Maintaining gut health
in a changing climate
Dry and hot summers, it’s beginning to become a commodity. Many dairy farmers are being faced with suboptimal roughage quality, due to persistent drought. After not alone facing heat stress, the composition of the ration is an extra challenge. A shortage of grass or maize silage and poor maize silage quality makes it difficult to calculate a balanced ration.
The lack of rain in the warm and dry summer months results in rapid drying of the plant and often decreased cob formation. As a result, maize silage will be drier and less digestible. Drier silage also contains starch which is harder to digest. This means that more starch will by-pass the rumen. An overload of carbohydrates entering the large intestine, can induce hindgut acidosis. Hind gut acidosis can be more dangerous than ruminal acidosis, as the risk for a high immune response is considerably larger. In more severe situations, hindgut acidosis is characterized by an inflammatory response affecting the gut wall. A compromised intestinal integrity and intestinal inflammation will lead to suboptimal animal productivity.
Can we do something about it?
Yes, we believe that via a good ration supplemented with a well designed buffer, the right minerals and additives you can stimulate pre-colon digestion, enhance gut morphology and integrity and minimize inflammation. With antioxidants gut integrity can be maintained and rumen and gut microbiome can be stabilized through formulation and adding the right buffer.
Agrimprove specialists have been able to identify the most effective plant-based polyphenols in terms of antioxidant properties and combined with our unique combination of slow and quick buffers and a carefully balanced mixture of medium chain fatty acids, a feed-optimizing solution is created that supports rumen and intestinal health.
The result: an improved gut integrity that gives the animals a step ahead when coping with a climate-affected ration.
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Your Agrimprove expert
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