During Summer and Fall 2026, 95% of all corn silage samples had multiple mycotoxins, and almost every state posted corn silage samples with DON at a high-risk level. Co-exposure to more than one mycotoxin puts additional stress on animals beyond the single mycotoxin challenges. DON harms intestinal cells, allowing other mycotoxins to breach the body’s defenses. It is troubling to see the highly toxic T2/HT2 appear more consistently. Even very minor levels of T2/HT2, combined with high levels of DON, pose significant health challenges for the animal. Feeds with multiple mycotoxins at medium risk contaminations may pose greater consequences than feeds with a single mycotoxin at a high-risk concentration.

Corn silage samples from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were at high-risk contamination levels for DON and zearalenone during the survey period, with fumonisin averaging in the high-risk contamination level for Minnesota samples. The corn silage high-risk mycotoxin contamination levels directly translated to high TMR mycotoxin concentrations of DON and medium-risk concentrations of zearalenone. The TMR samples were also contaminated with fumonisin and T2/HT2, but at low-risk levels.

Corn silage samples in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana continued the trend of high-risk DON contamination. The corn silage samples also contained multiple mycotoxins, with T2/HT2 and fumonisin present in these samples but at low-risk levels. Ohio corn silage samples exhibited high zearalenone contamination, but zearalenone was at a medium-risk level in Michigan and low contamination concentration in Indiana. The TMR samples in Michigan and Indiana are similar for high DON contamination, medium-risk zearalenone, and low-risk T2/HT2 and fumonisin concentrations. The Ohio TMR samples averaged a medium-risk level for DON, and low contamination concentration for zearalenone, T2/HT2 and fumonisin.

The Atlantic states, especially Virginia, exhibited a reprieve from 2024’s extremely high-mycotoxin contamination, yet samples still contained multiple mycotoxins. Corn silage from Virginia averaged in the medium-risk contamination category for aflatoxin, DON, zearalenone, and T2/HT2, and high-risk level for fumonisin. Aflatoxin was detected consistently in areas of Virginia experiencing drought-stressed corn. Corn silage in North Carolina fared better and was medium-risk levels for DON and fumonisin and low risk for zearalenone. TMR samples from North Carolina were high-risk levels for DON, indicating feed ingredients other than corn silage are sources of DON, medium-risk contributors for fumonisin and low-risk sources for zearalenone. The TMR samples from Virginia tested at medium-risk contamination concentrations for DON, zearalenone, T2/HT2, and fumonisin.

Pennsylvania and New York corn silages were contaminated at high-risk levels for DON and also contained a mixture of zearalenone at medium-risk levels and T2/HT2 at low-risk levels. Fumonisin levels were medium-risk in Pennsylvania but dropped to low-risk levels farther north into New York and the Northeast. The TMR samples throughout the Northeast followed this trend with consistent exposure to multiple mycotoxins. Compared to past years the average DON concentration is lower, now at medium-risk concentrations, but when combined with the medium-risk zearalenone and low amounts of T2/HT2 and fumonisin, care should be taken when feeding vulnerable groups of animals such as pre-fresh, fresh, and high cows.

You can depend on the DTX™ technology and phytogenics to defend and protect your cattle against the major mycotoxins whether alone or contaminating the diet in combinations.

The post Mycotoxin Report: May 1 – September 30, 2026 appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

The conversation covers colostrum, passive immunity, gut health, pathogen pressure, and the critical first hours of a calf’s life. They also discuss why targeted IgY antibodies can remain useful beyond the newborn period, including in young calves, growing heifers, and mature cows.

From understanding IgG and colostrum to using IgY to support gut health, this episode connects the science behind antibodies with practical applications for dairy and livestock producers.

Want to learn more? Consult our Guide to Important Scour-Related Pathogens  for a closer look at the pathogens that can challenge calves. Then explore the Agrarian Solutions Calf Program for a comprehensive approach to supporting calf health from the start.

Have quesitons, email podcast@agrsol.com.

🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!

