The Cutting Edge - Article 21 - Optimizing weaning through rumen fluid inoculation

Operators To OWNERS

Inoculation with rumen fluid in early life as a strategy to optimize the weaning process in intensive dairy goat systems

Find the Big 3 Infographic at otovets.com/cuttingedge

Find the full article at https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(20)30261-7/fulltext

Find the IASTATE wet and growing cost pdf at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/dairyteam/files/page/files/Wetcalfanalysisfactsheet-Final.pdf

Big Take Away #1: Inoculation of rumen microbiota from both concentrate and forage diets improved rumen development better than cell free rumen contents or the control group. This was accomplished by populating the rumen and creating more VFA biproducts.

The authors attributed must of this development to protozoal populations that can only be established from adult cattle exposure.

Big Take Away #2: Even though inoculated kids were driven to intake more forage and concentrates they did not take in more DM than cell free or control animals. Instead, control and cell free kids drank more milk than their inoculated peers.

This resulted in similar DMI and feed efficiencies between all four treatment groups.

Big Take Away #3: Inoculated kids displayed increased forage intakes in weeks 9 to 11 of the study post weaning while control and cell free groups saw increased, but not statistically significant, elevations of concentrate intake.

This suggests that such inoculation could be used to facilitate the second transition in modern ruminants

Ultimate Message: While not an outright dairy or beef model this ruminant experiment has interesting implications for the improvement of the neonatal transition from “monogastic” to true “ruminant” function. Potentially reducing weaning ADG losses, saving money on wet diet rations and avoiding post-weaning compensatory loss on high milk rations.

Inoculation with rumen fluid in early life as a strategy to optimize the weaning process in intensive dairy goat systems

Published by A. Belanche, J.M. Palma-Hidalgo, I. Nejjam, E. Jiménez, A.I. Martín-García, D.R. Yáñez-Ruiz

Location: Granada, Spain

Objective: The objective of this study was to optimize the artificial rearing systems of goat kids by implementing new nutritional strategies in early life. It was hypothesized that the inoculation of young goat kids with different types of rumen fluid from adult animals could modify or accelerate the rumen microbial colonization pattern toward a desirable anaerobic fermentation during the preweaning period, facilitate the transition to solid diet postweaning, and increase productivity or decrease feeding costs.