Shows
The Rumen Room Podcasts63. Frosty frozen forages – Cold crops and pasturesWith winter just around the corner for New Zealanders, our latest topic focuses on the effects of cold temperatures and frost on forage plants. We investigate how frosts damage our plants during the freeze-thaw cycles, “messing” with a plants wellbeing. Thankfully – and given time for plants to adjust to the cold - Mother Nature steps in and helps a plant develop some degree of resilience to cold and frosty weather. Despite this, frosts can damage pasture plants, causing a drop / fall in pasture mass (kgDM/ha) through the winter - as well as reducing the nutritive value of pasture during...2025-05-1930 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts62. Autumn Ill thrift in grazing ruminants. Part Two - Animal Health issuesThis is the second in a two part series all to do with Autumn Ill thrift in grazing ruminants. Part one (Episode 61) explored some of the nutritionally-based reasons that may contribute to animals appearing ‘ill thrifty’ when pasture quality shifts from standing, poor quality summer pasture to very high quality, lush autumn green feed.
The potential for animal-health related challenges to contribute to autumn ill thrift issues is covered in this, our latest episode. First up, the role for internal parasites to cause autumn ill thrift issues is briefly discussed (but acknowledging the excellent resources for managing inte...2025-04-2443 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts61. Autumn ill thrift in grazing Ruminants. Part One - Possible nutritional challengesAfter a long, hot and often dry summer when pasture quality might be rather poor and in short demand, we’re always keen to see the onset of autumn rains. At last, we can expect improved amounts of pasture on hand and the silage wagon can be parked up for a while. Improved feed quality of autumn pasture is an added bonus, likely being much better than what stock have been grazing through the summer months. With the change of season from summer to autumn, pasture quality can shift dramatically from poor quality to very lush, leafy pasture. Why th...2025-04-1836 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts60. Copper nutrition – Part Four, copper toxicity in ruminantsLike anything in life, too much of a good thing can end badly. The same can be said for copper nutrition in ruminants. Required in just trace amounts, copper is needed by all ruminants - but too much copper places the wellbeing of ruminants at risk. Worst case, too much copper can prove fatal for our farm animals.
Part four in our four-part copper themed podcast covers off risk factors for copper toxicity. Just why some ruminant species can be at greater risk of copper toxicity than others is explored. Reasons why some breeds of sheep may...2025-01-1222 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts59. Copper nutrition – Part Three, defining copper status and resolving deficienciesWhat are some of the ways that we can test feed or other samples to assess the likelihood of copper deficiency in sheep, cattle or deer? Part three of this four-part copper themed miniseries moves the topic to defining the copper status of your farmed ruminants. The strengths and weaknesses of different testing methods for copper status are discussed. If a copper deficiency is very likely / has been defined, this episode covers different ways to provide additional copper to your ruminants. **Note: The content within this episode is NOT intended to replace the nutritional advice specific to your animals...2025-01-0538 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts58. Copper nutrition – Part Two, clinical signs suggestive of copper deficiencyDairy, sheep, beef, or deer farming? There’s something for everyone in our latest “bite sized” copper-themed miniseries podcast. Building on the introduction to copper nutrition in Episode 57, this podcast explores signs that ruminants might (or might not) show when copper deficient. Often we don’t see obvious signs of copper deficiency - this is called a “sub-clinical” deficiency. Which means animals simply don’t grow or perform well but don't show any classic signs of copper deficiency. A "clinical" copper deficiency simply means that we see obvious signs in animals that are suggestive of a low copper status.
Our lates...2025-01-0323 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts57. Copper nutrition – Part One, why do ruminants need copper?Read the side of any bag of trace mineral additives or feed products, and there’s good chance copper will be listed as one of the ingredients. Just what is copper and why should we be interested? Our latest copper-themed miniseries offers in a “bite-sized” manner four short and snappy podcasts all to do with copper. Why do ruminants (sometimes, but not always) need copper? What “jobs” does copper do throughout the body? How do deficiencies of copper come about on farm? Sheep and cattle – do we need to think about copper in different ways for each of our farm species...2025-01-0323 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts56. Ruminants aren’t the only herbivores that eat forage crops!This latest “bite sized” short podcast takes a look at summer crop establishment in New Zealand, including a detailed look at the tiny (unwanted) herbivores that eat forage crops. Charlotte Westwood chats with PGG Wrightson Seeds agronomy guru Greg Zeuren to hear about the successful establishment of spring planted summer forage crops in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.
