The Application and Benefits of High Fibre Pellets
Grazing systems within ruminant focused agribusinesses across southern Australia continue to employ strategies that underpin triple bottom line principles that support improved animal health outcomes, environmental sustainability and economic resilience.
Supplementary and complementary feed ingredients that are incorporated into these businesses need to provide outcomes that align strongly with these purposes. We have a range of forages available to optimise yield according to soil and environmental conditions, however the availability and nutrient offering of these forages don’t always align to support optimal animal performance – be it milk, meat or wool.
When faced with a plethora of choices in selecting purchased feeds, it can be helpful to view things through the lens requirements - do you require products that will be complementary to the available forage or, is forage limited and you need a product that will supplement declining forage intake?
Seasonally, we often face forage deficits in winter and summer, and sometimes summer drags into autumn if the break is late… as the daily intake demands of our stock is greater than what we can grow. We can’t afford animal productivity to decline, and so we supplement our forages to continually meet the nutrient requirements of our live stock. The first and most important nutrient that we need to provide all livestock is fresh, uncontaminated drinking water. Then right alongside that, the very next focus in production animals is to optimise daily dry matter intake (DMI).
In ruminant animals, we need to provide a range of carbohydrates to meet metabolisable energy (ME) demands, which is also highly correlated to metabolisable protein (MP) supply. 0, then we must balance vitamins, macro and micro minerals relative to daily requirements. Optimising DMI goes a long way to resolving the first three – ME, MP and fiber, then it isn’t difficult to resolve vitamin and mineral demand.
Heywood Stockfeeds supply high fibre feed pellets to all ruminant groups including Lambs, Ewes, Calves & Cattle
“High fibre pellets provide a very practical solution to resolving seasonal forage deficits”
High fibre pellets provide a very practical solution to resolving seasonal forage deficits – we view this as supplementary feeding. They provide a range of complex and simple carbohydrates to make up the deficit in daily energy demands along with effective rumen degradable protein (ERDP). The combination of fermentable carbohydrates and ERDP will support the doubling rate of fiber digesting bacteria in the rumen and therefore, aid both DMI and the supply of metabolisable protein to the intestine that is required to support production outcomes. Because the carbohydrates offered via a high fiber pellet are more complex, the risk of rumen dysfunction in lower than traditional cereal grain-based pellets. So, in feeding systems where pellet intake is not highly controlled, such as trail feeding, self-feeders, when open troughs are utilised or pellets are fed every second day, high fiber pellets present as a very safe alternative to maintain productivity.
During periods when forage intake is high but the nutrients provided by the forage aren’t necessarily balanced to optimise production goals, we step into the space of complementary feeding. In grazing systems, the most common imbalances we tend to observe are a lack of physically effective fiber relative to simple carbohydrates (sugars), an excess of soluble crude protein (known as non-protein Nitrogen, or NPN) relative to simple sugars, leading to a rapid rate of passage through the rumen that means we haven’t utilised the more complex carbohydrates on offer in our forages (we observe this as hind gut fermentation) and finally, mineral imbalances.
“Pellets also allow for the homogenous delivery of vitamins, macro and micro minerals. ”
When grazing lush, high protein forages, microbial fermentation often results in an excess of ammonia being produced in the rumen. Some is utilised by the “bugs”, some diffuses into blood and will be recirculated, some escapes the rumen via the liquid content and draws large volumes of water with it into the intestines – we see very loose faecal matter! A high fibre pellet with a moderate offering of starch from cereal grains aids in three ways; firstly it will dilute the excess NPN and reduce volume of ammonia produced that needs to be converted to urea for recycling (which costs ME), secondly the fiber helps move fermentation acids to the rumen wall for absorption to aid in stabilising rumen pH and thirdly, the fermentable carbohydrates allow the microbial population to utilise more of the NPN in the forages and convert it into metabolisable protein that is then incorporated into productive outcomes – milk meat and wool.
Pellets also allow for the homogenous delivery of vitamins, macro and micro minerals. The concentration of Calcium, Phosphorus and Magnesium found in forages regularly fall short of animal requirements, then for a range of reasons, we are nearly always looking for additional Copper, Cobalt, Iodine, Manganese, Selenium and Zinc, all of which can limit animal performance if left unresolved. Vitamins A, B1, D3 and E can also limit metabolism, antioxidant activity, reproduction and health, therefore daily provision is encouraged.
So, when you are faced with choices relative to purchased feeds, start by determining whether you are looking for a supplementary or complementary feed and then discuss with the team at Heywood Stockfeeds which of their high fiber pellet options will best help meet the nutrient requirements of your live stock to realise your production goals.