said establishing an optimum value has now replaced nutrient requirements based on energy. Recent evidence indicates that feeding rumen protected choline (RPC) significantly improves milk production. In addition, supplementing choline shows an increase in low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) output from the liver. 7:21Highlighting her research in supplementing choline, Dr. White shared that studies show a 20 to 25% increase from cells and culture after incorporating the nutrient. She added choline also increased the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) capacity, indicating a shift in nutrient incorporation. 11:45 As milk increases when infusing non-essential amino acids or even by using meta-analysis to supplement choline, how is glucose supply impacted? Dr. Santos, who focused his research on meta-analysis, said that even with the concurrent increase in dry matter intake, efficiency has still increased. He went on to say that studies from Wisconsin and Michigan highlight the basic understanding of a cow's variable ability to synthesis glucose differently with the ability to produce at least two kilograms more milk consistently. 21:30Within some of Dr. White’s meta-analysis research, she mentioned mixing choline into the total mixed ration (TMR) allowed for the opportunity to analyze exact intake and also outcome production or energy corrected milk (ECM) fat. 34:08If cost isn’t an issue, Dr. Santos mentioned that he’s seen experiments feeding choline longer than 21 days postpartum and into 105 days at 12.9 grams. While no major benefit showed at that dosage amount, he added that other studies have shown benefits feeding choline longer and into mid lactation. 39:41Switching gears, Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem asked Dr. Santos about epigenetics and the effect choline has on behavioral changes. 44:59Sharing that epigenetics shifts genomes without changing sequences, Dr. Santos mentioned that through a two-by-two factorial experiment on choline, research indicates calf behaviors shifting and performance increasing. He went on to mention that history shows 30% of calves that were born from control dams and fed colostrum from control dams died from lipopolysaccharide challenges. 51:10Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman, podcast co-host and technical services manager for Balchem said that research speaks for itself. He stated that higher producing cows continue to prove choline as a required nutrient for transition cows. 55:50Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dairy Challenge Organizers, Producers, Coaches & Student WinnersThe North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge Contest is a two day event that brings together students from around the world to gain real life, hands-on experience and learn from industry experts. Gathering together to discuss the 21st Annual Dairy Challenge are organizers, Amy tePlate-Church, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Kristi Fiedler and Barry Putnam. Fielder, Dairy Sales Manager for Cargill and Board Chair for the Dairy Challenge Committee began the conversation, explaining the value of Dairy Challenge as a networking opportunity for the next generation. (3:29)Each team has four students and this year there were 31 competing teams. In addition, 142 students participated in the 10th Anniversary of the Academy, an intensive training program in conjunction with the Dairy Challenge contest. The Dairy Challenge is all about the next generation, Church mentioned. She said she believes it’s one place where students get the chance to meet many dairy leaders from various sectors, while growing and developing their skills at the same time. (3:58)Host producers also joined in for the National Dairy Challenge Conversation, including Maxwell Chittenden from Dutch Hallow, Liam Hanahan from Turning Point Dairy and Kyle Getty from Ideal Dairy. As host farms, Hanehan shared that each producer opens up their operations for two hours during Dairy Challenge for students to take tours and analyze their facilities, cows and even records. He went on to say that bringing a fresh set of eyes is a bit scary, but the students think big picture and usually are able to point out great strengths and weaknesses. (12:13)Not only do the students learn, but so do the producers. Getty said oftentimes students point out things they’ve missed or even offer feedback that turns into a simple fix. (16:50)Stuart and Jessica Ziehm with Tiashake Farm were the 2023 Dairy Challenge Academy Host Dairy Producers. Sharing a few stories from the Academy, Jessica said they recently renovated a 200 year old barn into a farm store as an opportunity to not only sell their beef and pork products, but also other local products. She mentioned having students visit was a great opportunity that they hope to continue into the future. (25:09)Also joining around the pub are National Dairy Challenge coaches Dr. Shaun Wellert, Dr. Joe Domecq and Dr. Lauren Mayo. Selecting just four students for each team is not an easy task, but Dr. Domecq said the process is simple as students develop new skills fairly quickly. As coaches, they figure out who works best together and their individual strengths. 