Maintaining optimum performance in dairy cattle requires paying attention to many changing and challenging factors. Often times, problems are not discovered until performance suffers and profits fall. A great deal of time, money and effort are spent reaching a goal and controlling the potential problems is critical to keeping that level of performance. Micron Bio-Systems’ “Complete Microbial Management System” approach can be the ounce of prevention needed to avert the pound of cure.

From crop to cow to fertilizer, an opportunity exists to influence animal performance at the most basic level, the microbial level. It is understood that micro-organisms can cause a host of problems on the farm. Molds spoil feed and produce toxic compounds, yeasts cause heating and palatability issues, and bacteria can cause illness. It is also understood that micro-organisms can be beneficial. Bacteria ferment our crops for storage, molds help compost litter and waste, and yeast can stimulate the rumen. Knowing when, where and how these “bugs” are working allows us to manage their effects, both good and bad.

A Complete Microbial Management System has three goals:

1. Promote the beneficial organisms

2. Inhibit / kill the undesirable organisms

3. Shield animals from the problems associated with undesirable organisms

Micron’s Complete Microbial Management System includes a toolbox of tools and strategies based on scientific principles and designed to achieve the goals. Beneficial organisms can be encouraged to proliferate by exposing them to Probiotic and/or Prebiotic compounds. They can also be promoted by changing the environment where they live, such as removing oxygen to encourage an anaerobic organism. Undesirable organisms can be controlled with tools such as acids or by removing moisture as we do when making hay. Many times the strategy employs several tools as is warranted by the situation at the time. The overall system considers all of the opportunities from crop to cow to fertilizer to reduce the stresses that accumulate and affect performance.

Consider, for example, potential issues with forage and grain that may affect cow performance while the crop is still in the field. Any stress on the crop during the growing season or during harvest may increase the risk of problems. Spoilage organisms proliferate on plants during times of stress such as excess moisture, drought, insect pressure, weed competition, and so forth. These “bad bugs” can reduce ensiling efficiency, produce toxins and reduce stability at feed out. Addressing these issues at harvest is essential to reducing cow performance problems later. Proper handling and treatment of forages and grains at harvest can slow or eliminate further mold production during storage. 

Following good harvest management practices alone in a challenge year however, may not be enough to stop fungal proliferation. Treating silage with a quality inoculant will speed proper fermentation by dominating the process with “good bugs”. It may also keep spoilage organisms from increasing their numbers. The situation, however, may be such that the initial population of “bad bugs” is high, because of stress in the field, and that including a treatment of propionic acid with the inoculant is needed to kill or reduce this population to prevent excess instability at feed out. Controlling undesirable yeast in the silage delays the normal pH rise when feed is re-oxygenated during removal from the storage unit, thereby delaying mold formation. 

Heating of feed in the bunk and excess feed refusals are sure signs of problem organisms. Poor cow performance, however, can be caused by these organisms without the apparent physical signs of spoilage. The tools employed during silage making may have worked, but not to the degree to give total control or protection. It is also possible that the problem is related to the other things we add to the ration such as grains and compound feeds. Treatment of the TMR with propionic acid can quickly alleviate this situation. Spoilage organisms may also enter the TMR from contaminated mixing and feeding equipment. “Cleaning” equipment with propionic treated feed on a routine basis is an effective strategy. 

Within the animal, opportunities exist to implement a Complete Microbial Management System. Proper balance and maintenance of digestive micro flora is essential to efficient and stable performance. Promoting beneficial microbial populations and inhibiting undesirable ones is the basis of Micron’s DFM program. Feeding highly selective probiotic organisms, combined with superior quality prebiotics and microbial stimulant ingredients can improve the intestinal health status of challenged production animals and reduce the effects of stress on others. 

Shielding animals, as a strategy, can be employed to raise the threshold at which animals break with clinical symptoms from a challenge. The tools used may include immune stimulants, pathogen suppressors and toxin degraders, depending on the challenge faced. We may know, for example, that we have a pathogen challenge that requires medicinal treatment, but an undiscovered low level mycotoxin load may compromise the immune system, exacerbate the pathogen symptoms and reduce the effectiveness of the medical treatment. 

Shielding the animal with a toxin binder/degrader may allow quicker recovery from the pathogen challenge or may have enabled the cow to better handle the challenge in the first place. The effects of mycotoxins on animals is widely publicized and poorly understood. Effectively managing and controlling mycotoxins is even more of a mystery. Recognizing the potential for contamination and the signs of mycotoxicosis in animals allows us to address the issue in the animal. 

Micron’s Mycotex employs patented technology to destroy and eliminate mycotoxins within the animal. When fed to animals displaying signs of mycotoxicosis, Mycotex has improved animal performance and health status. UltraSorb, which contains many of the components of Mycotex, is widely used to shield animals from the effects of lower levels of contamination. Used daily, UltraSorb raises the threshold at which animals can contend with the toxins.

Successful shielding combines several tools, adjusting each to meet the expected and or known challenges. A shielding strategy should include probiotics to stimulate rumen function, prebiotics to stimulate proper intestinal micro flora and enhance immune response, binders/degraders to remove mycotoxins, and acids to kill molds and yeast in feed. 

Each of these tools can be adjusted as required by the situation. A change in forage source or quality might dictate the inclusion or increase in probiotics. It may also require an increase in toxin coverage if the forage is poor or is known to have been stressed in the field. An expected heat wave may be prepared for by including propionic acid to keep feed cool. 

All adjustments are made in an attempt to maintain the status quo. Shielding, as a long term strategy, puts the animal into a better health and performance status allowing the animal to better handle the stresses we have less or no control over such as weather changes or calving.

How we treat and distribute animal waste can also have an impact on future animal performance. Composting of waste is a microbial process. Managing the “bug” population of a manure storage facility by inoculating with “good bugs” is essential to influencing what goes out on the field, is taken up by the plants and ends up back in the animals. 

Proper composting of manure can retain usable fertilizer components in the slurry, adding value to our cropping program. Treating bedding and holding areas with beneficial populations of bacteria can competitively exclude pathogens and the organisms responsible for illness and air quality issues. Working ground that has been applied with waste can reduce the potential of the “good” composting bugs from becoming “bad” spoilers of silage.

In a perfect world, performance of an animal would be solely dependent upon its genetic potential. The animal would be on the top of its game without any outside help. However, the world is not perfect. Many outside influences can restrict performance and limit genetic potential. A Complete Microbial Management System can help remove the barriers that challenge production goals.