Coccidiosis is caused by single-celled parasites known as coccidia.

There are several species in cattle, not all of which cause disease. The species that cause disease are primarily found in the large intestine, and the diarrhoea results from damage to the cells lining it. Coccidiosis is particularly common in calves between three weeks and six months of age. Cattle become infected when placed in environments contaminated by older cattle or other infected calves. This can happen either indoors on bedding, or outdoors around drinking or feeding troughs. In order for the coccidial oocysts (the egg stage of the parasite) to become infective they require warmth and moisture.

Poor hygiene, high stocking density, poor health and poor nutrition will all contribute to a calf picking up the parasites and subsequent disease. Symptoms

Symptoms are not always specific to coccidiosis.

• Diarrhoea (often very watery)
• Depression
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss Dysentery (passing blood stained faeces)
• Death is rare.

Infections that fail to produce diarrhoea can, nevertheless, result in reduced growth and weight gain. This sub-clinical infection is very common.

Treatment

In most cases calves will recover without treatment. Treatment is better given to in-contact animals that have not yet started showing signs, or to combat secondary infection.

Prevention

To achieve effective control of coccidia, good management and hygiene is vital. Young susceptible animals should be kept as clean and dry as possible. Feeding and watering equipment should be cleaned and protected from fecal contamination. Avoid feeding cattle on the ground, especially calves, so manure does not contaminate the feed. Excessive moisture in pens should be drained, and dry bedding should be provided. Use pastures that are well drained, and avoid forcing animals to graze down to the roots of the plants so they do not eat large numbers of parasites. Try to keep grazing to a minimum in areas where cattle congregate (e.g. by water). Whenever possible, infected animals should be isolated as soon as possible to avoid exposure of infected manure to other cattle. In some places, medication can be placed in the water or feed to prevent infection.

– See more at: http://www.thecattlesite.com/diseaseinfo/206/coccidiosis/#sthash.o2HT3ynK.dpuf

Rumen Acidosis Rumen acidosis is a metabolic disease of cattle. Like most metabolic diseases it is important to remember that for every cow that shows clinical signs, there will be several more which are affected sub-clinically.

Acidosis is said to occur when the pH of the rumen falls to less than 5.5 (normal is 6.5 to 7.0). In many cases the pH can fall even lower. The fall in pH has two effects. Firstly, the rumen stops moving. This depresses appetite and production. Secondly, the change in acidity changes the rumen micro-organisms, with acid-producing bacteria taking over. They produce more acid, making the acidosis worse. The increased acid is then absorbed through the rumen wall, causing metabolic acidosis, which in severe cases can lead to shock and death.

Cause

The primary cause of acidosis is feeding a high level of rapidly digestible carbohydrate, such as fsecond rotation grass, wheat, barley and other cereals.

In dairy cattle, sub-acute acidosis, is seen as a result of feeding large amounts of second rotation lush leafy grass with low fibre and in increased concentrates compared to forage. Wet grazing conditions on lush leafy grass make this situation worse.

Symptoms

• Cattle may become depressed,
• Go off feed,
• Have an elevated heart rate or diarrhea.
• Sub-acute: Reduced feed intake Poor body condition and weight loss
• Unexplained diarrhoea Temperature Pulse rate and respiratory rate may rise
• Lethargy.

Prevention

The key to prevention is reducing the amount of readily fermentable carbohydrate consumed at each meal. This requires both good diet formulation (proper balance of fiber and nonfiber carbohydrates) and excellent feed management. You could have the best feed formulation in the world but if there is excessive competition for feed space cattle will tend to gorge when they get to the feed passage. This is a common problem where herd numbers have gone up but feed space has not been increased to compensate. Also this is very common when grass supply is tight and cows are coming in hungry.

Feeding excessive quantities of concentrate and insufficient forage results in a fibre-deficient ration likely to cause subacute ruminal acidosis. The same situation may be seen during the last few days before parturition if the ration is fed in separate components. Including long-fiber particles in the diet reduces the risk of subacute ruminal acidosis by encouraging saliva production during chewing and by increasing rumination after feeding. However, long-fiber particles should not be easily sorted away from the rest of the diet; this could delay their consumption until later in the day or cause them to be refused completely.

Ruminant diets should also be formulated to provide adequate buffering. This can be accomplished by feedstuff selection and/or by the addition of dietary buffers such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium carbonate. Dietary anion-cation difference is used to quantify the buffering capacity of a diet. Supplementing the diet with direct-fed microbials that enhance lactate utilizers in the rumen may reduce the risk of subacute ruminal acidosis. Yeasts, propionobacteria, lactobacilli, and enterococci have been used for this purpose.

In Summary Rumen Acidosis can have a huge negative impact into dairy and beef animals production capabilities. In Ireland grazing lush leafy highly fermentable grass is a huge challenge to prevent acidosis and indeed it will affect most animals to a greater or lesser extent. The key is understanding what it is and how best to minimise the impact it has on your herd.

