The Rumen Room Podcasts

26. Flood damage; Part Two – Deciding what to do with flood damaged Crops

In this, our latest Rumen Room Podcast episode, we’re going to carry on with the topic of flood damage to ruminant feeds. Episode 25 was part one of this two-part flood themed topic, which covered a discussion around assessing and deciding what to do with supplementary feeds (specifically, silage, baleage, hay and straw) that may have been damaged by flood waters.
This latest podcast is part two of this two part flood-themed series, focusing more on the challenges and opportunities of flood damaged summer and winter crops, with an emphasis on forage brassica crops. To assist with your navigation through Episode 26, the following provides some guidance for those of you searching for specific aspects of managing flood-damaged forage crops – to save you having to listen to the whole podcast if you’re too busy just now. NOTE: There is however considerable overlap between sections of content within this particular podcast.
Content within this podcast is not intended to replace the advice of your qualified rural professionals and advisors.
1:32 Introduction, overview and scene set for this crop-specific, flood themed podcast.
6:53 Safety first – look after yourself, your friends, family, staff and animals before moving into forage crop assessment.
7:13 Beginning the assessment of forage crops, paddocks and infrastructure.
8:53 Stock water requirements – the irony in the midst of flooding.
9:45 Assessment of forage brassica crops and soil conditions.
11:20 What factors influence the survivability of your flooded brassica crops?
19:48 Flood water contaminants and your flooded forage crops.
22:43 What to do with flood damaged crops – some suggestions to consider.
24:38 Can we graze our flood damaged crops? Things to consider including potential nutritive (feed) value of damaged crops.
33:42 Do we need to retransition stock back onto forage brassicas after stock have been removed during flood events
35:20 The challenges of allocating breaks across ex flooded crop ground.
39:05 Animal wellbeing when flood affected crops are grazed.
45:42 The importance to update feed budgets after a flood event, including prioritisation of feed types to different stock classes.
DairyNZ Flood resources https://www.dairynz.co.nz/business/adverse-events/flood/
Beef and Lamb Flood resources https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/flood-support

25. Flood damage; Part One – Deciding what to do with flood damaged Supplementary Feeds

With recent flood damage across many New Zealand regions, it’s timely to explore flood-associated nutritional and feed challenges being faced by many farmers. This episode is the first of a two part series that explores topics to do with managing flood damaged feeds for cattle, sheep and deer. We’ll discuss topics to do with flood damaged silage, baleage, hay and straw for ruminant species. Episode 26, part two in this two-part series will carry on with this flood-damaged feed theme by covering aspects of challenges when flood waters damage forage crops, with a specific emphasis on forage brassicas.  
To assist with your navigation through this episode, the following time points provide some guidance for those of you searching for specific aspects of managing flood-damaged supplementary feed – to save you having to listen to the whole podcast if you’re simply too busy just now. NOTE: There is, however, considerable overlap between sections of content within this particular podcast.
Content within this podcast is not intended to replace the advice of your qualified rural professionals and advisors.
2:48 An introduction to what’ll be covered in this podcast.
5:03 How do flood waters damage conserved feeds?
7:08 Focus on flood damage to silage and baleage – changes to feed quality, potential dry matter losses and challenges of contaminants from flood waters.
23:00 Hay and straw damage from flood water including risk of contaminants from flood waters.
23:58 Farm-level subjective assessment of flood damaged supplementary feeds including risks of leachates (silage “effluent”) runoff from flood damaged silages and baleages.
35:00 Will our ruminants want to eat our post-flood damaged feeds? What do the presence of e.g. moulds, yeasts and fungi amongst our supplementary feeds mean?
38:40 Will we see ongoing quality deterioration and loss of dry matter from our flood damaged supplementary feeds?
40:10 The ‘sniff test’ of flood damaged feeds – what does the smell of damaged forages tell us?
43:22 What to do with your flood damaged conserved forages?
46:00 The importance of revising your feed budget when conserved forages are damaged.
48:35 Feed testing of flood-damaged conserved forages.
49:56 Animal health and wellbeing when flood damaged forages are consumed.
52:28 Utilisation of flood damaged feeds by stock – approaches to feeding out these forages.  
54:10 Mycotoxins in flood damaged forages.
DairyNZ Flood resources https://www.dairynz.co.nz/business/adverse-events/flood/
Beef and Lamb Flood resources https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/flood-support
 

24. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part Two

A relatively common feed for lactating dairy cows, summer bulb turnips deliver top quality feed crop when the amount and/or nutritive value of summer pastures is lacking.  
Continuing on with our summer turnip theme that we started back in episode 23, in part two of this two-part summer turnip series, we’ll cover off practicalities of feeding summer bulb turnips. The importance of the careful transitioning of cows from pasture-based diets to one that contains summer bulb turnips is explained. Expected performance and milk responses by cows to summer turnips are discussed as well how to avoid animal health, or milk taint issues when cows eat bulb turnips.
To help you navigate through – here’s where to find the content within this podcast.
3:50       When to graze summer bulb turnips (tankard and globe types) after planting
6:45       Planning ahead when turnips are ready to graze, including dry matter yielding turnips
8:35       Calculating the allocation of turnips for lactating dairy cows
11:30    Recommended maximum allocation of turnips as a proportion of total diet
13:55    Transitioning cows from pasture-based diets to turnip-based diets
25:40    Minimising risk of heat stress in cows grazing summer forage crops
27:40    Reducing risk of milk taint when cows consume summer turnips
29:05    Milk responses when spring calved cows eat summer turnips
35:05    Lactating cow body condition and liveweight responses to summer turnips
43:00    Photosensitisation – an occasional challenge when cows graze summer turnips
44:30    Fatty acid composition of milk from turnip-fed cows

23. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part One

Summer bulb turnips are a key component of the diet for many lactating dairy cows. In this two-part series, we’ll be exploring everything to do with cows grazing bulb turnips, from the nutritional profile of summer turnips through to grazing management and expected milk production and body condition responses by cows that consume bulb turnips.
This, our first part of this two part series about turnips, we’ll cover off the role for summer bulb turnips in a dairy farm systems, and explore the typical nutritional values of the bulb and leaf of summer bulb turnips. The basic aspects of the nutritional profile such as dry matter (DM%) of crops, as well as the energy content, fibre, protein and macro and trace minerals are discussed. We’ll be including references to previously unpublished nutritional information from a New Zealand study of the feed quality of summer turnips. This information will help you successfully integrate summer bulb turnips into the diet of your lactating dairy cows.
Keep an eye out for part two of this series, where we’ll focus on the practicalities of feeding summer bulb turnips, including how to successfully transition cows from pasture-based diets to one that contains summer bulb turnips. We’ll cover off the expected performance and responses by cows to summer turnips, as well as how to avoid any animal health challenges when cows eat bulb turnips.

22. Primary Photosensitisation (“sunburn”) in lambs and cattle

In this, our latest Rumen Room podcast, we’ve got a summer-themed podcast for you. With many of us heading away to beaches and lakes and lots of outdoor activities, we’re very aware of the importance of prevention of sunburn for us and our families. Ever thought about our sheep and cattle? Yes, under some circumstances, sheep and cattle can sometimes experience a condition called ‘photosensitisation’ – which looks very much like an extreme version of sunburn.
In this podcast hosted by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, this ‘photosensitisation’ condition is explored and explained. “Primary photosensitisation” is explored and contrasted with the other form of photosensitisation “Secondary photosensitisation” due to conditions such as Facial Eczema (otherwise known as sporidesmin toxicity) that’ll be discussed in a later podcast (stay tuned for that!).
Many names and terms are used to describe primary photosensitisation including ‘spring eczema’, ‘photo’, ‘sunburn’ or, if the condition occurs on a brassica crop it’s sometimes called ‘rape scald’.
There’s content here for everyone – lamb finishers and dairy farmers. To help navigate your area of interest if the whole podcast isn’t for you, tune in as follows:
Introduction and overview of this latest podcast 5:00
Part 1: Primary or Secondary photosensitisation – what’s the difference? 9:25
Part 2: What signs might we see in sheep and cattle affected by Primary photosensitisation?  15:40
Part 3: Types of forages and weed species that have been linked with cases of Primary photosensitisation. 32:00
Part 4: Risk factors and prevention strategies for Primary photosensitisation in lambs that graze annual forage brassica crops. 38:15
Part 5: What to do if your sheep or cattle are affected by Primary photosensitisation and prevention strategies for Primary photosensitisation in lambs that graze brassica crops (noting here that getting in touch with your veterinarian for advice is your number one thing to do; podcasts are not a substitute for advice from you own vet). 1:01:20
For anyone who grazes lambs or young cattle on summer crops, there’s something in this podcast for you!
 

21. Mating of dairy cows: Part Two. Anoestrus (non-cycling) cows, silent heats and heat detection efficiency.

In this, our latest Rumen Room Podcast episode, we’ll carry on with the theme of dairy cow nutrition and reproductive performance. Episode 20 covered the importance of 3-week submission rate as a driver of reproductive success in seasonally calved dairy herds. We discussed how the nutrition of cows impacts the onset of ovulation and oestrus (heat) in cows after calving. Episode 20 finished up talking about nutritional challenges that impact on anoestrus (non-cycling) dairy cows.
This latest podcast completes the topic of anoestrus cows topic by discussing why herd social stressors may increase risk of anoestrus cows. The final topic around anoestrus cows covers that frustrating cycle of “slow calving rate causing slow submission rate causing a slow calving rate”. Ideas about how to break out of this slow calving rate-slow submission rate cycle are discussed.
Reasons why cows that cycle early after calving might stop cycling again in time for mating are discussed (how annoying are those cows?!). We finish with info about “silent heats”, where cows ovulate but don’t show signs of visual heat, and finally, heat detection efficiency.
We finish with info about “silent heats” where cows ovulate but don’t show signs of visual heat, and heat detection efficiency.