33:29Dr. Wellert shifted the conversation briefly, sharing a few changes he’s seen over the last decade. He mentioned that ten years ago each student was from an agricultural background, but now trends show only one student out of seven is from a dairy or has any industry background. (35:61)Closing the conversation, Dr. Jeff Elliot, podcast co-host and technical service specialist for Balchem mentioned the 2023 four first place teams, students and their individual studies of interest. Placing first at the Dairy Challenge was four students from the University of Guelph including Madeline McClennan (Animal Biology), Allison Visser (Honors Agriculture), Corine Bateman (Food and Agricultural Business) and Johnathan Koot (Animal Science). In addition, Emily Starceski (Animal Science), Kevin Jess (Ag Science and Animal Science), Blake Wadsworth (Animal Science) and Caroline Lafferty (Agricultural Business) all students at Cornell University placed first as well. The University of Wisconsin River Falls team also won and included Alison Wagner (Dairy Science), Grace Haase (Agricultural Business), Ben Stone (Chemistry) and Haley Kirchoff (Agribusiness). Lastly, was Purdue University. Team members included Lane Bollenbach (Animal Science), Chad Patterson (Agriculture Systems Management), Tobyn Smith (Animal Science), Miriam Cook (Agriculture Economics). Congratulations to all participating teams from the 2023 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge! Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell University and Dr. Peri Rosenstein, Environmental Defense FundJoining together around the pub to discuss methane emission metrics are experts Dr. Joe McFadden and Dr. Peri Rosenstein. Dr. McFadden, an animal science professor at Cornell University, has focused much of his research and career on studying the interactions between nutrition, environment and animal food production. After discussing mitigating enteric methane emissions during the Real Science Lecture series, more than 600 people listened to the episode. In fact, Dr. McFadden’s research in defending the dairy industry has been highlighted in both The Hill and Time magazines. Dr. McFadden began the conversation by mentioning he ultimately believes a percentage of total greenhouse gas emissions is methane. He went on to mention that reducing methane emissions does enhance production, and the industry should be in favor of the shift. 9:04While methane remains a major contributor to agricultural food production, livestock emissions from the glimpse of total greenhouse gas emissions remain relatively low, raising questions on where the focus of enteric methane mitigation should be. Progress is moving the needle from management, genetics, nutrition and enhanced efficiency. Dr. Rosenstein and Dr. McFadden’s research focuses on South Asia, specifically India, as there are nearly 75 million small dairy farmers and about 300 million buffalo. Dr. McFadden shared that while the country produces around 20% of total global dairy production, it is also the highest producer of methane. 15:30Cattle are a source of national food security and are a way of life for many people, Dr. Rosenstein added, mentioning the goal is not to pivot completely but instead offer resources to optimize cattle productivity through nutrition, animal health and breeding. 20:22In addition to the Environmental Defense Fund studies in South Asia, Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem, asked about any other current research taking place. 22:03Just recently, Dr. McFadden said the plans and proposals for the additional construction at the Cornell University research facility were implemented. He added he believes the opportunity to pivot not only allows his team the position to test the next solutions that reduce enteric methane but to continue acquiring various green feeding units. 23:25Dr. McFadden then shifted the conversation to highlight the importance in studying feed duration through green feed study trials. Whether three weeks or three months long, he mentioned they offer a greater understanding when analyzing lactation, supplementation or even replacement strategies. 28:21When discussing strategies for enteric methane mitigation, Dr. Rosenstein mentioned they not only have to have proper feed additives but also be safe for both humans and animals alike. 32:31Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. McFadden summarized the urgency in being transparent on effective additives and encouraged feed manufacturing and feed additive companies to think about markets in new countries as an opportunity to collaborate and expand. 44:10Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Heather White, University of WisconsinJoining together for the final episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition mini series from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference to discuss animal nutrition requirements are remarks from Dr. Heather White of the University of Wisconsin and topical insights from Dr. Clay Zimmerman of Balchem. Discussing the challenges a cow faces during transition to lactation, Dr. White briefly began the series highlighting the impact both negative energy and nutrient balance has during each period. 3:58 When a cow enters different cycles such as pre-partum, her energy requirements vary and balance among glucose, negative amino acids and macro and micronutrients becomes critical factors. So how can nutritionists maximize adaptive mechanisms to shift precursors or ingredients to maximize lactation efficiency? Beginning with key lactation performance supplements, Dr. White mentioned choline is a nutrient with the ability to impact milk yield and improve energy production. In fact, a 21-day choline study from the University of Wisconsin indicated a 4.6 pound per day increase and substantially greater carryover ratios. 