Aditivos funcionales como prebióticos, probióticos, postbióticos, compuestos vegetales y enzimas exógenas son herramientas fundamentales para apoyar la salud y productividad óptima de las vacas.
Aunque la investigación sobre los aditivos funcionales es sólida, la experiencia en la granja con estos productos a menudo cuenta una historia menos convincente. ¿Por qué ocurre esto?
Finding the right opportunities for functional additives.
Functional additives provide strong value when they are used with intent, but they aren’t a one-size-fits-all supplement. When functional additives are applied with the general goal of improved cow health or productivity, they may not provide their full value. A pathogen control agent, for example, won’t provide much value to your herd when no pathogens are present.
Their most impactful opportunity lies in applying them for more specific functions. Targeting functions such as pathogen control, feed utilization or manure quality support can deliver real benefits to your herd.
How can we optimize functional additive value on-farm?
We at Papillon suggest on-farm sampling as a key to additive success. Through our Papillon DigesTTive Checkup, we evaluate metrics such as feed hygiene, TMR consistency, feed utilization and manure uniformity.
What are the common issues seen on-farm with the Papillon DigesTTive Checkup? The top 2024 challenges include high pathogen loads, especially Clostridia and E. coli, along with digestive upset leading to loose manure and mucin casts. Unusual weather patterns have resulted in increased rain, mud and humidity creating ample opportunity for pathogen growth.
Poor feed digestibility is always a challenge, with some regions being more impacted than others. Forage quality is a major factor, but grain processing and TMR mixing consistency and accuracy also seem to be key contributors to on-farm feed utilization challenges.
With this data in hand, we can identify key challenges a cow herd is facing whether it be related to feed, management or cow health. From there, rather than apply an additive blindly, we can develop a specific, cost-effective combination of additives that are designed to target the primary herd challenges.
This is where we see results. When we know what we are aiming to resolve, we can select the right additives to solve the problem, and we can measure if we hit our target.
ARTÍCULO COMPLETO… https://www.feedstuffs.com/nutrition-and-health/is-on-farm-sampling-the-missing-link-for-functional-additive-success-
