By Rob Furmage, Scientific Services Manager for Volac Feed Additives.
Monitoring rations and protecting cows from potentially elevated mycotoxin risk is essential this autumn following the summer’s extended hot, dry weather.
Mycotoxins are produced by certain moulds which can grow on bought-in feeds and home-grown silages. These invisible toxins have wide-ranging effects including reduced feed efficiency, suboptimal yields, poor fertility and mastitis.
This year’s multiple heat waves and drought placed crops under huge stress, creating the ideal conditions for moulds to take advantage. The different growing conditions could also mean a shift in the type of mycotoxins seem. In fact, Volac’s Mycocheck service has already started to pick up changing patterns. For example, a barley sample tested high for sterigmatocystin, a toxin related to aflatoxin.
Aflatoxins are not usually seen in the UK and are usually associated with warmer, drier regions. The challenging growing conditions could mean there is an increased risk – although small – of these toxins. Aflatoxins can result in aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in milk, which has a maximum permitted limit in the UK and EU and can lead to milk tank rejection.
Warm and dry weather also favours different Fusarium species which are more associated with fumonisin mycotoxins, which can cause immune suppression and reduced rumen function. These could potentially be an issue in maize this season.
Be cautious of mycotoxin risk when buying-in any forage. You don’t know the history or the growing conditions and it’s an unknown impact on your diet.
To protect against the unknowns and safeguard against likely increased risk, it’s worth taking a preventative approach and feeding the triple action mycotoxin remediator and endotoxin binder, UltraSorb R. Compared to simple clay binders, UltraSorb R transforms and degrades a wider range of mycotoxins. It is available through Trident MicroNutri in the UK and can be included in the diet at a preventative rate to protect cows from challenge.
The ration should then be routinely tested for mycotoxins through the season and whenever there are any diet changes to identify any specific uplift in risk. The level of mycotoxin remediator fed can then be adjusted accordingly. Ends