Day 2 Dairy Sessions: Alltech’s 28th International Symposium
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Some highlights from Day 2 Dairy Sessions include:
The hidden risks in forages
Niel Karrow from the University of Guelph talked about the dangers of penicillium mycotoxins in forages, a type of mycotoxin which is often never discussed. Karrow listed the penicillium mycotoxins (OTA, CIT, PAT, PA, MPA), and noted that these mycotoxins can survive in low pH and oxygen conditions making them a big threat for dairy farms.
“Are they a risk to dairy cattle? Yes, they have antimicrobial properties that can impact digestibility, thus productivity, and microflora (diseases like laminitis, acidosis, and inflammatory bowel disease),” said Karrow.
The real threat, Karrow said, is the potential for mycotoxin residues, penicillin that could be found in milk where a cow will test positive, although no penicillin was administered. Karrow mentioned the risk for children consuming dairy products and a potential reduction in product value.
Global grain grab
“The corn market is shifting from an environment of extreme tightness to one that could be downright sloppy,” said Joseph Kerns, International AgriBusiness Group, LLC.
Some factors that play into that situation are the “discovery” of a new feedgrain, said Kerns. “It might be new to the U.S., but it’s not new to the rest of the world. Suddenly the U.S. has been forced into the “discovery” of feeding wheat across all sectors.”
Kerns also similarized the situation to “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” “We’re going to start taking some of the crop that’s currently being planted and bring it into this crop year to satisfy,” he said.
The ethanol community may no longer stay profitable according to Kerns. “We’re currently in a situation that’s governed by the price of crude oil, and puts a cap on how high the price of corn can go before suddenly the ethanol community is no longer profitable. We’re sitting right there, right now.”
“Unlike the corn market that’s tight and going to potentially having an abundance of crop, we’ve got the soy market that’s going from tight to impossibly tight, and I don’t know how we’ll get around that,” Kerns concluded.
“Green milk” could be the future
Not literally the color green, “green milk” refers to milk with a low carbon footprint according to Mike Hutjens of the University of Illinois. Hutjens said that he doubts it will be required, but someday we’ll probably see a label for “green milk” as greenhouse gas (GHG) levels are already being listed on food products in other parts of the world.
“Wal-Mart is going to have to make a decision now,” said Hutjens after telling the audience that BST reduces GHG by 8%. “Do you want natural milk or do you want green milk?”
In addition to promoting use of BST for lowering GHG levels, Hutjens recommended these “food for thought” ideas for producers to lower their carbon footprint, keeping feed efficiency in mind:
- Only milk high producing cows
- Milk all cows 3 times per day
- Consider smaller frame sized cows
- All animals fed an ionophore
- Heifers calve at 22 months of age
- Only milk lower than 400,000 SCC
- All cows bred artificially to superior bulls
- All cows enrolled in a milk record program
Other Day 1 Dairy Sessions included:
The 37+ test for mycotoxins; Dr. Alex Yiannikouris, Alltech
Protein problems; Gabriella Varga, Penn State
Reimagining the rumen:Smart strategies to feed the bacteria and not just the cow; Jenny Jennings, Alltech
Check back for more activities from Alltech International Symposium or follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DairyBusinessCommunicationsInc. For other happenings at the Symposium, visit www.alltech.com/news.
