How do we wean calves from liquid milk or calf milk replacer (CMR)? For each and every calf weaning set up, there’s no doubt a broad range of different ways to wean calves - and no two systems will be the same! In this our latest Rumen Room Podcast, we explore some of the different approaches to weaning dairy calves (heifer replacements and dairy beef) off milk or CMR. The sudden stopping of milk feeding isn’t an option – being way too stressful on the calf! What’re some ways to reduce the stress on the calf associated with the weaning from liquid feeds? There should be something for everyone in this, our latest podcast – enjoy!

All the hard work has been done, your four day old calves have grown well and it’s time to think about weaning the calves from milk or calf milk replacer (CMR). Our latest Rumen Room Podcast steps through the range of factors that collectively give us guidance to when a calf is ready to wean. There're many factors to think about, including the age and liveweight of the calf, daily liveweight gain, perhaps the wither height of the calf as well as rumen capacity and rumen function. Topped up of course by a healthy dose of your very own “gut feel” and intuition around if a calf is ready to wean or not.  Keep an eye (ear?) out for part two of this weaning-themed calf podcast - this will follow shortly, focusing on the different approaches that we can take to the weaning process itself. 

With winter just around the corner for New Zealanders, our latest topic focuses on the effects of cold temperatures and frost on forage plants. We investigate how frosts damage our plants during the freeze-thaw cycles, “messing” with a plants wellbeing. Thankfully – and given time for plants to adjust to the cold - Mother Nature steps in and helps a plant develop some degree of resilience to cold and frosty weather.  Despite this, frosts can damage pasture plants, causing a drop / fall in pasture mass (kgDM/ha) through the winter - as well as reducing the nutritive value of pasture during long cold winter months.  Rug up warm and tune in for this, our latest podcast!! If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, tune in to some of our earlier winter-themed podcasts: 4. Checklist for success – wintering sheep and cattle on winter crops and pastures 35. Rumen bloat (“frost bloat”) in cattle that eat frozen winter pastures and forage crops 51. Wild winter weather. Cattle outside, how can we help – Part One 52. Wild winter weather – Part Two. Farm-level practical concepts

This is the second in a two part series all to do with Autumn Ill thrift in grazing ruminants. Part one (Episode 61) explored some of the nutritionally-based reasons that may contribute to animals appearing ‘ill thrifty’ when pasture quality shifts from standing, poor quality summer pasture to very high quality, lush autumn green feed. The potential for animal-health related challenges to contribute to autumn ill thrift issues is covered in this, our latest episode. First up, the role for internal parasites to cause autumn ill thrift issues is briefly discussed (but acknowledging the excellent resources for managing internal parasites can be found here with NZs very own Wormwise programme here https://beeflambnz.com/wormwise ). Other topics tackled in this podcast include the role for ‘facial eczema’ (sporidesmin toxicity), endophyte alkaloids found in ryegrasses that contain standard (but not novel) endophytes, growth of Fusarium spp. on autumn pasture thatch, and trace mineral deficiencies. Last but not least, we cover the potential for sub-clinical effects of high levels of nitrate in autumn pastures (and crops) to reduce feed intake and therefore animal productivity. This nitrate topic builds on a previous discussion of nitrate toxicity covered in one of our earlier Rumen Room podcasts, Episode 5. As always, animal health topics discussed in this podcast are of a general nature only, and information provided is not intended to replace the advice of your own veterinarian and/or qualified nutritionist.

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!   

Cold winter weather. Great if you love skiing, not so great for us and our ruminants when we’re out and about in rough weather. That said, ruminants can be remarkably resilient in cold winter conditions – to a point. In this, part one of a two part podcast series, we explore why ruminants (focusing specifically on dairy cattle) can tolerate moderately cold winter conditions.  Risk factors that influence the degree of tolerance by cows to cold conditions are discussed. The range of coping mechanisms provided to ruminants by “Mother Nature” to improve resilience to colder winter weather are explored. Part two of this latest podcast series (episode 52) will cover some practical, farm-based strategies, with a nutritional twist, that can help keep cows well through winter weather events.

