By Ashley Grimsell, Technical Manager Voermol Feeds
Producers have to farm more effectively and economically in the current agricultural environment to meet the higher demand for human food, with less available arable land and increased financial pressure.
This pressure on producers to produce more efficiently under challenging circumstances can result in elevated stress in ruminants in production systems. This includes stress from transitioning them to intensive production systems (lambing pen systems and feedlots) and transporting them to different farms, as well as elevated disease load or challenges.
These added stressors are experienced in combination with the “normal” stressors that ruminants are exposed to daily, including predators, weaning stress and environmental stress (changes in feed or camps, the weather, temperature and animal groups).
Producers can manage stress in ruminants in two ways:
- Manage the cause (origin) of the stress.
- Manage the effect of the stress.
When any ruminant is exposed to a stress factor, its heart and respiration rates increase, cortisol is released, changes in blood glucose levels occur and decreased feed intakes are observed.
The changes in heart rate and respiration rate are an attempt by the animal’s body to prepare the muscles for a flight reaction or to return the bodily state to “normal” conditions (e.g. during heat stress).
Blood glucose levels become elevated to make energy available to the animals.
Cortisol, the “stress hormone”, has several effects on the functioning of the animal’s body, including the functioning of the immune system, and causes the breakdown of bodily tissues to make nutrients available.
The reduced feed intake results in a series of effects on different systems. The gastrointestinal tract becomes susceptible as there is less feed passing through the system, and blood flow is reduced (because blood is redirected to other systems to abate the stress), therefore, the normal conditions of the gastrointestinal tract are disrupted. This leads to inflammation (the activation of the immune system) and a route for pathogens to enter the body.
Immune cells that are activated during an inflammatory response use glucose, a readily available energy source. Inflammation eventually leads to morbidities and possibly mortalities if it is not managed and treated properly.
The opposite can also occur – the functioning of the immune system may decline during stressful periods, which causes opportunistic microbes (that usually don’t pose a threat to the animal) to cause illness. The most prominent are infections of the airways and lungs.
As a result, the production of an animal experiencing stress is reduced, as there are fewer nutrients available to perform these functions, which include growth, reproduction and milk production.
Stress is unavoidable and, in some cases, undetectable but still present. With proper nutrition the producer can attempt to reduce the effect stress has on the production and health of his/her ruminants.
Voermol has completed thorough research to bring a solution to the market that reduces the effects of stress in ruminants. Voermol Stressbuster (V35135) is uniquely formulated to support the health and functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, improve immunity, improve nutrient digestion and reduce morbidities and mortalities.
Molasses is used in the formulation of Voermol Stressbuster (V35135), a source of sugars, that are palatable (therefore stimulate feed intake) and are easily converted to glucose to support the increased energy requirement of ruminants experiencing stress.
Manage the unavoidable by adding Voermol Stressbuster (V35135) to your animal feed.
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