World prices for milk and meat from ruminants are at an all time high and likely to remain so as world population continues to increase. As farming of cows and sheep turns from a way of life to a business, efficiency of production, as in all businesses, is vital to ensure survival. Longer-term strategies to ensure optimum productivity are required. More lactations per cow, milk per lactation and maximum growth rates from feed inputs will optimise profits for the entire feed chain.
Maintaining rumen stability
A stable rumen is vital for digestion and nutrient uptake, ensuring the flow of feed and forage through the rumen for maximum production. As production increases, more concentrates are often used in the diet. Concentrate feeds are known to increase the production of lactic acid in the rumen, causing rumen upset and acidosis in extreme cases. Feeding specific strains of live yeast has been proven to stimulate lactic acid-utilising bacteria, thereby maintaining pH balance and minimising acidity. A stable rumen will produce more milk, more meat, and more profits.
Keeping within the regulatory boundaries
Intensive research on the absorption, metabolism and toxicity of selenium conducted from the mid 1950's onwards resulted in the 1979 approval by the US-FDA to supplement livestock diets with inorganic selenium salts to a level of 0.3 ppm. Following required development and FDA acceptance, nutritionists can now select an organic source of selenium derived from yeast incorporated into trace mineral supplements. The weight of literature published over the past ten years has demonstrated advantages associated with supplying selenium in the organic form as selenomethionine derived from yeast. Without supplementation, ruminants are entirely dependent on the quantity and availability of selenium in the plant-source ingredients incorporated into diets.
Legislative bodies throughout the world have proposed the reduction of acceptable trace elements in the diets of several production animal species. The goal is to reduce the pollution to ground water and to land created by the excretion of excess minerals from animals in production. The fear is that excessive amounts of minerals such as copper will make soil and water untenable for agriculture in as little as 30 years. Also problematic are excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorus.