“What’s the guts??”. Deep within the interior of ruminant animals is a fascinating digestion system that enables animals to digest fibrous feeds that we as humans can’t. Focusing on how ruminants work, The Rumen Room Podcasts cover a broad range of topics that bring together the nutrition, health, reproductive performance and well-being of ruminant animals. Presented in a practical, down to earth manner by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, The Rumen Room Podcas ...
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54. Baleage – A mystery surprise or valuable nutrients for our ruminants? Part 1.
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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 qua…
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53. Switching on ‘the heater’ inside newborn ruminants – The role for brown fat reserves
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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 t…
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52. Wild winter weather. Part Two, Farm-level practical concepts
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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…
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51. Wild winter weather. Cattle outside, how we can help - Part One
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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 moderat…
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50. Soil contamination of feeds – any issues for our ruminants?
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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 i…
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49. Dry cow and transition cow management – it’s all about the COW. Featuring Dr Sue Macky
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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 tra…
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48. Lignin – From pine trees to pastures – What do your grazing animals reckon?
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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…
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47. Kiwifruit as a feed for ruminants
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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 wa…
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46. Metabolisable Energy in Ruminant Nutrition - it’s an interesting topic, we promise!
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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…
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45. Dietary Cationic Anionic Difference (DCAD) – One strategy for reducing challenges of low blood calcium in dairy cows
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Our latest podcast explores DCAD - one specific aspect of the diet of “springer” (“close-up”) dairy cows. The Rumen Room Podcast has briefly discussed DCAD previously (Episodes 10 and 34). Changing the DCAD of a springer cow diet potentially reduces risk of hypocalcaemia (low blood calcium) in cows before, during and immediately after calving. This…
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44. Hot and bothered lactating dairy cows - the how, the why and what we can do to help our cows
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Our latest podcast carries on with our heat stress 'theme' from episode 43, where we explored the challenges of hot temperatures on pasture species. We’ve moved the theme of heat stress across to how heat stress effects dairy cows. We discuss how heat stress bothers cows, and investigate strategies to reduce the effects of summer heat on lactating …
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43. Hot and bothered summer pastures – less dry matter and poorer nutritive value for your grazing ruminants
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With the New Zealand summer in full flight during early 2024, it’s timely to review how hot temperatures potentially alter the dry matter yields and nutritive value of our temperate pasture species.Exploring first how hot temperatures impact dry matter yields (kilograms of dry matter grown per hectare per day), the podcast looks at effects of hot w…
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42. Thiamine deficiency in sheep and cattle – a nutritional challenge with an animal health twist
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Thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency - a nutrition/diet-mediated animal health condition sometimes seen in ruminant species - features in this, our latest Rumen Room Podcast. Most often seen in young, spring-born ruminants during their first summer of life, thiamine deficiency is a sporadic animal health condition that most New Zealand dairy, sheep and…
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41. Internal parasite management– the role for good nutrition (plus many other parasite topics!)
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Our latest episode features guest speaker Dr Ginny Dodunski who joins Rumen Room host Dr Charlotte Westwood for a chat about all things internal parasites. As a New Zealand-based veterinarian and self proclaimed “gumboot parasitologist”, Ginny requires little introduction to most kiwis involved in farming. With a background in veterinary practice, …
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40. The role for dietary iodine in dairy cows before and during mating
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This episode takes a deep dive into the topic of dietary iodine requirements of cows - and the relationship (or not) of iodine intake with the reproductive performance of cows. Iodine is well down the priority list when tackling challenges of poor reproductive performance. Body condition score at calving and the extent and duration of body conditio…
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39. Summer forages for lactating dairy cows. The Mark and Courtney Harris story
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With the ever-increasing inconsistencies of summer weather impacting on dryland dairying, forage crops deliver a valuable bulk of high-quality summer and early autumn feed. In our latest dairying-themed podcast, host Charlotte Westwood is joined by Waikato dairy farming couple, Mark and Courtney Harris - to learn of their investigations into the fi…
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38. Feed for your stock - Spring planting decisions; “What’s In the Bag” – with agronomist Brian Young
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With spring planting coming up fast for us here in New Zealand, our latest episode focuses on decisions around choosing the right pasture and forage crop seeds. Host Charlotte Westwood chats with guest podcaster, Southland agronomist Brian Young about all things seeds. Brian’s background includes farming (sheep and beef, and dairy), shearing, worki…
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37. Setting ewes up well through lambing – Pasture-based tips and tricks
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This episode carries on from Episode 36, expanding the topic around feeding ewes well through lambing. First up, we cover off on the challenges of stress, and of pre-existing animal health conditions on the ability of a heavily inlamb ewe to look after herself and her unborn lambs well, from a nutritional point of view. The importance of getting st…
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36. Pregnancy Toxaemia (“Sleepy Sickness”) in pregnant ewes
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Our latest sheep-themed podcast covers a topic that can challenge our pregnant ewes when they have a belly-full of lambs in late pregnancy. Pregnancy toxaemia is a metabolic disease of ewes caused by underfeeding and/or stress when ewes, often those carrying twins or triplets, reach the final stages of late pregnancy. The podcast covers off what pr…
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35. Rumen bloat (“frost bloat”) in cattle that eat frosted, frozen winter pastures and forage crops
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During mid-winter, it’s not uncommon to start the morning with frosted forages (pastures, winter brassicas, fodder beet and green feed cereals). For break / strip grazed animals that are hungrily waiting for their regular shift onto a new break, frosted forages can potentially increase risk of rumen bloat or "frost bloat". In this our latest “bite-…
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34. Reducing risk of low blood calcium at calving - Dairy cow springer (pre-calving) diets
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In this our latest podcast, we focus exclusively on the diet of “springer” dairy cows (otherwise known as “close up dry cows”). Many factors are important when designing springer cows diets – relating not only to calcium metabolism but also to do with dietary energy, protein, fibre and, of course, the requirements for other minerals and vitamins. F…
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33. Intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition in finishing animals – animal-related factors, and dietary nutrition
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Intramuscular fat (IMF) is fat that’s deposited between and within individual muscle fibres (cells) in the skeletal muscle of animals. Also referred to as ‘marbling’, consumers of red meat often prefer meat that contains a higher level of IMF due to an enhanced eating experience. In this, our second in a two-part series focusing on IMF in ruminant …
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32. An introduction to intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition in finishing animals
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Intramuscular fat (IMF) is fat that’s deposited between and within individual muscle fibres (cells) in the body of animals. Often also referred to as ‘marbling’, the consumers of red meat often have a preference for higher IMF meat due to an enhanced eating experience. In this, our first in a two-part series that focuses on IMF, we lay the foundati…
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31. The dry off process for lactating dairy cows. Part Two
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This is our second of a two part series all about “drying off” lactating dairy cows. Part One of this two-part series (Episode 30) covered off the basics of why the cow and her udder need a dry period to rest and recuperate in preparation for a new lactation. What a “good” dry off process might look like was discussed, as well as the impact of once…
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30. The dry off process for lactating dairy cows. Part One
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“Drying off” lactating dairy cows is the process of successfully and efficiently closing down the lactation process in readiness for the dry period – a time of rest and recuperation for not only the cow but also her hard-working milk secretory cells in her udder. In this, part one of a two-part series about drying off dairy cows, we explore the bas…
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29. Rusty grasses – what might these mean for grazing animal performance and wellbeing?
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In this our latest “bite sized” Rumen Room Podcast, we cover off a brief overview about rusty grasses. Often the first time you realise your pastures contain Crown rust (Puccinia coronata) or Stem rust (Puccinia graminis) fungi is when your boots turn an orange colour as you walk through the paddocks. (Note that these aren’t the only types of fungi…
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28. Ewe flushing for mating success
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For spring lambing businesses, autumn means it’s time for the rams to head out with the ewes. Ovulation, conception rate and embryo implantation are all influenced by nutrition before and during mating. In this our latest Rumen Room Podcast, we’re focusing on the importance of a rising plane of nutrition for ewes (otherwise known as “flushing”) bef…
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27. Magnesium Sulphate or Magnesium Chloride for dairy cows. Which one?