In a down to earth, practical manner, Greg scene sets around deciding between direct drill or cultivation as approaches to crop establishment, discusses spray out and the importance of rolling crop areas post-planting, before movi...2024-11-0621 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts55. Baleage – A mystery surprise or valuable nutrients for our ruminants? Part 2Amazing feed quality or compost? This second of a two part podcast series focuses on how to make sure we get the very best quality feed from plastic-wrapped bales. Part 1 focused on how to assess baleage, and the importance of getting the dry matter (DM) % right to ensure a tasty, good quality end product. In this, part 2 of our baleage series, we look at further factors that impact balelage quality, including chop length, bale compaction, individual or tube-wrapped bales, how to handle bales and answers the question of “just how long do we need to leave baleage from the poi...2024-10-3033 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts54. Baleage – A mystery surprise or valuable nutrients for our ruminants? Part 1.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 quality of baleage as a feed for your stock. After discussing how to assess baleage, we move onto the importance of getting good quality forage into a bale at the appropriate dry matter (DM) percentage to optimise baleage quality. Part 2 of...2024-10-2549 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts53. Switching on ‘the heater’ inside newborn ruminants – The role for brown fat reservesHypothermia 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 to keep itself warm, from the 'inside-out'?
In our latest podcast, we investigate how mother nature has designed a range of inbuilt systems that help newborn lambs and calves stay warm. The importance o...2024-09-1033 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts52. Wild winter weather. Part Two, Farm-level practical conceptsBuilding 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 of wind chill is discussed. Just why cows need more feed during a range of different winter weather events is covered. How the “Heat of Fermentation” inside the rumen helps keep a cow "toasty warm" is explained. The better types of supplementary feeds to offer cows d...2024-08-0928 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts51. Wild winter weather. Cattle outside, how we can help - Part OneCold 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 moderately cold winter conditions. Risk factors that influence the degree of tolerance by cows to cold conditions are discussed. The range of coping mechanisms provided to ruminants by “Mother Nature” to improve resilience to colder winter weather are explo...2024-07-3037 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts50. Soil contamination of feeds – any issues for our ruminants?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 increase risk of animals eating too much soil? Are there any health or nutrition issues we need to think about when animals eat too much mud and dirt? What happens when we get soil contamination of silage? All this and...2024-07-0450 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts49. Dry cow and transition cow management – it’s all about the COW. Featuring Dr Sue MackyWell 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 transition dairy cows - and forget about focusing specifically on the cow herself. Not in this latest episode, this is very much about the cow herself!
Sue discusses a cow-centric approach to managing dairy cows from dry off...2024-05-3124 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts48. Lignin – From pine trees to pastures – What do your grazing animals reckon?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 day-to-day diets. Find out how the lignin content of feeds changes with feed type and feed management, and what you can do to reduce intake of lignin in the diet of your sheep, cattle, deer or goats to improve anima...2024-05-1938 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts47. Kiwifruit as a feed for ruminantsSliced 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 water soluble carbohydrates, whole kiwifruit can be a very useful feed. However… as for any byproduct feed, kiwifruit may not always meet our expectations as a stockfeed.
Join us for this latest podcast that explores the good, the bad and...2024-04-2848 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts46. Metabolisable Energy in Ruminant Nutrition - it’s an interesting topic, we promise!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 Westwood explores the basics of MJME as a concept and covers how feed testing laboratories measure MJME. How we use MJME values of a feed on farm on a day to day basis is explained. The strengths and possible limitations with the use of M...2024-03-1848 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts45. Dietary Cationic Anionic Difference (DCAD) – One strategy for reducing challenges of low blood calcium in dairy cowsOur 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 latest episode takes a deeper dive into the detail of DCAD, explaining what DCAD is, what stock class stands to benefit the most from changing dietary DCAD, and how dietary DCAD influence risk of hypocalcaemia. Practical approaches to DCAD management for pasture-fed cows are...2024-02-1646 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts44. Hot and bothered lactating dairy cows - the how, the why and what we can do to help our cowsOur 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 cows of hot summer temperatures.
Featuring expert heat stress guest podcaster, Lori Grinter, this episode covers a wide range of heat-related topics. Lori first explains how her heat stress studies as part of her Masters undertaken at th...2024-01-2850 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts43. Hot and bothered summer pastures – less dry matter and poorer nutritive value for your grazing ruminants
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 weather on New Zealand’s most common pasture species combination, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and white clover (Trifolium repens). Other species discussed include continental (summer active) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata, otherwise known as orchard grass) and red clover (Trifolium pratense...2024-01-1953 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts42. Thiamine deficiency in sheep and cattle – a nutritional challenge with an animal health twistThiamine (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 beef farmers will be familiar with.