15:28Not only has research shown the immediate production benefits of choline, but also the positive impact the nutritional supplement has had on liver lipids during calving. Dr. White added that with three available methyl groups, choline also plays a valuable role in methyl donating which has long lasting effects on liver metabolism and overall nutrition. 20:21 In addition, research shows that supplementing cows with rumen protected choline (RPC) ultimately improves calf growth, immune functions and metabolic health as well. However, when discussing health and clinical improvements in a prepartum cow, Dr. White mentioned the key is to understand the next generation is developing in utero. She then shifted the conversation, echoing the importance of choline supplementation in multiple generations as body score conditions fluctuate. 35:53Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman summarized key points that Dr. White shared and highlighted the impressive milk yield results from the University of Wisconsin study. 45:32If you would like to review Dr. White’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinar series at balchem.com/realscience. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Barry Bradford, Michigan State UniversityOn this third episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference four-part mini-series to discuss animal nutrition requirements are remarks from Dr. Barry Bradford of Michigan State University and topical insights from Dr. Clay Zimmerman of Balchem. Bringing forward recent research on transition cow studies, Dr. Bradford began the conversation by highlighting the 2022 Michigan State University study that aimed to understand metabolic physiology better. 3:30While the focus is usually on refining nutritional strategies, Dr. Bradford suggested the bigger question is how dairy farmers will leverage efficiency and productivity in the future. 4:31Focusing much of his professional career on better understanding nutrient requirements and capabilities in dairy cattle, Dr. Bradford remains dedicated to helping the industry understand ways to achieve the next five pounds of milk sustainably. When limiting cow health problems, Dr. Bradford shifted his focus to analyze epidemiological studies on lactation sustainability and the impact of conditions during milk production. 6:15Influencing the microbiome continues to be a metric for achieving higher production levels, but what are other strategies? Dr. Bradford shared that choline continues to impact phospholipid synthesis and transportation to the mammary gland positively. He added that the focus of choline in transition cows directly affected liver health and suggested analyzing choline concentration in early lactation stages. 12:27Within the study, Dr. Bradford mentioned research showed active choline cells became less responsive to inflammatory stimuli. He mentioned that choline concentration not only increased mRNA, but overall he saw an 80% increase in colostrum yield from the supplemented study. 25:27Just a week into lactation, Dr. Bradford’s research showed cows produced nearly 100 pounds of milk daily. But what were some additional effects of choline on the cows? While there weren’t any negative impacts on productivity, Dr. Bradford mentioned the study showed baseline research on the anti-inflammatory significance and body circulation through plasma TNF. 33:31 Dr. Bradford added they also looked at carryover effects of lipid protein (LP) in days 22 to 84, sharing they saw milk yield peak with added LP and choline supplementation. He shared that the LP carryover yielded another five pounds per day and remained steady for another two months post-challenge. 43:33Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman summarized key strategies Dr. Bradford shared and mentioned the value in protecting choline during transitional periods to not only impact herd health but increase milk yield overall. 54:55If you would like to review Dr. Bradford’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinar series at balchem.com/realscience. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Jose Santos, University of FloridaJoining together for the second episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference four-part mini-series to discuss animal nutrition requirements are remarks from Dr. Jose Santos, University of Florida and topical insights from Dr. Clay Zimmerman from Balchem. Bringing forward the most recent research on choline supplementation, Dr. Santos began the second in the series focusing on nutritional mechanisms and their essential benefits in animal growth and performance. 3:45Choline was first introduced in the 1700s by chemists and pharmacists. Still, it wasn’t until about 40 years ago that Derek Lindsay from England discovered that most phospholipids in ruminants are synthesized de novo. Dr. Santos mentioned that studies show more than 90% of choline in feeds doesn’t show up past the rumen, adding to the lag in understanding when the essential nutrient shows up in the small intestine. 5:32As a required nutrient, Dr. Santos shared that choline is required for the structural integrity of cell membranes, neural tissue and the components of phospholipids and sphingolipids. 7:01As cows approach calving and during the first two weeks of lactation, Dr. Santos suggests that it is the optimum time to provide choline as a building block for phosphatidylcholine. 