The Rumen Room Podcasts

After a long, hot and often dry summer when pasture quality might be rather poor and in short demand, we’re always keen to see the onset of autumn rains. At last, we can expect improved amounts of pasture on hand and the silage wagon can be parked up for a while. Improved feed quality of autumn pasture is an added bonus, likely being much better than what stock have been grazing through the summer months. With the change of season from summer to autumn, pasture quality can shift dramatically from poor quality to very lush, leafy pasture. Why then, do sheep or cattle sometimes not do as well as they should, when they first meet this new, high quality autumn pasture? This is an issue often called (in a rather nondescript manner!) “Autumn Ill Thrift”. This first of a two part podcast series will explore some of the nutritional reasons why grazing animals might not do as well as they should on this changeable autumn pasture. Not enough feed? Low dry matter percentage, low NDF/high NDFd, or the sudden lift in crude protein?  Or more likely, a combination of multiple nutritionally-based factors.
Keep an ear out for part two of this two part podcast (episode 62) where we’ll continue this discussion around autumn ill thrift, by covering some of the animal health issues that might contribute to animals doing poorly during autumn months.

Like anything in life, too much of a good thing can end badly. The same can be said for copper nutrition in ruminants. Required in just trace amounts, copper is needed by all ruminants - but too much copper places the wellbeing of ruminants at risk. Worst case, too much copper can prove fatal for our farm animals.
Part four in our four-part copper themed podcast covers off risk factors for copper toxicity. Just why some ruminant species can be at greater risk of copper toxicity than others is explored. Reasons why some breeds of sheep may accumulate very high levels of liver copper and therefore be at greater risk of copper toxicity is covered. Acute and chronic forms of copper toxicity are compared, and what clinical signs you might see in ruminant species are explained. 
**Note: The content within this episode is NOT intended to replace the nutritional advice specific to your animals as provided by your veterinarian or qualified ruminant nutritionist. If you suspect that your animals are showing signs of copper toxicity or may be at risk of copper toxicity, urgently contact your veterinarian **

What are some of the ways that we can test feed or other samples to assess the likelihood of copper deficiency in sheep, cattle or deer? Part three of this four-part copper themed miniseries moves the topic to defining the copper status of your farmed ruminants. The strengths and weaknesses of different testing methods for copper status are discussed. If a copper deficiency is very likely / has been defined, this episode covers different ways to provide additional copper to your ruminants. **Note: The content within this episode is NOT intended to replace the nutritional advice specific to your animals - as provided by your veterinarian or qualified ruminant nutritionist**

Dairy, sheep, beef, or deer farming? There’s something for everyone in our latest “bite sized” copper-themed miniseries podcast. Building on the introduction to copper nutrition in Episode 57, this podcast explores signs that ruminants might (or might not) show when copper deficient. Often we don’t see obvious signs of copper deficiency - this is called a “sub-clinical” deficiency. Which means animals simply don’t grow or perform well but don't show any classic signs of copper deficiency.  A "clinical" copper deficiency simply means that we see obvious signs in animals that are suggestive of a low copper status.
Our latest podcast covers clinical signs that can be linked with copper deficiency. Covering all ruminant species, we explore a a range of clinical signs of copper deficiency. Topics discussed include a possible role for copper deficiency in shoulder fractures in young dairy heifers, scouring in young cattle, swayback in sheep and deer, and the classic changes in coat colour when black cattle become severely copper deficient.

Read the side of any bag of trace mineral additives or feed products, and there’s good chance copper will be listed as one of the ingredients. Just what is copper and why should we be interested? Our latest copper-themed miniseries offers in a “bite-sized” manner four short and snappy podcasts all to do with copper.  Why do ruminants (sometimes, but not always) need copper?  What “jobs” does copper do throughout the body? How do deficiencies of copper come about on farm? Sheep and cattle – do we need to think about copper in different ways for each of our farm species? We hope you enjoy the first of our four part copper miniseries. Subscribe so you don't miss the remaining episodes in this four-part miniseries. 

This latest “bite sized” short podcast takes a look at summer crop establishment in New Zealand, including a detailed look at the tiny (unwanted) herbivores that eat forage crops. Charlotte Westwood chats with PGG Wrightson Seeds agronomy guru Greg Zeuren to hear about the successful establishment of spring planted summer forage crops in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.
In a down to earth, practical manner, Greg scene sets around deciding between direct drill or cultivation as approaches to crop establishment, discusses spray out and the importance of rolling crop areas post-planting, before moving on to managing risk of slug and insect pest pressure in newly established chicory, brassica, lucerne and other “small seed” forage crops.
Throughout the podcast, you’ll learn handy tips and tricks to help grow forage crops as a summer feed for our ruminants. Slugs enjoy Weetbix, really Greg?? Absolutely!
Finally, we’ll learn that if we’re not proactively monitoring our crops, there won’t be any forage crop left for our ruminants to eat this summer.
We hope that you enjoy our latest podcast.

Amazing feed quality or compost? This second of a two part podcast series focuses on how to make sure we get the very best quality feed from plastic-wrapped bales. Part 1 focused on how to assess baleage, and the importance of getting the dry matter (DM) % right to ensure a  tasty, good quality end product. In this, part 2 of our baleage series, we look at further factors that impact balelage quality, including chop length, bale compaction, individual or tube-wrapped bales, how to handle bales and answers the question of “just how long do we need to leave baleage from the point of wrapping until feed out”?

Baleage can be a fantastic way to conserve pasture or crop, moving forage from times of feed surpluses to times of feed deficits. Once wrapped in plastic, all baleage looks somewhat the same. Yet behind that plastic lurks all types of feed, from very high quality baleage through to absolute compost. This latest podcast focusses on assessing the quality of baleage as a feed for your stock. After discussing how to assess baleage, we move onto the importance of getting good quality forage into a bale at the appropriate dry matter (DM) percentage to optimise baleage quality. Part 2 of this podcast series will focus on further aspects of baling forage, including chop length, bale compaction, individual versus tube-wrapping of bales, and answers the question of “just how long do we need to leave baleage from wrapping until feed out”?

Hypothermia is a real risk for newborn lambs and calves - and is a significant cause of loss of newborns born outdoors during cold weather.  
When body heat is lost to the environment faster than a lamb or calf can replenish core body heat from within, hypothermia is likely. What factors influence the amount of heat that a lamb or calf can generate to keep itself warm, from the 'inside-out'?In our latest podcast, we investigate how mother nature has designed a range of inbuilt systems that help newborn lambs and calves stay warm. The importance of brown fat reserves is explained and other mechanisms such as muscle shivering are explored.
Farm-level factors, specifically the nutrition of the pregnant ewe determine the extent of brown fat deposition in the unborn lamb. Keeping ewes in good body condition from mating to scanning, then from scanning to lambing favours better reserves of brown fat in unborn lambs and calves. More brown fat available at birth helps lambs and calves keep warm during the first few hours of life - potentially reducing risk of hypothermia in newborn ruminants.   

Building on this mid-winter topic introduced in Episode 51, this podcast explores practical, farm-based things that we can do to help our cows well in cold weather.  As a nutrition-themed podcast series, our latest episode focuses unashamedly on the importance of nutrition, but other topics are explored too.  The role for shelter for reducing effects of wind chill is discussed. Just why cows need more feed during a range of different winter weather events is covered. How the “Heat of Fermentation” inside the rumen helps keep a cow "toasty warm" is explained. The better types of supplementary feeds to offer cows during inclement weather are discussed.  The importance of good quality stock water for cows, even during mid-winter, is defined.
Keep warm out there Rumen Room Podcast listeners!