Boost energy to beat the butterfat dip

With cows turned out, many dairy herds are already suffering from the butterfat dip syndrome from lush pasture.

It happens every year, but this time, with tight returns and high feed prices, there is greater pressure to cut feed costs. It is vital for dairy farmers, particularly those on both compositional and liquid milk supply contracts, to put in place feeding and management strategies that will avoid the post-turnout butterfat dip if they are not to lose out economically, warns Mark Townsend UK sales manager for Ufac-UK.

The big challenge of efficiently utilising spring grass for high-producing dairy cows is proper supplementation to compliment the nutritional attributes of the pasture and to maximise rumen fermentation and energy intake.

The nutritional strategy should include supplementation with long roughage to provide an effective fibre as a buffer in the rumen, careful choice of concentrates and appropriate fat supplement to support not just butterfat levels, but high milk production.

Mark Townsend points out that cows can only produce around 40 per cent of their butterfat yield from rumen fermentation. The balance has to come from dietary fats and butterfat is predominantly palmitic acid C16.

In the light of current high feed prices, he advises farmers to discuss their spring feeding strategies with their nutritional adviser without delay.

Field Trials have shown that using a supplement of blended fatty acids high in C16, with glucose to maximise energy availability has consistently given an increase in butterfat yield of 0.4% together with an increase of over 1 litre in milk.

A dairy farmer with a 200cow herd, yielding 24 litres on a typical compositional supply contract feeding Buta-Cup, could increase income by between 186 and 750 month after allowing for the cost of the product. A herd yielding 32 litres per cow per day could gain as much as 1,092 by making similar improvements in butterfat, points out Mark Townsend.

Ufac (UK) Ltd has particular expertise in dealing with fats and oils, and is a leading supplier of energy supplements to the trade. It exports to over 20 countries worldwide.