17:35Sharing a heat map study on the effects of choline in hepatic tissue, Dr. Santos said it ultimately shows that supplementing choline reduces glycerol and increases the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine. He added that as studies focus on hepatic triglyceride, acid basis or dry matter basis, the benefits of choline at different dosage levels benefit the same. 22:30But do low-body condition cows react to choline supplementation the same as high-body condition cows during the transition period? Dr. Santos shifted directions, adding that he’s found low body conditions cows responded to choline with more milk and energy. He added that studies show supplying choline to nutrient-deficient animals enhances their ability to transport and absorb nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract. 41:55Dr. Santos mentioned not only does choline facilitate phospholipid synthesis and plays a large role in the transportation of fatty acids, he believes it’s an unquestionable supplementation that fits the requirements as a required nutrient. 46:35Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman highlighted key points from Dr. Santos and summarized consistent responses the industry continues to see in the meta-analysis of added choline in a range of production levels. 49:15If you would like to review Dr. Santo’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinar series at balchem/com/realscience. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University Here is the first episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference four-part mini-series. Essential versus required nutrition requirements is the subject matter from Dr. Mike Van Amburgh of Cornell University. Dr. Clay Zimmerman from Balchem adds his comments in this podcast as well.Laying out a new way to think about essential and non-essential nutrients, Dr. Van Amburgh began the series by highlighting the value of understanding nutritional equivalencies such as amino acids and carbohydrates and reframing the function of energy. 2:28While microbial proteins are made of both essential and non-essential amino acids, the key factor is remembering synthesis is energy intensive. Mentioning the adaptability of the organ, Dr. Van Amburgh shares that not only do the nutrient sources allow a cow to manipulate blood flow, but it allows for the ability of groups to form to maximize efficiency. 8:51Beginning with the general understanding of optimal supply, Dr. Van Amburgh shifted his discussion to anabolic output responses. He shared that when considering the extraction of branched chains, lysine tends to undergo obligate metabolism in the mammary gland. 11:09Ultimately milk protein synthesis requires key metabolic pathways, but how does an optimal supply of amino acids affect anabolic output? When analyzing shifts in nutrient profiles, Dr. Van Amburgh shared the transparency that occurs when building fatty acid diets. He mentioned he’s researching the value of pushing methionine up to 1.19 grams and then nearly 2.7 times for lysine. 17:25So what does the future of nutrition modeling look like? Based on a meta-analysis, Dr. Zimmerman added the biggest goal in nutritional modeling continues to be focused on the differences between essential and required nutrients. 38:31Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman shared key takeaways from Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar and briefly mentioned the meta-analysis highlight of choline as a required nutrient in transitional dairy cows. 42:39If you would like to review Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinars in the series at balchem/com/realscience. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Temple Grandin, Betsy Lerner and Kari Estes. Gathering for another Legacies Series to honor a true industry leader and pioneer are, Dr. Temple Grandin, Betsy Lerner and Kari Estes. Dr. Grandin, an animal science professor at Colorado State University and a well-known author and speaker, has been featured on national public radio stations, Time Magazine, The New York Times, Discover Magazine, Forbes, USA Today and others. In fact, her movie titled Temple Grandin sharing much of her life story is an Emmy Award-winning movie. While Dr. Grandin’s career has been nothing shy of exceptional, she led the conversation by explaining how her trials and tribulations at a young age with autism ultimately led her to where she is today. 8:40After not speaking until the age of four, Dr. Grandin mentioned she began questioning how people think and their behaviors in her mid-twenties. 10:28Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem, then asked about any new research on autism and what niche skills the autistic brain gives people. 14:37Sharing a few stories and examples, Dr. Grandin mentioned that attention to detail, thinking in specific instances and extreme object visualization are all key characteristics of autism. 17:34Also joining the conversation is Betsy Lerner, an author who previously worked with Dr. Grandin. She described the questionnaire for people to find out what kind of thinker they are, adding that Dr. Grandin scored 16 out of 18 in the visual thinker category, and she scored four out of 18. 18:41Not only has Dr. Grandin focused her career on understandpeople's behavior, but animals as well. Opposite of humans, Dr. Grandin added that animals live in a sensory-based world. She mentioned Betsy gave her the book “The Immense World,” which solely focuses on animal sense and living in a sensory-baked world. 28:12With decades of knowledge and research, Sorrell asked Dr. Grandin what advice she would have for pet or animal owners. 30:20Dr. Grandin shared it’s no surprise that animals have emotions like fear, anger, separation anxiety and a few others. She went on to add her experience helping producers understand why certain behaviors trigger cows while handled. 