Gürdal Feed
THE MAJOR FEED ADDITIVES USED IN CATTLE FEEDING
Animal feeding has a key role for a successful animal production. Economical gain is increased by the feeding the animals according to their needs and increasing the fodder utilization in animals.
The success in cattle feeding depends on the nutrition principles, catering for the needs of animal in balance, health of the animal and supplying the coarse fodder resources sufficiently. If the nutrient needs is not met properly, a good improvement, breeding, production of meat and milk does not occur and ineffectiveness comes true as a eventually. Nutrient needs of high yield expectated cattle is also high. The impossibility of ensuring the relationship and the balance between these nutrients with only factory feed and only one coarse fodder, the inadequacy of supplying only nutrient needs, the necessity of scrutinising the ratio and the balance between them is known.
The observed rise in the milk and meat yield of cattle is closely related to implementation of proper nutrition principles, the developments in feed and feed technologies, the development of feed additives sector. In the cattle farming, the substances enhancing the benefiting from the feed when it is added and ensuring an economical gain are also named as feed additives besides the basic nutrient needs. Feed additives can not be used as medicine. Feed additives should be used continuously, at proper intervals and at proper amounts to be able to observe effects.
Vitamins and minerals identified as feed additives in the cattle farming and having an important position among nutrients is usually given to the animals by adding to total feed mixtures. The importance of vitamins and minerals in the nutrition of cattle is known. The vitamin and mineral need of cattle can change according to health, climatic conditions, shelter structure, age, yield and physical conditions. Mineral substances are obligatory to be ingested because of the fact that they can not be synthesised in the body. They are classified in two groups as macro and micro according to intensity in the body. The minerals found over 50 mg in 1 kg lean body weight are named as macro; the ones found under 50 mg in 1 kg lean body weight are named as micro. While the macro mineral needs of cattle like sodium, calcium and phosphor are catered with use of various raw material in the ration, the need of micro minerals and vitamins are catered by adding the feed additives and premixes into the feed. For example, hypocalcaemia occurs in high yielding cows with the decrease in the blood calcium level. As long as the precaution is taken, the risks like Retentio Secundinarum, deformation of reproductive organ, time extension in the occurrence of suitable conditions for the following pregnancy and abomasal displacement are very high. Blood calcium level decreases in the situation of Post-Partum Hypocalcaemia occurring in dairy cattle frequently, therefore the animal gets the lying position incapable of getting up. In addition to this, it poses many risks like decrease in milk yield, impairment of health, ketosis, abomasal displacement, Retentio Secundinarum and mastitis etc.
For this reason, anionic salts (ammonium chloride, ammonium sulphate etc.) can be added into the feed in order to keep blood calcium levels at normal level during the last 2-3 weeks of the dry period and prevent hypocalcaemia and the negative situations that may occur afterwards. Iodine, an important micro-mineral, is found in the form of a thyroxin that regulates energy metabolism in the thyroid gland. While the goitre can occur in the offspring of undernourished cows in terms of iodine, in the severe inadequacy of iodine hairless or dead calves can be born.. Copper level which is the other micro mineral decreases in milk especially in dairy cows which are in the advanced lactation period. The absence of copper is seen as diarrhea with anaemia, skin dehydration and decolouration turning into grey. Reproductive problems, cardiovascular disorders are observed. The need of copper mineral is more in animals that are grazing. Cobalt is required for vitamin B12 synthesis in rumen.
In cobalt insufficiency, the animal loses control, weakens and anaemia occurs. Zinc is necessary for growth, calf development and fertility. Excessive calcium in the ratio reduces zinc absorption. In zinc deficiency, live weight gain, feed consumption and feed utilization rate decrease and dermatitis is formed. Testicular growth of male calves is adversely affected. Selenium, Vit. with E, have a protective function in cells and regenerative function in immune system. In the absence it ,muscular dystrophy and white muscle disease occur in the calves. It is also asserted that it causes Retentio Secundinarum in cows. The other group of nutrients that must be ingested by cattle together with the feed is vitamins . Vitamin premixes are used to cater the needs of vitamins. Vitamin A is essential for bone formation, vision and growth. In the absence of it, night blindness, damages of organs, shortening in the period of gestation in cows and weak calf births alongside this and blindness in the calves is observed. Vitamin D is necessary for the regulation of calcium and phosphor metabolism in the body. In case of adequate intake, the risk of hypocalcaemia reduces. Vitamin E, a very important vitamin, delays aging and protects the cells from oxidation. Moreover, it is the leading one among the substances that have a positive effect on the immune system. Niacin is important especially for young ruminants (because of the fact that they can not synthesize in rumen ) and high yield dairy cattle in terms of being highly antiketogenic. It is involved in many mechanisms functional in energy production, and it serve a function in fatty acid and amino acid synthesis at the same time. The supplement of 6-12 grams of niacin per animal in a day with early postpartum period dairy cattle feed prevents ketosis risk and the reduction in the dry matter consumption.
Biotin is related to carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, and cellulose digestion. It has an important place milk yield and foot health. The need of biotin increases with the increase in coarse fodder. It is related to keratinisation and it has an important place for dairy cattle in terms of nail, it is reported that the additional 10 mg biotin in per cow each day is going to make a significant contribution to the protection of nail health. High-yielding dairy cattle can not synthesize much microbial protein enough to support their yield. For this reason, bypass protein resources are important for nutrition of these cows. Amino acids such as lysine and methionine are used in a preserved form in the nutrition of high-yielding cattle. In some studies, an increase in the milk yield, milk protein and milk fat ratios and an improvement in reproductive performance is determined in the dairy cattle given bypass lysine and bypass methionine compared to the control group. Probiotics are additives used especially in cases of digestive disorders. The main goal in using probiotics is to ensure that the viable, correct microorganism is in the right place in the digestive system in sufficient quantity
Probiotics include live bacteria, fungi, yeast and yeast cultures and different enzymes. Lactobacillus spp., Aspergillus oryzae and Sacchoromyces cerevisie cultures are among the most widely used probiotic cultures. It has been reported that the use of probiotics as feed additive material ensures the increase in the live weight gain and milk yield, prevents the development of pathogenic microorganisms and accelerates the development of some beneficial microorganisms especially by increasing the consumption of feed . It has been reported that the increase in the feed consumption when probiotic is used in the ration results from an increase in cellulose digestion and an increase in the amount of absorbable amino acids reaching the small intestines. Bovines have a complex acid-base buffering system. The rumen pH values decreases with the use of feeds having high ratio in concentrate feed and low ratio in coarse fodder. Some buffer additives are used to balance the rumen pH value. One of them , Magnesium oxide (MgO), is used in rations to be able to stabilize the pH value of the rumen and increase the milk fat level. In addition, sodium bicarbonate (soda), which is defined as the other buffering agent for stabilizing rumen pH value in dry cow transition period feeds and in early postpartum period dairy cattle feeds may be added into the feed as 120-250 grams per animal in a day . It is clear that feed additives that are efficient but whose requirement level and the amount of use in feed is very low have an important place in a successful animal production with their use in cattle farming.
Gürdal Feed Factory and R & D Manager
