Mole Valley Farmers has launched a new range of dairy compounds, blends and minerals, specifically designed to help farmers make efficient use of grazed grass and meet their milk contract requirements.
These products complement the business’ “Optimum Lifetime Performance” initiative by offering farmers a range of exclusive products and services that aim to enhance an animal’s lifetime performance.
Mole Valley Farmers senior nutritionist, Dr Robin Hawkey says: “Selecting the right type of complementary feed at grass can promote rumen function and forage utilisation. In turn this will help avoid any costly dips in milk fat and protein at turnout, which is essential considering many milk contract requirements. Ultimately, it’s all about making efficient use of cost effective grazed grass.”
All of the new season feeds have been specially formulated to balance for the nutritional attributes of grazed grass using Mole Valley Farmers’ unique ration programme,“Precision Nutrition.”
Particular attention has been placed on Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load (RUFAL) – a new parameter developed by Mole Valley Farmers. This takes into account oil fractions, which can be high in fresh grass, potentially leading to sub optimal rumen function and depressed butterfats at turnout. All of the new compounds and blends have been formulated with low RUFAL to promote efficient use of grazed grass.
Feeds have also been balanced for acid load, fibre index and Digestible Undegradable Starch (DUS) to ensure they complement low fibre, high protein fresh grass and optimise rumen health.
Gluconogenic energy is also considered to drive milk yields and milk protein, whilst helping reduce the effects of negative energy balance.
Farmers also have the option of choosing products including Optitek – a combination of plant extracts and essential oils selected to improve microbial fermentation in the rumen. This is designed to help the cow efficiently utilise energy and high protein at grass and has been shown to increase yields by 1-1.5 litres a cow a day on a number of controlled studies and farm field trials.
The new product selection joins Mole Valleys’ existing line-up of compounds, blends and minerals which also include a variety of products designed for the housed dairy cow. Some of the new grassland products for 2017 include:
Three new Precision Nutrition Grass (PNG) dairy compounds:
• PNG Gold – This will help support milk fat and protein yields and is based around sugar beet and maize grain. It also includes biotin to help production and foot health, as well as Optitek.
• PNG Cream – Designed to support milk butterfats, this includes sugar beet and C16 fat.
• PNG Promax – This has been formulated to boost milk proteins and includes maize grain and X1 yeast to help rumen health.
Three new 16% protein blends;
• Mole Easy Grazer 16 – A well rounded summer grazing blend aimed at promoting both milk and butterfats.
• Mole Super Grazer 16 – Based on maize grain and protected soya, this has high ME and starch levels to support yields and higher milk protein levels.
• Mole HDF Grazer 16 – This is based on Nutritionally Improved Straw (NIS) and is formulated to increase fibre intakes and support butterfats.
A specific mineral for grazing herds:
• OptiGraze Plus – This ‘in feed’ mineral is a step up from the existing ‘Opti-Graze’ mineral. This includes Optitek, as well as organic sources of copper, selenium and zinc, together with X1-LIVE yeast.