36:40Dr. Grandin said her big career breakthrough started after working with an Arizona farm magazine to write firsthand experiences from ag events and cattle topics that eventually led to speaking opportunities. 43:58As the industry continues to shift, so does the future of animal handling and behavioral studies. Dr. Grandin shared the story of touring a new cattle handling facility with a slick floor just this last year, adding this is just one of the things she shares in her resources about the basics of cattle behavior and safety. 48:11 Betsy closed by sharing she truly believes Dr. Grandin is an inspiration to everyone she meets. She added that while traveling to Colorado, Dr. Grandin was honored for her years of service and Betsy met many of Dr. Grandin’s students. While it was no surprise, Betsy mentioned each student said Temple truly changed their lives and believes she has made the world a better place. 55:08Life is all about helping people and finding practical solutions, and Dr. Grandin closed by adding that’s truly what makes her happy. 59:13Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Chris DuBois and Melissa Rodriguez (IRI)Joining together to discuss the changes in customer-driven expectations are Chris DuBois and Melissa Rodriguez, both with IRI, a leading provider of big data and analytics. Rodriguez led the conversation, describing IRI’s integration into data and technology innovation. She shared that IRI not only integrates retainer and media data, but also consumer and manufacturer data. 4:21As inflation continues trending upward, Rodriguez added IRI is watching customer trends closely and finding shopping habits decreasing as prices continue to rise. 9:30Multiple shifts have caused a change in spending habits for food consumption. From the changes of COVID-19 to an increase in the work-from-home community, DuBois said food consumption at restaurants has decreased. He went on to say that many restaurants sit empty as locations added drive through and to-go options. 13:25Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem, asked if the IRI team had seen any shifts in protein consumption and what cuts of protein consumers are now consuming. 17:32DuBois said ultimately, each protein is serving a different category of consumers, adding trends are shifting towards creativity for all kinds. Rodriguez then went on to say she’s seen a large shift to chicken thighs and chicken wings because of the consumer's option to smoke, grill or even use the air fryer for the cuts. 18:02One of the largest innovations to the protein sector has been boneless thighs, DuBois mentioned, adding they are now one of the biggest products in the supermarket. 22:54Without a doubt, the Ukrainian war has had a significant impact on both consumers and suppliers in the U.S. The largest impact came from the cost of feed for the west coast, DuBois said. He added that when grain comes from overseas, unless there is a form of vertical integration, managing the cost on the wholesale side becomes a large factor. 27:30Shifting the conversation, Sorrell asked the IRI team what they believed the five biggest trends for the future might be. 28:45For consumers, there isn’t a one size fits all approach. Rodriguez added that no two consumer generations are alike - the boomers, millennials, Gen Z, etc. She went on to say that 2030 looks to be a turning point for the U.S. population. The next ten years anticipate trend shifts towards product innovation, digital engagement, sustainability, consumer engagement and generational exposure. 32:10As IRI continues to focus on the generational impact of food consumption and trends, DuBois said they had found generational trends to cycle, and now they are seeing some of the same items reoccur. For example, he mentioned that Asian cooking oils are on the rise versus vegetable oils and others, adding the focus is now on the buyer groups. 38:15Trends are on the rise in the U.S., but are there the same trends and changes globally? DuBois said if he were to walk the supermarkets in Europe, he would see the same merchandising tactics and product marketing. He went on to say there seems to be a more open door in product communication between the processors, market and customers as the U.S. often lacks in the producer-to-consumer relationship. 48:21Wrapping up the conversation, Rodriguez said she encourages the industry to focus on studying the response rate for key categories and how each generation responds to those changes. She added that these statistics would ultimately give direction as to what to expect for the next few years. 50:30Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Gathering around the pub to discuss the latest version of the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) version seven is Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Dr. Robb Bender and Dr. Mike DeGroot. Extension expert and professor of animal science at Cornell University, Dr. Van Amburgh guided the conversation by briefly touching on the history of the system and the changes to the latest version. He mentioned what has now evolved to a software platform with many equations, essentially began as a 30 year old spreadsheet. 5:45For nearly three decades the dairy industry has been using various CNCPS versions to formulate rations and create management plans. While each version brings an added level of accuracy, Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem, asked what the dairy industry can expect from this improved version update. 