Talk to our Sales team on 061 355186 who have been trained in helping advise on coping with acidosis.

Here at Crecora Mills we continue to strive to operate our business in the most environmentally aware manner. Being farmers ourselves and having a close association with the land means we continue to look for better, cleaner and more efficient ways to make high quality animal feeds for our customers.

After a long design and planning process we are delighted to be soon begining work on a new Gas fired steam boiler system at our flagship manufacturing plant in Castlemahon to replace the older Fuel/oil powered steam boiler that was part of the old Castlemahon food products factory.

The new system promises to be a lot cleaner and greener for the environment it will also be more efficient and able to produce better quality steam to use in the pellet manufacturing process.

As always we only mix with the best!

Why feed Dairy cows?

Why do we as farmers feed dairy cows concentrate instead of just using silage and grass and what do we want from Animal Feed? Surely it would be a cheaper option to just use the land we have to feed our animals and not buy any outside products?

I’d like to show you how we could make you more money and also save you money in the long term.

Lets look at it in more detail shall we?

Dairy cows have a high energy requirement to produce milk, carry a calf and maintain body condition. They have a lot of work to do and need a diet that will allow them to do these jobs well. If we do not provide all the energy that she requires she will mobilise the meat from her back to make milk and maintain her calf. While in the short term this is fine the long term effects of thin cows have huge costs associated with them.  The only way to improve a thin cow is to feed her and it costs twice as much to bring a thin cow back than it would to maintain her in the first place.

A cow on a pure grass based diet will survive fine in the short term but where will she get her balance of minerals and vitamins that she needs for long term good health? Grass is a very poor source of minerals and indeed can contain high levles of iron and molybdenum which lock up the copper in a cows diet meaning she coan become clincly deficient in copper very fast on a pure grass diet.

Grass is a fantastic source of protein and cows love to be out in the field in the fresh air with plenty of space to move around in. One of the best weapons in the Irish farmers armory is the consumers image of cows out on lush green grass and enjoying life.

Unfortunatley with Irish weather too often good grass and grazing conditions can be hard to come by. Remember cows dont eat to taste, they eat to fill their gut. Once their gut is full they must wait till they have digested their food to take in more. Here lies one of our Irish problems!

Grazing wet grass leads to the the cows gut filling without the adequate volume of dry matter to maintain her. Grazing hungry cows tight in poor grazing conditions leads to high intake of parasites, loose cows, thin cows and worse again sick cows. All of which cost a lot of money to cure along with the cost in time lost in production.

Feeding our Animal feed provides a guaranteed source of energy and protein to ensure the cow does not lose body condition. It costs at least twice as much to put body condition right as it does to maintain it so its an economic no brainer.

Feeding our Animal feed will provide the essential minerals and vitamins that a cow cannot even dream of getting on a grass based diet alone. This leads to a higher performing cow, a healthier cow and one better able to fight of sickness and disease meaning less expensive vet bills!

Feeding our Animal feed provides the cow with a balanced diet containing digestible protein and fibre to keep her Rumen working efficiently so as not to waste the valuable inputs that the farmer puts in. A cow with a balanced Rumen will digest silage and grass more efficiently and convert it to energy for use in milk production and maintaining body condition.

Feeding our animal feed even at todays high raw material prices is a far more economic alternative to buying questionable fodder for storage over the winter in the hope that it will be in good order when needed in the springtime. We all have heard the horror stories of expensive Bales of silage being bought and paid for only to discover when opened to be poorly preserved and of little or no feeding value.

Feeding our Animal feed will help ensure a healthy calf, a sucessful calving and also that the cow will be in good condition to go back in calf again. Thin cows or cows without a balanced diet will be slower to go back in calf and may miss out altogether. The cost of carrying an empty cow for a year does not bear thinking about. Ask yourself how did your breeding go last year? Most of our customers found that cows went straight back in calf with very little problems due to the fertility minerals booster we include in our Dairy feed at and before breeding. The most sucessful Breeders were those which had been getting consistent feed and minerals throughout the year. Remember a hungry cow at calving time is a weak cow and can lead to problems during calving.

Pretty much every dairy farmer has seen over this year that cow condition had been excellent due to the levels of feed all year. It would be a terrible waste for that excellent body condition to be lost now over the next few months as it will need twice as much feed to regain it in the spring.

Contact us for more info and help in planning your feed requirements over the winter.

We have all heard about acidosis in beef and dairy cows and the negative effects it can have on animal health.

The negative effects of acidosis are reduced intake, problems with feet, reduced milk yields/ milk solids and lower weight gain in beef cattle.

These are some serious problems so what can we do to prevent it?

Firstly lets ask some questions about Acidosis.

Why does Acidosis occur?

Acidosis occurs as a condition when the Acid level of a ruminant animal drops from PH 6 to PH 5 or under. Because cows depend on microbes in the rumen to break down their food we must maintain an acceptable PH level in the Rumen to allow these bugs to flourish. When the PH level drops below optimim PH 6 these bugs are under pressure to survive and cannot function.