Featuring five sections packed with information about thiamine, Dr Charlotte Westwood steps us through this podcast in a down to earth, practical manner. Thiamine as a vitamin is defined and clinical signs of thiamine deficiency are discussed – the “neuro...2023-11-2344 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts41. Internal parasite management– the role for good nutrition (plus many other parasite topics!)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, farm consultancy and more recently, working part time with Wormwise, Ginny joins us to cover a range of topics relating to internal parasite management in sheep and cattle.
Given the concerning scale of resistance by internal parasites to our range of anthelmintic (drench) products, Ginny steps us t...2023-10-1754 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts40. The role for dietary iodine in dairy cows before and during matingThis 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 condition loss (‘negative energy balance’) are by far the more important factors that drive successful reproductive outcomes in dairy cows.
That said, iodine features every season in conversations on farm about improving mating outcomes. “Iodine improves expression of heat by cow...2023-10-0638 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts39. Summer forages for lactating dairy cows. The Mark and Courtney Harris storyWith 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 fit of different summer forage crops for their dairy business.
Farming across two properties in the northern and southern reaches of the Waikato, summer crops form an important feature of Mark and Courtneys dairy systems. Chicory and summer brassicas are cost effective feeds for their herds...2023-09-2534 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts38. Feed for your stock - Spring planting decisions; “What’s In the Bag” – with agronomist Brian YoungWith 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, working as a rural retail rep and, for the last 9 years, working with PGG Wrightson Seeds, advising farmers how to grow the very best pastures and forage crops.
What’s involved in choosing the right type of seed? Just what is in that...2023-09-2219 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts37. Setting ewes up well through lambing – Pasture-based tips and tricksThis 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 stocking rate right at the point of set stocking is discussed, and we investigate ways to calculate what your stocking rate should look like.
Lower than ideal pasture covers at the time of set stocking - such a challenge...2023-08-2849 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts36. Pregnancy Toxaemia (“Sleepy Sickness”) in pregnant ewesOur 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 pregnancy toxaemia is (and how and why it occurs), clinical signs you might see in affected ewes, then finishes up with an overview of approaches to treating ewes with pregnancy toxaemia.
*NOTE: This podcast contains information about pregnancy toxaemia in...2023-08-2539 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts35. Rumen bloat (“frost bloat”) in cattle that eat frosted, frozen winter pastures and forage cropsDuring 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-sized” Rumen Room Podcast, we cover why grazing ruminants, cattle particularly, are at greater risk of rumen bloat when they eat frozen pastures and winter forage crops.
Preventative strategies that reduce risk of “frost bloat” in animals that graze frozen, frosted fora...2023-08-1113 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts34. Reducing risk of low blood calcium at calving - Dairy cow springer (pre-calving) dietsIn 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.
Focusing specifically on how a springer cow diet influences calcium metabolism through calving and during early lactation, we’ll cover a range of different topics. First up, the basics of calcium metabolism are discussed then moving onto the reasons why recently...2023-07-241h 05The Rumen Room Podcasts33. Intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition in finishing animals – animal-related factors, and dietary nutritionIntramuscular 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 animals, we carry on a discussion around IMF from part one (Episode 32) that covered the basics of IMF in red meat.
In Episode 33, our current episode, we further explore the subject of IMF, covering first up, some o...2023-06-1956 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts32. An introduction to intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition in finishing animalsIntramuscular 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 foundations for our discussion around IMF. We define what IMF is, and describe why the increasingly discerning consumers prefer meat that contains a higher percentage of IMF. We further scene set around fat metabolism with a discussion around...2023-06-0928 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts31. The dry off process for lactating dairy cows. Part TwoThis 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-a-day milking before dry off for cows that are still producing a lot of milk in late lactation.
In this, Part Two of the two-part series about drying off dairy cows, we explore...2023-05-061h 01The Rumen Room Podcasts30. The dry off process for lactating dairy cows. Part One“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 basics of just why the cow and her udder deserve a well-earned break over the dry period. What “good” might look like for the ideal dry-off process is defined, and the role (or not) for gradual step down from...2023-04-2947 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts29. Rusty grasses – what might these mean for grazing animal performance and wellbeing?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 to cause rusty coloured mottling on your grasses - we’re focusing on just these two in this podcast. Ask your local agronomist for more advice around what types of fungi might be turning your grasses unusual rust and oran...2023-03-2313 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts28. Ewe flushing for mating successFor 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”) before the ewes meet the rams. We’ll cover a range of information, everything from how we think that flushing might work specifically to improve ovulation rates, and the importance of ewe body condition score as a modifier of and reprod...2023-03-121h 08The Rumen Room Podcasts27. Magnesium Sulphate or Magnesium Chloride for dairy cows. Which one?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 types of magnesium salts. Acknowledging of course as usual that this podcast is not designed to replace the recommendations and advice of your very own veterinarian or qualified dairy nutritionist!