8:42Dr. Van Amburgh mentioned ultimately it’s all about finding a balance between the cow and the model. He added the new version moves away from the crude protein concept, but brings forward a three pool model of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility and gathers all the nitrogen recycling pools to improve nitrogen efficiency. 12:11While the publishing timeline is yet undetermined, the last major difference between version six and version seven is resolving the amino acid requirements through fill and flux efficiency, Dr. Van Amburgh went on to mention. 14:51Joining to discuss how his team utilizes CNCPS is Dr. Robb Bender, Manager Partner Consultant at GPS Dairy Consulting. He mentioned his team leverages the opportunity to fulfill rations through the system using the NDS platform and asked about the impact that variable criterias of forage selection has. 22:55Dr. Van Amburgh said the most important number for forage moving forward is the 12 hour number given the labs are as efficient as possible. Ultimately, he added with high quality forages the earlier the time to estimate the length it takes to fill the fast pool the better. 24:31While NDF is correlated to feed intake, uNDF is in fact forage remaining after digestibility within 240 hours. Dr. Mike DeGroot, owner at EDGE Dairy Consulting asked about the impact of uNDF in various rations. 30:15The impact stems from cow performance changes, mentioned Dr. Van Amburgh. Adding to the research that version seven includes are several evaluations on forage fiber and the inversely related digestible and indigestible pool. 31:20Within version seven, understanding the chemistry of feed additives and the nutrient values they offer is also a high level factor. In fact, Dr. Van Amburgh mentioned the updated version includes a 2015 study over water soluble carbohydrates, the extended study of starch and also the impact of sugars in any diet formulation. 44:42So what does the future of CNCPS look like? Short term, Dr. Van Amburgh said he is working on a database that offers a full calf, heifer model and transition calf phase. He added working to frame the fatty acid and amino acid requirements is the next goal. 55:15Dr. DeGroot wrapped up the conversation, mentioning he is looking forward to the new version of the CNCPS because he believes that as new models get better, science also gets better. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

While maximizing milk production and improving feed efficiency continues to be top of mind, joining together around the pubcast to discuss the various factors are Dr. Kevin Harvatine and Dr. Yves Boisclair. A leading expert in metabolic and energy nutrition and professor at Penn State University, Dr. Harvatine began the conversation by introducing his guest, Dr. Boisclair. He mentioned the collaboration between the two first began when he was finishing his doctorate degree at Cornell University under Dr. Boisclair. 1:30Focused initially on regulating hormones, Dr. Boisclair said he quickly acknowledged the importance of shifting his research to better understand molecular mechanisms in dairy cows. 3:11In a recent Real Science webinar, Dr. Harvatine said nutrition and management are the best practices. While higher production levels result in more milk pounds Scott Sorrell, podcast host and director of global marketing for Balchem, asked about the importance of dairy cow synthesis and pathways. 11:00 Dr. Harvatine said he likes to think of the three assembly lines as lactose, fat and protein. Within milk, he added the assembly lines would be novo synthesized fatty acids and the preformed fatty acids. He then added that in milk fat depression, the minimum a dairy cow can produce is a 50% decrease. 11:25 Based on the basic endocrine regulation, researchers have been able to adjust basic nutritional factors. In fact, Dr. Boisclair mentioned the prolactin cycle is not only essential during the last few weeks in pregnancy but also in lactation performance. 14:50 It’s not just about one enzyme. Metaphorically, the nutritional system works as a factory. When we think about making the assembly line of milk fat, it’s a series of enzymes we have to turn on, and when turned on, they go into molecular biology level. Dr Harvatine went on to mention the importance of understanding the correlation between the different components. 16:61 On the protein side, Dr. Harvatine believes there is a limiting factor causing a minimized response. In fact, when thinking about nutritional factors, he added it’s hard to have a 50-pound cow make as much fat protein as a 100-pound cow. Adding the main factor always isn’t nutrition, oftentimes it’s the lactation stage and endocrinology history. 34:30What are some key suggestions for nutritionists in terms of increasing milk fat on the dairy, Scott asked? 48:37Dr. Harvatine suggested nutritionists tailor goals to fit various budgets and individual operations, adding a few scenarios where various fat levels can be accepted. 50:54Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Harvatine emphasized the importance of understanding the complete system when it comes to producing more milk fat. He added the physiology component and hormonal responsiveness are just as important as increasing nutrition and feed efficiency. 