Ingestion of soil during grazing of pastures and forage crops is a common and unavoidable event.   Soil contamination of silage and baleage is another challenge that we sometimes need to deal with. Our latest episode explores the whole topic of soil ending up where it doesn’t belong. How much mud and dirt do animals eat during grazing? What factors increase risk of animals eating too much soil? Are there any health or nutrition issues we need to think about when animals eat too much mud and dirt? What happens when we get soil contamination of silage? All this and more. We hope you enjoy our latest podcast. 2.25 Overview of content of our current podcast 4.00 How ruminants end up eating soil 4.30 Post-grazing residual management – it’s not only about soil ingestion 6.55 Soil type and structure 9.00 Plant pulling during grazing 11.00 Earthworms – wonderful things but how about those worm casts? 12.45 Hot, dry dusty conditions 13.15 Flood irrigation 13.55 Annual forage crops, including bulb crops (Fodder beet, swedes, turnips) 14.35 Different types of bulb crops and risk of soil ingestion 17.00 Sugar beet and soil tare 18.00 When soil contaminates conserved feeds. Risks for spoilage of silage 23.30 Listeriosis risk when soil-contaminated silage pH is high 25.05 What parts of a feed test reports could indicate the presence of soil in your silage sample? 27.20 Soil ingestion when animals have a depraved appetite and eat soil (pica) 29.20 How much soil do grazing ruminants eat during grazing? 34.45 Potentially good aspects of soil ingestion 39.00 Potentially not so good aspects of soil ingestion. 44.50 Risk of physical damage to the gastrointestinal tract when ruminants eat soil

Well known New Zealand-based veterinarian, nutritionist and farmer Dr Sue Macky joins Charlotte Westwood in our latest podcast. Sue steps us through everything to do with the individual dairy cow during the dry and transition periods - from the cow's point of view. Too often we get overly focused on the detail of the diet and management dry and transition dairy cows - and forget about focusing specifically on the cow herself. Not in this latest episode, this is very much about the cow herself! Sue discusses a cow-centric approach to managing dairy cows from dry off, during the far-off dry period and into the “springer” period (close-up dry period) and colostrum mob.  This is one episode you simply will not want to miss! 0.40 Introducing Dr Sue Macky, defining her lifetime of global experience in dairy cow feeding and management 3.35 The dairy cow is an elite athlete, and should be treated as such 4.35 The New Zealand dry (non-lactating) cow period - redefined 5.10 Managing cows heading into dry off including redrafting cows for the dry period. Impacts on an individual cow with changing herd social structure discussed 7.10 Cow body condition score at dry off through to calving 7.50 Gut fitness in dairy cows; Capacity and muscularity during the dry period 10.20 Feeding cows through dry off – “don’t confuse the cow” 10.50 Immune functionality through dry off 11.40 Stock water supply and access by cows during the dry period  13.30 Late dry period through to the transition period – setting cows up well 14.00 “Calves are obligate parasites during late pregnancy” 14.40 The challenges of pasture-based diets in late pregnancy 15.30 Mob size for springer (close-up) dry cows, it’s all about compromise 16.05 How long should cows remain in the springer mob? 16.30 The calving cow – the importance of access by cows to feed and stock water 17.50 The cow-newborn calf bond 18.45 Feed, water and calcium for freshly calved cows 20.10 Cow behaviour after calving – the modern cow vs. the cow of ancient times 21.05 Milking out a cow after calving (“energy in, energy out”) 21.35 Once-a-day milking of cows after calving, it’s all about gut fill and rumination

All plants would be green slime growing sideways along the ground if it wasn’t for lignin– True!  Find out more in our latest podcast covering everything from the good, the bad and the ugly about lignin. Learn how lignin impacts overall quality of ruminant feeds, and how feed management decisions change how animals process and digest lignin in their day-to-day diets. Find out how the lignin content of feeds changes with feed type and feed management, and what you can do to reduce intake of lignin in the diet of your sheep, cattle, deer or goats to improve animal productivity. Here’s where to find the key sections in this our latest podcast talking all things ruminant nutrition. 0.51 Defining lignin 2.00 Just what does lignin mean for sheep, beef, deer and goats? 4.55 Lignin and plant cell walls – holding hands 7.10 If it weren’t for lignin, where would plants be? 7.30 How lignin messes with feed quality for animals 9.50 Plant cell contents aren’t bothered by lignin – why not? 10.35 Lignin, feed digestibility and MJME 12.45 How high is high? Interpreting lignin results as part of feed test results 13.55 Lignin alongside NDF, NDFd, and ADF 15.10 “Book value” lignin results for common New Zealand feeds 17.00 Do zero lignin feeds exist? 17.30 Lignin content of some common “dry” byproduct feeds 20.25 Lignin and NZ pastures 23.30 Plant maturity influences lignin content 26.15 Weather, pasture and forage crops and lignin 31.20 Managing pastures for reduced lignin content 34.05 Plant breeding and lignin, including BMR forages

