Dr Ric Grummer

Dr. Ric Grummer obtained his BS degree in Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

(1 977) and his MS (1 980) and PhD (1 984) degrees in Dairy Science at the University of I l l inois,

Urbana-Champaign. After a brief postdoctoral appointment at the University of I l l inois, he started as

an Assistant Professor in Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the

fal l of 1 984. Since that time, he progressed to the rank of Professor and served as Chairman of the

Department of Dairy Science from 2004 to 201 0. In September of 201 0, he retired from the University

of Wisconsin-Madison and joined Balchem Corporation as Ruminant Technical Director. In that role,

he provides technical service and research and development support and assists in expanding the

global market for Balchem's animal health products.

Tuesday 25th June 201 311 :30

Strategies to help metabolic stress in the freshly calved cow

Large Herd Seminar

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Strategies to Help Metabolic

Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

Ric R. Grummer

Ruminant Technical Director

Balchem Corp., New Hampton, NY

&

Emeritus Professor

Department of Dairy Science

University of Wisconsin-Madison

What is “Metabolic Stress”?

• Abrupt shifts in metabolism that are created

by nutritional or physiological changes in the

cow, e.g.

– Heat stress

– Forage quality

– Pen movements

– Crowding

– etc.

– Parturition and initiation of lactation

Parturition

• Acute hormonal changes

– Increasing growth hormone

– Decreasing insulin

– Increasing cortisol/epinephrine

– Decreasing progesterone

– Increasing estrogen

• Decreasing feed intake

Lactation

• Shift in nutrient delivery to support lactation

• Insufficient nutrient intake to support lacation

• Reliance on body reserves to support lactation

• Negative nutrient balances

– Amino acids

– Glucose

– Fatty acids

Reliance on Adipose Tissue Reserves =

Metabolic Stress

200

400

600

800

1000

-20 -10 0 10 20 30

Day relative to calving

NE

FA

, u

M

Plasma NEFA

Grummer, 1993

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

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3Blood Flow to the Liver

Reynolds et al., 2003

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

g/d

-19 -9 0* 11 21 33 83

Day relative to parturition

NEFA Uptake by Liver During the Transition

Period. (Reynolds et al., 2003)

Liver Triglyceride

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Liver TG% DM basis

-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30

Day relative to calving

Vazquez-Anon et al., 1994

Fatty Liver

• >50% of fresh cows have moderate to severe

fatty liver (5% or more fat, wet basis)

– Reid, 1980 (England)

– Mazur et al., 1988 (France)

– Schafer et al., 1991 (Germany)

– Grummer, 1993 (USA)

– Jorritsma et al. 2001 (Netherlands)

Subclinical Ketosis(McArt et al., 2012)

• 40.3% incidence (from 3-16 DIM)

• Milk loss- 3.4%

• 19.3x greater risk of DA

• 3x greater chance for removal from herd

by 30d

• $67/case

Strategies to Reduce Stress Associated with

Mobilization of Adipose Reserves

Ketone

Adipose

Mobilized Fat

TAG

Fatty

Acid

Glycerol

NEFA NEFA

VLDL

CO2TAG

Stored TAG

Oxid

AcCoA

Negative EB

Hormonal changes at calving

1.Decrease mobilization of fat from adipose tissue2.Increase fat (VLDL) transport out of the liver

Liver

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

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3Strategies to Reduce Stress Associated

with Mobilization of Adipose Reserves

• Alteration of basal diet to reduce adipose

tissue mobilization

• Supplements

– Those that inhibit adipose tissue

mobilization

– Those that assist the liver in processing

mobilized NEFA

Alteration of the Basal Diet

• The Goldilocks Diet: ~5.5 MJ/kg DM for the

entire dry period

– Benefits: lower NEFA, BHBA, liver TG

– Mechanism: cows are less insulin resistant

– Concern: long term feeding of low energy diets

may result in lost milk production

• Silva del Rio, 2009

– 5.53 vs 6.45 MJ/kg from -8 to -3 wk prepart

– Lost 5.4 kg FCM/d

• Janovick and Drackley, 2010

– 5.01 vs 6.82 MJ/kg for entire dry period

– Lost 9.3 kg FCM/d

Supplements- that Reduce Fatty

Acid Mobilization

• Niacin

– Directly inhibits lipolysis in adipose tissue

• Chromium

– Makes the transition cow more insulin sensitive?

• Propylene Glycol

– Elicits an insulin response

“Several strategies for the prevention of fatty liver and

ketosis have been proposed, but present limitations in

the knowledge of hepatic fatty acid metabolism

preclude effective implementation of some strategies.