Let us know what you think of our lat...2023-03-0312 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts26. Flood damage; Part Two – Deciding what to do with flood damaged CropsIn 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 by flood waters.
This latest podcast is part two of this two part flood-themed series, focusing more on the challenges and opportunities of flood damaged summer and winter crops, with an emphasis on forage brassica crops. To assist with yo...2023-02-1452 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts25. Flood damage; Part One – Deciding what to do with flood damaged Supplementary FeedsWith 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, baleage, hay and straw for ruminant species. Episode 26, part two in this two-part series will carry on with this flood-damaged feed theme by covering aspects of challenges when flood waters damage forage crops, with a specific emphasis on forage brassicas.
2023-02-1459 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts24. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part TwoA 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 bulb turnips. The importance of the careful transitioning of cows from pasture-based diets to one that contains summer bulb turnips is explained. Expected performance and milk responses by cows to summer turnips are discussed as well how to avoid ani...2023-01-3047 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts23. Summer bulb turnips for lactating dairy cows: Part OneSummer 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, our first part of this two part series about turnips, we’ll cover off the role for summer bulb turnips in a dairy farm systems, and explore the typical nutritional values of the bulb and leaf of summer bulb turnips. The...2023-01-121h 04The Rumen Room Podcasts22. Primary Photosensitisation (“sunburn”) in lambs and cattleIn 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 sometimes experience a condition called ‘photosensitisation’ – which looks very much like an extreme version of sunburn.
In this podcast hosted by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, this ‘photosensitisation’ condition is explored and explained. “Primary photosen...2022-12-311h 10The Rumen Room Podcasts21. Mating of dairy cows: Part Two. Anoestrus (non-cycling) cows, silent heats and heat detection efficiency.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) in cows after calving. Episode 20 finished up talking about nutritional challenges that impact on anoestrus (non-cycling) dairy cows.
This latest podcast completes the topic of anoestrus cows topic by discussing why herd social stressors may increase risk of anoestrus cows. The fi...2022-12-1145 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts20. Mating of dairy cows: Part One. Effects of nutrition on 3-week submission rateFor 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 explore how submission rate contributes to reproductive efficiency, through the role of submission rate influencing our 6-week in calf rates. We’ll then move onto the challenge of anoestrus (“non-cycler”) cows and how these non-cycler cows will, if not treated by your vet, reduce you...2022-11-2659 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts19. ”Where are my missing milksolids?” Part three - Pasture-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids productionIn 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 quality feed for most months of the year. During late spring and early summer, reproductive changes by ryegrass plants cause potential issues not only for reduced feed quality of pasture, but also influences the tastiness of pasture, and the ease with which cows can harvest...2022-11-061h 08The Rumen Room Podcasts18. “Where are my missing milksolids?” Part two – Cow-based factors that influence post-peak decline in milksolids productionIn 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 in the lactation curve - the post-peak decline (or "crash off peak") in milksolids production experienced by spring calved dairy herds during late spring and early summer. First up we'll explore cow-based factors responsible for post-peak decline that preve...2022-10-2945 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts17. Wellbeing of young ruminants grazing summer cropsIn 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 summer of life. The importance of transitioning stock from pastures to high quality summer crops is covered, before Andrew discusses some of the common disease problems in animals on summer crops including clostridial diseases, vitamin B1 deficiency and pneumonia. Trace mineral requirements of lambs...2022-10-2148 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts16. ”Where are my missing milksolids?” Part One - Calving through to peak lactationIn 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 spring calving dairy herd, looking for clues to explain why New Zealand spring calving cows might not be delivering the milksolids we’d been expecting.
The first in a three-part series, this podcast focuses on the ea...2022-10-1254 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts15. Milk urea in pasture-fed dairy cowsUrea 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 unusually high or unexpectedly low? Do we do anything different with the diet of cows if milk urea concentration is too high or too low?
