A little long fibre in a cows diet goes a long way.

After all, fermenting complex carbohydrates is what a ruminant does best.

Try giving them some and see for yourself.

And it can be a profitable exercise. Through gains in feed conversion and better animal health.

So how do all these benefits come about? Take a look at these for example.

• you’ll see your cows chewing their cud more which means more saliva to buffer the volatile fatty acids that they [or their rumen microbes] produce.This keeps the PH of the rumen from dropping too low for the comfort of the fibre fermenting bacteria
• the ends of the long fibre poke the inside of the rumen and stimulates it to mix and move the feed in there
• a higher rumen PH means a reduced chance of subclinical or clinical acidosis. And more food is converted into milk.
• a healthy rumen lining lessens the risk of indigestion and ketosis. Your cows will want to eat more and will get up to higher dry matter intakes after they calve quicker
• cellulose and hemicellulose are structural carbohydrates.These are fermented by fibre bacteria into acetate which is absorbed and used by the cow for energy and for producing milk fat
• over time physically effective fibre stretches the wall of the rumen to increase the cows capacity to eat. Her dry matter intake will increase so she can produce more. If this is done well milk production gains have the ability to dilute the expenses involved. Which means higher profit for you.

You may think that pasture contains enough fibre. But quality grass is not physically effective. It does not prick the inside of the rumen enough to stimulate it to move,mix and stay strong…the wall is a muscle just like your biceps and it needs regular exercise!.

So try a little experiment. Invest in a waste not cattle feeder and fill it with straw. Find a good place to put it and see what happens!

And stay tuned for a new fun teaching coming soon!