Researchers at South Dakota State University have found Stay Strong for Dairy Cows from Strong Animals makes some great progress for dairy production. Ralco Animal Nutrition, which produces the product, says the scientists found Stay Strong improved fiber digestibility in dairy cows and increased milk fat content. Also, feed containing Stay Strong for Dairy Cows took longer than 7.7 hours before there was a 2° C rise in temperature at the feed bunk.
The university research showed that dry matter digestibility increased 2.3 percentage units and digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was 3.8 percentage units greater for cows fed Stay Strong™ for Dairy Cows. Also, milk fat content improved 0.11 percentage units in cows fed Stay Strong™ for Dairy Cows.
Olivia Kuester, SDSU graduate research assistant conducted the research study with SDSU Assistant Professor Dr. David Casper. Kuester said the increase in milk fat content is likely the result of improved fiber digestibility.
“If we have greater fiber digestibility, which we observed with a higher NDF coefficient, it is possible that we produce greater acetate in the rumen, which is a precursor to milk fat production,” Kuester said. “Another factor we were looking at was improved nitrogen utilization, which we saw in the group fed Stay Strong™ which demonstrated a reduction in milk urea nitrogen and that would indicate an improve microbial protein synthesis in the rumen. What likely happened was that we improved nitrogen utilization, which increased microbial protein synthesis causing greater acetate production that improved fiber digestibility for greater milk fat.”
The findings of the research were presented at the ADSA-ASAS Joint Annual Meeting held July 12-16 in Orlando, Florida.