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With this, our latest and all new “bite-sized” short Rumen Room podcast, we discuss the specific topic of magnesium salts... magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate. We’ll take a compare and contrast style of approach to cover off the basics around the decision around which type of magnesium to use and when, how and where to use either of these t…
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26. Flood damage; Part Two – Deciding what to do with flood damaged Crops
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In this, our latest Rumen Room Podcast episode, we’re going to carry on with the topic of flood damage to ruminant feeds. Episode 25 was part one of this two-part flood themed topic, which covered a discussion around assessing and deciding what to do with supplementary feeds (specifically, silage, baleage, hay and straw) that may have been damaged …
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25. Flood damage; Part One – Deciding what to do with flood damaged Supplementary Feeds
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With recent flood damage across many New Zealand regions, it’s timely to explore flood-associated nutritional and feed challenges being faced by many farmers. This episode is the first of a two part series that explores topics to do with managing flood damaged feeds for cattle, sheep and deer. We’ll discuss topics to do with flood damaged silage, b…
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24. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part Two
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A relatively common feed for lactating dairy cows, summer bulb turnips deliver top quality feed crop when the amount and/or nutritive value of summer pastures is lacking. Continuing on with our summer turnip theme that we started back in episode 23, in part two of this two-part summer turnip series, we’ll cover off practicalities of feeding summer …
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23. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part One
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Summer bulb turnips are a key component of the diet for many lactating dairy cows. In this two-part series, we’ll be exploring everything to do with cows grazing bulb turnips, from the nutritional profile of summer turnips through to grazing management and expected milk production and body condition responses by cows that consume bulb turnips. This…
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22. Primary Photosensitisation (“sunburn”) in lambs and cattle
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In this, our latest Rumen Room podcast, we’ve got a summer-themed podcast for you. With many of us heading away to beaches and lakes and lots of outdoor activities, we’re very aware of the importance of prevention of sunburn for us and our families. Ever thought about our sheep and cattle? Yes, under some circumstances, sheep and cattle can sometim…
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21. Mating of dairy cows: Part Two. Anoestrus (non-cycling) cows, silent heats and heat detection efficiency.
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In this, our latest Rumen Room Podcast episode, we’ll carry on with the theme of dairy cow nutrition and reproductive performance. Episode 20 covered the importance of 3-week submission rate as a driver of reproductive success in seasonally calved dairy herds. We discussed how the nutrition of cows impacts the onset of ovulation and oestrus (heat) …
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20. Mating of dairy cows: Part One. Effects of nutrition on 3-week submission rate
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For seasonally mated dairy cows, 3-week submission rate is an important driver of a herds reproductive efficiency. There’re a huge number of factors that influence 3-week submission rate including but not limited to the nutrition of dairy cows. In part one of this two-part podcast series about dairy nutrition and submission rates, we’ll first explo…
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19. ”Where are my missing milksolids?” Part three - Pasture-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids production
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In this, the third of our three part series exploring “Where are my missing milksolids”, we’ll continue on from topics covered in parts one (Episode 16) and two (Episode 18). This time around, we’ll cover off the challenges of ryegrass-based pastures for New Zealand spring calving, pasture-fed cows. Perennial ryegrass is a highly productive, top qu…
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18. “Where are my missing milksolids?” Part two – Cow-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids production
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In our first podcast in this three-part series, we explored factors that influence milksolids production from calving through to peak production in New Zealand spring calved dairy herds - take a listen to part one to catch up on that discussion. In this, our latest part in this “Where are my missing milksolids?” series, we move onto the next stage …
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17. Wellbeing of young ruminants grazing summer crops
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In this latest podcast, well known veterinarian Andrew Dowling joins Charlotte Westwood to discuss all things to do with animal wellbeing and performance on summer crops. With a wealth of veterinary and farm systems knowledge, Andrew steps us through the various tips and tricks around looking after your lambs or young cattle during their first summ…
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16. ”Where are my missing milksolids?” Part One - Calving through to peak lactation