1:04:01Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Since 2020, the Real Science Exchange has provided in-depth conversations throughout a variety of webinar series. Joining around the pub to recap and reflect on the amazing guests and great conversations from 2022 are Dr. Clay Zimmerman and Scott Sorrell where they reflect on each of their top three favorite episodes of 2022.The pubcast has a growing audience of over 56,000 views and listeners in all 50 states. In 2022, the podcast created 24 events featuring top dairy science topics through the lens of widely known dairy researchers. Dr. Zimmerman’s third favorite episode was Episode 44 that aired on May 24, 2022. The May Journal Club featured guests Dr. Bill Weiss, Dr. Chanhee Lee and Haley Zynda. 4:00The episode highlighted different topics, including the impact of reducing DCAD in lactating cows and the multiplication of these diets in different environmental elements and nutrient digestibility. 5:10Episode 44: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/may-journal-club-dr-bill-weiss-the-ohio-state-university/Scott Sorrell said his third favorite was Episode 53, which aired on September 27, 2022. The episode featured the Kooler Kids program with guests including Stephanie Walsh, Melissa Malcolm-Cullison and Mark Inkrott. 8:29He mentioned the episode features Dairy Farmers of America and Cooler Management and the significant work they are doing in bringing dairy products to the less fortunate. 9:01Episode 53: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/real-science-exchange-kooler-kids/In partnership with last year’s Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, Dr. Zimmerman said his second favorite episode from 2022 was Episode 43 that aired on May 10, 2022 and included Dr. Jack Britt, Dr. Jimena LaPorta, Dr. Eric Ciappio, Dr. Pete Hansen and Dr. Clay Zimmerman as guests. 17:41Dr. Zimmerman mentioned this episode featured the mini-symposium, highlighting utero influences on transgenerational challenges and performance in dairy cattle. 18:31Episode 43: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/may-journal-club-dr-bill-weiss-the-ohio-state-university/Ranking second for Scott Sorrell was Episode 38. This episode is one of the Legacy Series, where we celebrate industry pioneers and their impact on the industry. Specifically, this Legacy Series episode honored Dr. Peter J. Van Soest and his impact in the animal nutrition world. The episode aired on March 1, 2022 and featured guests Dr. Mary Beth Hall, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh and Dr. David Mertens. 25:30Episode 38: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/legacy-series-dr-peter-j-van-soest/Dr. Zimmerman said his top episode pick for the year was Episode 48. The episode aired on July 19, 2022 and featured guests Dr. Turner Schwarz and Dr. Joe McFadden. 35:17He said the episode was recorded at the American Dairy Science Association’s Annual Meeting (ADSA) and featured graduate and research students. Additionally, he added his favorite part of the episode was experiencing the talented future industry leaders. 37:15Episode 48: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/american-dairy-science-association-balchem-highlighted-research/Scott Sorrell said his top pick was Episode 56 that was recorded at the World Dairy Expo and aired on November 8, 2022. The episode featured the Bateman family from Utah and highlighted their virtual farm tour presentation. Joining in for Episode 56 and its discussion was guests Brad Bateman, Jason Bateman, Steve Bateman and Laun Hall. 38:21 He added that not only was Wayne Bateman a patriarch of the family and industry, but overall the family represents strong dairy values and a love of their livestock and land. Beyond the podcast being extra special, Scott also mentioned the process of videotaping their family farm was just as memorable. 39:40Watch the Virtual Farm Tour: https://youtu.be/ccs9gVbUiOgEpisode 56: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources/virtual-farm-tour-batemans-mosida-farms/Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Gathering around the pubcast to discuss equine nutrition in the performance horse arena are Dr. Joe Pagan, Dr. Laurie Lawrence and Dr. Steve Jackson. Expert in equine nutrition and founder of Kentucky Equine Research (KER), Dr. Pagan led the conversation by explaining the company's history, his academic background and KER’s innovative philosophy in looking ahead into equine nutrition. 7:27Also joining in on the conversation was leading equine nutritionist Dr. Jackson who described his leadership at Bluegrass Equine Nutrition and his experience in one of the largest breed industries, the thoroughbreds. 10:28He acknowledged that with his background and horsemanship experience, most of his clients are usually thoroughbred owners or trainers ranging from central Kentucky to Japan. 12:47Dr. Jackson added he believes good horses often come by happenstance, mentioning most folks making feed or giving recommendations read from the same book giving management the upper hand in success. 13:45Innovation and science, the driving force behind equine nutrition success. Dr. Pagan mentioned when he first started, the industry was focused on sweet feed and straightforward programs. He added that it wasn’t until he was in graduate school the emphasis switched to the alternative energy source of feeding fat as a performance source. 18:16However, he added that many in the industry are uncovering the consequences of feeding extremely high fat diets. Dr. Pagan then mentioned that current studies are taking place on polyunsaturated fats as a solution to help correct some of the diet concerns. 20:12Professor at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Laurie Lawrence, also joined in on the discussion. She added that from her academic perspective, she believes a lot of nutritional horse practices have been modeled by those of other species. 