For example, increased rate of hepatic VLDL TG export

would be desirable, but, until the mechanism limiting

export is known, rapid progress in developing

strategies will be relatively difficult. For the present,

management of fatty acid mobilization during the

periparturient period may provide a more feasible

approach.”

R.R. Grummer. 1993. Etiology of Lipid-Related

Metabolic Disorders in Periparturient Dairy

Cows. J. Dairy Sci. 76:3882

“Nutritional restriction to adipose tissue mobilisation

might be necessary, but there is a philosophical

problem. We have selected cows that have increased

reliance on mobilised body reserves as a source of

nutrients for milk production. The farmer has paid the

geneticist for this- are we now going to ask him to pay

the nutritionist to work in the opposite direction? We

have our priorities wrong. We should explore what can

be done to help the liver deal with mobilised fatty acids

before considering whether we need to try to reduce

the amount of fatty acid supplied to the liver.”

J. R. Newbold. 2005. Liver Function in Dairy

Cows. Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition

Supplements- that assist the liver

in processing mobilized NEFA

• Choline

TG Protein

VLDL

C CEPC

NEFA from adipose tissue

Liver

Mammary Tissue

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

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3Absorption of dietary choline is low

Dr. R. Erdman (1992)

• Feed intake: 30 g/d

• Escaping ruminal breakdown: 1g/d

• Ruminal production: 0 g/d

• Supply to intestine: 1 g/d

Feeding Massive Amounts of

Unprotected Choline??

Sharma and Erdman, 1988

Proof of Principle Experiment: Feeding ReaShure

Rumen-Protected Choline Prevents Fatty Liver(Cook et al., 2007)

• Far-off dry cows

– Feed restrict dry cows to induce fatty acid mobilization and liver TG accumulation

– 10 days

– 30% of energy requirement

• Treatments

– Control diet

– control diet plus 60 g “protected” choline/d during induction

Liver TG

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Liver TG,

ug/ug DNA

Control Choline

P < 0.02

Cooke et al., 2007

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

-3 1 4 6

Weeks pp

TA

G (

g/k

g w

et t

issu

e)

Feeding 60 g/d ReaShure Rumen-Protected

Choline from 3 wk Precalving to 6 wk Post

Reduces Liver Triglyceride

Zom et al., 2011

* *

Does reducing metabolic stress by

assisting the liver process

mobilized fatty acids benefit the

producer???

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

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25

ReaShure Rumen-Protected Choline

Improves 1st Service Conception rates

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

University of

Missouri 62

Cows*

WI Trial # 1 92

Cows**

WI Trial # 2

560 Cows**

NY Trial

725 Cows**

CA Field Trial

300 Cows**

UC Davis

California 362

Cows***

1st

Serv

ice C

on

cep

tio

n R

ate

Control ReaShure

*Journal of Dairy Science, Vol 87, (Supl.1):334** Balchem Technical research Reports: 2004:3-5, 2005:2

*** Lima etal 2006 ADSA Abstract

Effect of ReaShure Rumen-Protected Choline on

Ketosis

P = .01 .05 .07 .35

Lima et al., 2012

Effect of ReaShure Rumen-Protected Choline on

Health

P = .72 .33 .77 .06 .001 .05

* Includes clinical ketosis Lima et al., 2012

Meta Analysis of 13 Transition Cow

Studies Examining Supplementation

of Ruminally Protected Choline-

Objective:

• To pool data from multiple transition cow

studies to determine if there are statistically

significant production responses to

supplementing rumen protected choline

• Methodology from St-Pierre, 2001

Grummer and Crump, unpublished

DMI, kg/d

P = .0042, SEd = .21

Increase = .74 kg/d

Milk Yield, kg/d

P < .0001, SEd = .34

Increase = 2.21 kg/d

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

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3University Transition Cow Studies

* P <.15

ECM Yield, kg/d

P = .0038, SEd = .72

Increase = 2.68 kg/d

Summary

• “Metabolic stress” associated with parturition

and lactation is unavoidable.

• Methods to moderate this stress include

limiting fatty acid mobilization by altering the

basal diet or adding supplements that are

anti-lipolytic. But this fights the cow’s natural

mechanisms to support lactation.

• Choline works to reduce metabolic stress and

support lactation by assisting the liver in

processing mobilized fatty acids.

Summary

• Choline is an essential nutrient that is

deficient in transition dairy cows.

• Supplementation of rumen-protected choline

increases cow health and performance.

Questions?Questions?Questions?Questions?

Strategies to Help Metabolic Stress in the Freshly Calved Cow

© Large Herd Seminar 2013