The relevance of high-sugar liquid feeds in dairy cow diets was the main topic discussed at a ‘Sugar in the Rumen’ conference jointly run by Abireo Animal Nutrition and ED&F Man Commodities in Antrim on Tuesday.
The rumen is naturally designed to digest grass, which is a high-sugar forage typically containing 10% to 18% sugar. However, during the silage fermentation process, these sugars are used to stabilise the crop, reducing the final sugar content to around 2% to 3%. This creates a significant “sugar gap” in many ruminant diets.
Speakers maintained that feeding starch increases propionate production in the rumen, which ultimately limits intakes. However, research shows that increasing dietary sugar to 6% to 8% improves rumen function, enhances microbial protein production, boosts feed utilisation and increases milk yield and milk quality.
According to Georgina Chapman, from ED&F Man, studies demonstrate a 24% increase in ration digestibility when liquid feed is added.
Robots
One of the ED&F Man products is RoboMol, which is a highly digestible, high-sugar liquid blend designed specifically for use in robotic milking herds.
A commercial study conducted by Abireo, an animal-nutrition start-up founded by Michael Woodrow and Dr Sophie Parker-Norman, showed that RoboMol helps to manage ketosis, particularly in herds facing increased metabolic challenge due to higher stocking rates.
The typical feed rate is 0.5kg per cow per day, with a maximum dose of 200g per robot visit.
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