27:52What are some examples of low, moderate and high-performance horses? Dr. Estes, podcast co-host and Balchem Research Associate, then asked. 28:47Giving a few examples, Dr. Pagan said racehorses are in the high category, while polo ponies would fit into the middle, and recreational horses would fit into the low level. He then added that he and his team are focused on utilizing technology to alert horse owners on their typical riding time and a nutritional program that would work for them. 30:20While many factors fit into the nutritional space, Dr. Lawrence mentioned the importance of selecting long-stem and clean hay for the average horse rather than the suggested green, leafy and fresh hay quality. 31:15Education is a large factor when it comes to accurate equine nutrition, she added. Suggesting the importance of university research, local agents and the potential that an educational pathway can have in this space. 36:20Dr. Jackson mentioned that he believes the industry, in general, does a poor job of educating practitioners on nutritional needs and recommendations. He added the importance of continuing education for practitioners on various forage types, fat requirements and more. 43:29Making sure the body condition is appropriate for the horse type and the condition is necessary, noted Dr. Jackson. He added the importance of communicating with your nutritionist about the horse's GI tract and forage types. 58:57Dr. Lawrence rounded out the conversation by mentioning that as nutritionists, there is a lot of room for growth in educating horse owners, veterinarians and farriers. Additionally, she added that the industry has enough information to solve nearly 80% of the current nutritional concerns in the recreational horse industry. 1:02:42Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Michel Wattiaux, University of Wisconsin-MadisonCo-Host: Dr. Jeff ElliottJoining around the pub at World Dairy Expo to discuss the latest research about environmental factors and the effects it has on specific dairy cattle breeds are Dr. Bill Weiss and Dr. Michel Wattiaux. Dr. Michel Wattiaux, Dairy Systems Management Professor at the University of Wisconsin led the conversation by introducing the recent publication in the Journal of Dairy Science and authors M.E. Uddinn, O.I. Santana and K.A. Weigel. 2:28What was the main reasoning behind the research and the treatments selected? Dr. Wattiaux said with help from the entire research team, they wanted to measure and compare methane emissions from two cattle breeds and evaluate the nutritional consequences between various fiber sources and concentrations. 3:55He noted that another key motivation was an earlier research paper showing that jersey cows may in fact, be more environmentally friendly when compared to environmental impact per unit of cheese yield. 4:30With breeds, forage levels and various forage sources at a focus, Dr. Wattiaux said they first looked to see if there was any interaction between variable fiber types, level of fiber on methane emissions, cow performance and digestibility. 5:30 He said the research encompassed only first lactation cows, adding the various forage NDF and alfalfa silage corn NDF rations used. 6:45Given methane is a major contributor to the carbon footprint, Dr. Wattiaux said they first measured and compared methane emissions between the holstein and jersey breeds and then evaluated the green feed system, its specifics and system measurements. 9:45Dr. Bill Weiss, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University, asked about the production impact the two breeds had from the various diet treatment studies. 16:18Dr. Wattiaux added there was no variability between the two breeds in terms of production differences. He added that the more cows consume, the more fermentation and, ultimately, the more methane produced. 18:45But how can we know we are standardizing our comparison between the two breeds? Dr. Bill Weiss then asked that question. 20:10Dr. Wattiaux mentioned the research paper showed methane emission as the only factor affecting the overall carbon footprint. He added that animal efficiency is ultimately not related to methane production per day but rather an energy law ideally used to make milk. 21:15Additionally, he mentioned the study showed very little difference in manure composition between the two breeds as well. Emphasizing that media and consumers are focused on methane intensity and the carbon footprint, which ultimately is an extension of digestive system studies. 26:51Dr. Jeff Elliott, podcast co-host and technical services representative for Balchem, asked how much the industry has improved feed production management in the last 10 years. 28:23Dr. Wattiaux said when talking about production intensity, yield or even greenhouse gas emission there was a high level of variation. Adding when making an impact on reducing emissions, manure and crop management is just as important as the cow or environmental effects. 32:05Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Wattiaux mentioned despite the research showing differences between the jersey and holstein breeds; it emphasized the importance of a forage diet variability and nutritional options for all breeds and their environmental factors.t 42:14Read the articles here: ​​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32389470/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34955248/Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to [email protected]. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.