20. Mating of dairy cows: Part One. Effects of nutrition on 3-week submission rate

For seasonally mated dairy cows, 3-week submission rate is an important driver of a herds reproductive efficiency. There’re a huge number of factors that influence 3-week submission rate including but not limited to the nutrition of dairy cows. In part one of this two-part podcast series about dairy nutrition and submission rates, we’ll first explore how submission rate contributes to reproductive efficiency, through the role of submission rate influencing our 6-week in calf rates. We’ll then move onto the challenge of anoestrus (“non-cycler”) cows and how these non-cycler cows will, if not treated by your vet, reduce your 3-week submission rate. Risk factors for anoestrus cows are explored and we'll discuss how you can examine what might have happened through calving and during lactation  to cause more anoestrus cows that you normally have to deal with.  
In part two of this two-part podcast series (episode 21), we’ll cover the challenge of the “slow calving rate-slow submission rate-slow calving rate cycle” that farms sometimes get trapped in, and some things to think about around how to start to break out of this cycle of reproductive inefficiency. The topic of why cycling cows sometimes stop cycling again through peak lactation is discussed. The challenge of “silent heats” or cows that ovulate but don’t show signs of heat is covered, as well as a brief discussion around heat detection efficiency.  

19. ”Where are my missing milksolids?” Part three - Pasture-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids production

In this, the third of our three part series exploring “Where are my missing milksolids”, we’ll continue on from topics covered in parts one (Episode 16) and two (Episode 18). This time around, we’ll cover off the challenges of ryegrass-based pastures for New Zealand spring calving, pasture-fed cows. Perennial ryegrass is a highly productive, top quality feed for most months of the year. During late spring and early summer, reproductive changes by ryegrass plants cause potential issues not only for reduced feed quality of pasture, but also influences the tastiness of pasture, and the ease with which cows can harvest ryegrass.
This episode will explore the role of ryegrass-based pastures in the post-peak decline in milksolids production, discuss pasture management concepts to help maintain ryegrass quality, as well as longer term ideas to potentially improve the quality of late spring/early summer pastures.

18. “Where are my missing milksolids?” Part two – Cow-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids production

In our first podcast in this three-part series, we explored factors that influence milksolids production from calving through to peak production in New Zealand spring calved dairy herds - take a listen to part one to catch up on that discussion. In this, our latest part in this “Where are my missing milksolids?” series, we move onto the next stage in the lactation curve - the post-peak decline (or "crash off peak") in milksolids production experienced by spring calved dairy herds during late spring and early summer. First up we'll explore cow-based factors responsible for post-peak decline that prevent cows from having a flat lactation curve post-peak. Everything from why the cow (and udder) simply can’t run a flat lactation curve, through to the effects of all manner of hormones, the body condition score, age and health and wellbeing of the cow as well as the social structure of the herd on post-peak decline.
Hot and bothered cows are more likely to drop away off peak quickly too – so this episode will wrap up this podcast with looking at the role for heat and humidity in the rate and extent of post peak decline by dairy cows. 
Subscribe to The Rumen Room Podcast on your favourite steaming platform - and/or join The Rumen Room on Facebook so that you don't miss our third and final episode in this three-part series. Part three will step us through the pasture-based reasons that spring calved herds "crash off peak" including a range of tips, tricks and ideas around reducing this often spectacular steep drop off in milksolids production during late spring and early summer. 

17. Wellbeing of young ruminants grazing summer crops

In this latest podcast, well known veterinarian Andrew Dowling joins Charlotte Westwood to discuss all things to do with animal wellbeing and performance on summer crops. With a wealth of veterinary and farm systems knowledge, Andrew steps us through the various tips and tricks around looking after your lambs or young cattle during their first summer of life. The importance of transitioning stock from pastures to high quality summer crops is covered, before Andrew discusses some of the common disease problems in animals on summer crops including clostridial diseases, vitamin B1 deficiency and pneumonia. Trace mineral requirements of lambs on summer crops are discussed then Andrew finishes up with a detailed summary of the internal parasite challenges in young stock over the summer months.
For anyone who grazes lambs or young cattle on summer crops, there’s something in this podcast for you!