Sliced on our morning cereal or perched on top of our iconic New Zealand dessert Pavlova, kiwifruit deliver a tasty powerpack of valuable nutrients for us humans. What about ruminants? Are reject kiwifruit from your local packhouse equally as good for our dairy cows and other animals on farm? Yes! A valuable source of energy delivered largely as water soluble carbohydrates, whole kiwifruit can be a very useful feed.  However… as for any byproduct feed, kiwifruit may not always meet our expectations as a stockfeed. Join us for this latest podcast that explores the good, the bad and the (occasionally) ugly aspects of kiwifruit as a feed for ruminants, with a specific focus on kiwifruit feeding to lactating dairy cows. Although this is a kiwifruit-focused topic, we include content that applies equally to the feeding of other byproduct fruit and vegetables. Enjoy! Where to find the various topics within this podcast: 2.35 Overview of the episode 5.35 The nutritive value of kiwifruit – “so changeable as the fruit ripens” 6.45 Water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) 7.45 Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) 8.30 Crude protein (CP) 10.40 Ash and mineral content 13.10 Risk of rumen acidosis associated with kiwifruit feeding 19.00 Best practice approaches to minimise risk of rumen acidosis when feeding kiwifruit 20.30 The importance of knowing your kiwifruit on a dry matter (DM) basis - and not just a wet weight basis 21.35 Gradual adaptation by ruminants to a kiwifruit diet 22.40 The protective role of a rumen-full of long stem fibre in reducing risk of rumen acidosis 23.10 Day to day consistency when feeding kiwifruit is the key! 23.50 Maximum daily amounts of kiwifruit you can feed to dairy cows. The answer? “It depends” 25.05 Feed planning with kiwifruit – the “Three Versions” of a diet that contains kiwifruit 27.30 The role for Kiwi ingenuity and innovation when feeding kiwifruit 33.15 Handling kiwifruit storage on farm 34.00 What to do if kiwifruit is overripe? 35.00 Are rumen additives protective against kiwifruit-induced acidosis? 37.00 Risk of “choke” and rumen bloat with kiwifruit feeding 41.00 Know how much your kiwifruit are costing you. Converting $ per tonne wet weight to $ per tonne DM 44.15 The paperwork. Dairy Feed Declaration. Making sure your kiwifruit are fit to feed 45.45 Preventing birds from eating your stockpiled kiwifruit, helping out your local Regional Council.

A fundamental basic of ruminant nutrition – energy density of feeds – is covered in this latest Rumen Room Podcast. Expressed as Megajoules of Metabolisable Energy per kilogram of dry matter (MJME/kgDM), energy density is an important driver of animal productivity and profitability. In a down to earth, practical “gumboot level” manner, Dr Charlotte Westwood explores the basics of MJME as a concept and covers how feed testing laboratories measure MJME. How we use MJME values of a feed on farm on a day to day basis is explained. The strengths and possible limitations with the use of MJME in our day to day farm-level decisions is discussed. Don’t be put off by what is often thought to be a rather "dry" topic of MJME - actually, it’s a straightforward concept - we’re sure you’ll learn a lot from this latest podcast! Here’s where to find the various sections within the MJME podcast, below: 2.02 Outline of this MJME podcast 3.40 What is “energy”? 6.30 Defining Megajoules and Metabolisable Energy 7.50 Megajoules compared to Megacalories – what’s the difference? 10.25 What is gross energy and why might we be interested? 14.25 Why ruminants can’t use all of gross energy in feeds for useful things 15.10 Faecal energy – what a waste! (#1) 16.10 Digestible energy 17.25 Methane – what a waste! (#2) 18.10 Finally arriving at the MJME number…. How this is calculated 19.00 How different feeds change energy losses as methane 21.00 Measuring MJME – inside the sheep 23.00 Feed testing laboratories estimates of MJME 25.40 Using the digestibility value to calculate MJME 26.20 NIRS technology - digestibility and MJME 31.15 Strengths and weaknesses of MJME as a measure of feed quality – an overview 32.00 Typical MJME values of feed 34.40 Valuing our feeds on a cents per MJME basis – a simple task on farm! Valuing a bale of pasture baleage on an MJME basis as an example 38.00 Using MJME as part of your feed budgeting – MJME demand vs. MJME supply. A 30kg liveweight lamb as an example 40.30 Limitations of MJME as an indicator of suitability of a feed for animals 41.30 MJME is a calculated measure only! 42.00 MJME doesn’t tell us about all of the other interesting stuff in feeds 44.10 Summing up the MJME topic