With a specific emphasis on the interpretation of milk urea...2022-09-2458 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts14. SMCO toxicity (aka kale anaemia, red water) in ruminant speciesForage 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 disorder called SMCO toxicity. SMCO is a non-protein sulphur-nitrogen compound that sometimes accumulates in brassica crops and brassica weed species. Most cases of SMCO toxicity are seen when animals graze forage brassica crops during late winter and early to mid spring (August, September...2022-09-0354 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts13. Summer crop planning – The journey from seed to feedSpring 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 with PGG Wrightson Seeds based on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Paul steps us through the planning process for getting a spring planted crop into the ground - ready for your...2022-08-221h 00The Rumen Room Podcasts12. Calf Nutrition: Nutritional scoursIn 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 Zealand veterinarian and ruminant nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, this fact filled episode will provide tips and tricks for calf rearers around preventing nutritional scours. This episode discusses just what nutritional scours are in calves, why scouring makes calves unwell, and...2022-08-191h 14The Rumen Room Podcasts11. Calf nutrition: All you wanted to know but were afraid to ask!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 calves, including nutritional tips and tricks to help rear strong and healthy calves.
Presented by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, there's something for everyone in this first of a two part series. We'll step us through h...2022-08-061h 19The Rumen Room Podcasts10. Transition feeding of dairy cows through calving – Keeping cows well, the practicalities!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. Born and bred on a North Island dairy farm, Laura spent 10 years in a predominantly dairy veterinary role before moving into a ruminant nutrition role with PGG Wrightson Ltd.
Laura brings to this podcast a very hands on, down t...2022-07-1750 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts9. Udder oedema in calving dairy cowsUdder 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 oedema occurring in your cows.
Presented by New Zealand veterinarian and ruminant nutritionist Charlotte Westwood, we hope that you find some handy tips to help reduce risk of udder oedema. As for any animal health disorder, the content of this podcast i...2022-07-1445 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts8. Magnesium metabolism – the inside story!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. If we don’t get the diet just right, and the magnesium status of our animals correctly sorted, our animals can get themselves into all sort of trouble with increased risk of metabolic diseases before, during and after calving or lambing. Risk o...2022-07-0253 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts7. “Feed Test Lab Reports: Just what on earth do all those numbers mean” - Part TwoCattle 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 nutritionist Charlotte Westwood walks us through what the various feed test results might mean for this sample of pasture silage.
This podcast explores, step-by-step, the second section of the feed test res...2022-06-1552 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts6. “Feed Test Lab Reports: Just what on earth do all those numbers mean” - Part OneHow 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 Westwood will step you through the various feed test results and explain what each number means. To make this more interesting, you’ll get to play detective as part of the process. This particular silage sample was collected because cattle refused to e...2022-06-0946 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts5. Nitrate toxicity in ruminantsNitrate 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 challenging problem.
Topics covered include how to assess risk of nitrate toxicity in your forage crops and pastures, understanding how and why nitrate toxicity occurs in ruminants, what to do if you suspect cases of nitrate toxicity in your animals, and how to...2022-05-2452 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts4. Checklist for success - wintering sheep and cattle on winter crops and pasturesAre you looking after pregnant cows or ewes through the winter months? Then this podcast is designed for you. With an emphasis on looking after cows and ewes really well, on outdoor winter forage crops particularly, this podcast steps us through some of the planning processes required before animals transition off pasture-based diets onto winter feeds.
Topics covered include the basics of feed budgeting, demands of animals for feed and water, types of supplementary feeds and looking after animals during winter weather events. There's something here for for everyone involved in wintering animals – including those of you who...2022-05-1841 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts3. The basics of ruminant nutrition - with a difference! Part TwoAssuming you've survived the dizzying journey of a ryegrass leaf from the front (biting) part of a cow to the back (emptying) end of a cow in Part One of this two part series - you'll now be ready for the other part of Basic Ruminant Nutrition.
In this episode, we'll explore how the broken down various bits of pieces of feeds, such as ryegrass, get turned into useful things that the ruminant animal can use. The basics of volatile fatty acids (VFAs are explored) as well as how dietary protein gets turned into useful things a r...2022-05-0733 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts2. The basics of ruminant nutrition - with a difference! Part OneMany of us have suffered the rather dry and boring nature of ruminant nutrition lectures at school, college or university. Fear no more, The Rumen Room Podcasts are delighted to bring to you a new, down to earth and practical approach to the basics of ruminant nutrition.
In this episode, you, a leaf from a ryegrass plant are about to head off on an adventure as you're consumed by a large dairy cow and encounter all parts of the digestive tract. A humorous and light hearted approach to what otherwise can be a bland subject for some! ...2022-05-0230 minThe Rumen Room Podcasts1. Welcome to The Rumen Room PodcastsA brief welcome to introduce ourselves before we head off on a journey of exploration and discovery about all things ruminant.
2022-05-0202 min