When does Acidosis occur?

Acidosis generally occurs when Animals are trying to digest diets with a lack of structural fibre, wet/acidic silages, high cereal diets and suprisingly for many farmers lush grazing. such as found in the early April and May. Indeed a nutritionist told me an interesting story that in one part of the country there is a very old folk tale that in springtime the “Butter Witch” could curse your milk and it would not churn to make butter. They did not have milk solid readings hundreds of years ago but its a fair bet that The Butter Witch was caused by Acidosis and reduced milk solids in cows left out on lush green pasture in Spring! If only Crecora Mills were in business a couple of hundred years ago to banish the Butter Witch!

How do we prevent Acidosis?

Here at John O’Connell feeds we formulate our feeds with a high level of digestible fibre which helps to stabilise the rumen.

We formulate our feeds we are concious of potential Acidosis problems so we keep the acidity levels down on our feeds even though this may make them more expensive for us to produce.

We can include a special additional high performance mineral buffer agent and active yeast which helps to keep the PH of the rumen at an optimum level.

We provide advice to those customers that feed special high cereal diets to their animals and can add a buffer agent and yeast as standard to their feeds or as an alternative if problems arise.

The key points about acidosis is that it can be managed with ease through watching the animals diet. Points to look out for are:

Hoof problems, reduced intake, reduced milk yields and reduced butterfat levels. If you encounter these problems get in touch with us and we can recomend a plan and feed to minimise and overcome them.

Its unfortunate that in the last few days we have been contacted by

farmers with problems at calving and after.

From retained placentas, loss of condition coughing up cuds and weak cows these problems are starting to stack up and cost farmers dearly.

We had signalled these problems as far back as October and November and had suggested plans to minimise these risks but not everyone has taken the advice.

So how do we solve problems at calving?

Retained placentas are a huge issue. One of the main causes of this is usually hypocalcaemia caused by excess potash in forage. This High potash Silage has the effect of limiting the cows ability to mobilise calcium around calving time. Late and excessive application of slurry on silage ground in the spring contributes to high potash levels in the forage. This high potash forage should not be fed to cows in the month before or after calving. Instead when cutting and baling paddocks that did not receive slurry during the summer you should put these bales aside and mark them for use around calving.

Also any forage will not contain the necessary trace elements and minerals to ensure a cow is protected from metabolic diseases such as hypocalcaemia. She needs a quality pre calver mineral along with good quality forage. Where forage quality is lacking and there are high levels of forage refusal you have to supplement with concentrate.

Weak cows was unfortunately always going to be a problem. An early drying off and a very long dry period meant that cows were gaining or maintaining condition on silage. This is fine when intake levels are high and she has the capacity to take in high levels of forage. In the last 2 months of gestation the cows feed intake is cut drastically due to the developing size of the calf causing her rumen to shrink. This reduction in feed intake means a lack of energy in her diet and a sudden and drastic loss of condition and health can occur. This loss of energy in her diet means she is weakened at a time when she is most vulnerable. We have formulated a high energy, high protein, pre-calver feed called SmartCalver specifically to combat this situation. It is designed to be fed at low levels from 2 to 4 kilos. It will help to minimise the energy loss at calving and should reduce the incidence of problem calving if fed correctly. One lost cow due to retained placenta, or hypocalcaemia would pay for a lot of Smartcalver.

We have also seen and heard of a lot of digestive upsets and cuds being thrown up. there has proven to be an amount of poor silage made last year. The preservation on it is very variable. On asking farmers about the silage you are told it is super silage but yet the average DMD results coming back from labs are in the 64 to 68  DMD region. There is also a lot of secondary fermentation going on in pit silage due to the dry and stemmy nature of some of last years pit silage. Air is permeating the pit once opened and fermentation is beginning again. Test your silage to see is it warm when you take out a grab from the pit. Feed fresh silage once a day and clear refused silage daily. If the cows will not eat it willingly and the farmer is trying to force them to clear it out the farmer is only codding himself that he is providing adequate energy to the cows. Expensive problems in this scenario are inevitable.

I always go back to the fodder crisis year where we had the worst silage on record, we did not have enough of it and we had the worst spring in years with some cows not getting out to grass till June. In that same period we had the highest conception rate, the least calving problems, the highest milk volume and solids ever produced in the republic and the most compact calving pattern the following year. All on foot of being forced to feed an adequate amount of quality, balanced feed with adequate levels of trace elements, vitamins and minerals. Good quality fodder is vital to economic farming but equally an understanding of the limitations and risks associated with variable quality fodder have to be addressed before it is too late and cows are being lost in the yard.

The take home lesson today is to step back from your farm at the moment and look at the quality of fodder you are feeding along with the feed intake of your cows. If you think you may have a problem, act on it now rather than wait till it gets worse. As always we are available for advice and help to solve any of your problems but we would love for there to be no problems in the first place!!

Contact us on 061 355186 for your nearest feed advisor.