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In theory, our pasture-fed cows should simply eat pasture and produce milksolids. Shouldn’t they? Well yes, but sometimes on a whole herd basis, we might track the herds milk production and wonder why the herd is not producing as much as they should. In this latest Rumen Room Podcast we’ll explore different aspects of the lactation curve of a sprin…
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15. Milk urea in pasture-fed dairy cows
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Urea concentration in the milk of pasture-fed cows, what’s it about? In this latest Rumen Room Podcast, veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood steps us through all things to do with milk urea. Why and how does urea end up in the blood and therefore in the milk of cows? What does it mean for the cow when milk urea concentrations are unu…
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14. SMCO toxicity (aka kale anaemia, red water) in ruminant species
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Forage brassicas are simply an amazing, low cost feed for our ruminant species. Over 300,000 ha of brassicas are planted in New Zealand annually and thankfully, animal health disorders are not particularly common despite the huge numbers of animals that eat brassicas each year. Very occasionally, grazing animals might experience an animal health di…
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13. Summer crop planning – The journey from seed to feed
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Spring is just around the corner and before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. It’s never too early to be planning for your summer forage crop requirements to keep your sheep, cattle and/or deer happy, well fed and content through the summer months. In this episode, Dr Charlotte Westwood is joined by Paul Greenbank, agronomist and farm systems guru wi…
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12. Calf Nutrition: Nutritional scours
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In this second of a two part series about preweaned calf nutrition, this episode covers all things to do with nutritional scours (diarrhoea) in calves younger than 3 weeks of age. Nutritional scours not only increase risk of dehydration in your young calves, but also increase risk of infectious scours due to a range of pathogens. Presented by New Z…
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11. Calf nutrition: All you wanted to know but were afraid to ask!
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Such a magical transformation - a newborn calf that becomes a fully fledged and functioning ruminant within just a matter of months. How does this amazing process of changing a fully milk-fed calf to one that eats and digests pasture work? Join us for another fact filled and down to earth approach to understanding about the nutrition of young calve…
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10. Transition feeding of dairy cows through calving – Keeping cows well, the practicalities!
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Keeping our cows happy, healthy and well through the transition period. What are some practical tips and tricks to help make calving a whole lot less stressful for our cows (and us)? In this episode, New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood is joined by guest podcaster and fellow veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Laura Pattie.…
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9. Udder oedema in calving dairy cows
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Udder oedema is a condition that sometimes affects our younger dairy cows around calving time. This latest Rumen Room podcast covers off information about udder oedema. Topics discussed include why udder oedema occurs, the range of factors that increase risk of udder oedema and some of the nutritional strategies that may reduce the chances of udder…
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8. Magnesium metabolism – the inside story!
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Magnificent magnesium – a mineral that all animal species require to keep the body ticking along. And a very relevant mineral given lambing and calving time is just around the corner for New Zealand and Australians. Why the extra interest in magnesium in winter and spring?? For pregnant and lactating animals, magnesium is a very important mineral. …
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7. “Feed Test Lab Reports: Just what on earth do all those numbers mean” - Part Two
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Cattle are picky critters and oh such fussy eaters! The backstory to this Podcast is that our cattle have decided “No thanks”, they’d rather not eat our pasture silage. Why not? What’s different about this pasture silage that might explain why our cattle won’t touch it? In this, part two of a two part series, New Zealand veterinarian and nutritioni…
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6. “Feed Test Lab Reports: Just what on earth do all those numbers mean” - Part One
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How many of you routinely collect feed samples and send them away for feed testing? Ever wondered what all those numbers mean? No worries – you are most certainly not alone! Listen in to this, the first in a two part series all about interpreting feed test results for a sample of pasture silage. New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Charlotte W…
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5. Nitrate toxicity in ruminants
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Nitrate toxicity - the most commonly encountered toxicity challenge in New Zealand ruminants. This podcast breaks nitrate toxicity down into seven "bite sized", easy to understand sections. By stepping through, step-by-step, the various things that we need to know about nitrate toxicity, you'll be set up well to understand how to deal with this cha…
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