Scott Zehr: All right. Hey, welcome everybody back to another episode of Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions. I am here once again with Dr. Larry Roth. Larry, you had me all jazzed up after our IgY conversation a couple of weeks ago that I’m coming back to the well, Larry. I told you I love this technology, I think it’s amazing but I have more questions.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right.
Scott Zehr: All right. So we talked about and established what IgY are, how they’re made, and how they can be used. But then when I look across the marketplace and I, as I mentioned last time I’ve never gone into a farm store and seen a bucket of IgY laying there, but there’s so much emphasis on getting a lot of IgG into that calf in the first 12 hours. We agree with that.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep.
Scott Zehr: That should not change, and we’re not ever gonna recommend changing that. That being said, there are products on the markets- marketplace in the antibody space that use IgG-based antibodies. So you’ve told us what an IgY antibody is and what it can do. Talk to us about the IgG-based antibodies and, where they shine, if you would, and maybe what are some of the drawbacks on how we can feed them.
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. Great question. What are the benefits to the IgG products? The IgG products really don’t have a lot of advantages over the IgY. The IgG products, to be effective, have to be given the first day of life, due to their susceptibility to break down by the protein-digesting enzymes. So for example, there are some very good, well-recognized products on the market that are totally based on IgG, and if used that first day of life, they work reasonably well.
But the challenge comes in, Scott, that we can provide that initial day one protection, but what happens if the calf gets exposed day 10, day 20, what have you? We cannot come back and use the IgG-only products to complement the antibiotic usage. In our last call, Scott, we talked about how a normal antibiotic treatment program would include, for example, the Convert calf gel with the IgY.
Well we can’t do that with the IgG products. We come back day 10, day 20, day 30, we’ve got protein-digesting enzymes that are going to gobble up the IgG product, and we don’t have that effectiveness.
Scott Zehr: Talk to me about why we’re seeing– And I– Because I think it’s maybe adjacent within this conversation. But talk to me about why we’re seeing some universities talk about feeding colostrum for extended days. So even beyond… And they’re talking about it in terms of improving gut health.
Dr. Larry Roth: You bet.
Scott Zehr: Is there some benefit there beyond the IgG itself? Because as we just talked about, the IgG is susceptible to be broken down by proteins.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely, there are benefits to feeding colostrum or colostrum-type products past day one of life. Colostrum provides so much more than just IgG. Be it from energy standpoint, different growth factors, so many different things that will help the digestive tract to develop that much faster whole body health.
So yeah, there, there’s some merit to longer term colostrum feeding as compared to what we’ve traditionally done. And even from the human standpoint, Scott, that’s one of the fastest growing health food market niches is colostrum. So let’s think about it. A dairy can sell colostrum, right?
Because there’s all kinds of people that want to buy it. We don’t wanna short the calf on the benefits of the IgG that comes from the colostrum, but let’s come with the to igY to complement what colostrum does, to complement the IgG.
So I don’t look at ’em as being either/or. I think they work together. In fact, there’s a very good research study that showed that giving the IgY at the same time as colostrum IgGs actually improves health and performance of the calves. Actually, providing the IgY helps to boost the IgG levels in the blood, which contributes to the passive immunity.
And I reason it this way, Scott, if the IgY can can come into the digestive tract and start to latch on to some of the pathogens and then help escort them on out of the digestive tract, if we’re able to do that, the IgY is going to provide initial protection to the digestive tract so we don’t have to feed antibiotics to take down the beneficial bacterias at the same time we’re trying to reduce the pathogens.
So the IgY is gonna help to reduce the pathogen level, so we have better gut integrity, and the healthy gut is gonna be able to absorb more of the IgG as well as the IgY. So in this neat research study, providing IgY at the same time as IgG actually improved passive immunity or blood IgG levels, and also increased blood IgY.
Scott Zehr: Wow, okay. And then, as we get in, we talked about these animals being so like the, the 7, the 10, the 12-day-old, three weeks old, the, the opportunity to bring in IGY at that, that time for a health event, whether it’s scours or whatever, that’s really where I think the IGY start to separate themselves from just the diversity in how you can use them.
Dr. Larry Roth: So anytime that we give IgY, we’re reducing pathogens. And we can do that at any age of the animal. For example, at Agrarian, we have a product called BioCycle. BioCycle features some chelated trace minerals, our cell wall deficient bacteria technology, as well as the IgY. And we might use that, Scott, with mature cows who have some winter dysentery, or they’re just not doing as well as what they could be.
So let’s bring in some of the IgY and these other ingredients to help clean up the digestive tract. We also have the BioCycle Plus, which is, shall we say, an ultimate product. Has our cell wall deficient bacteria technology to provide the mycotoxin protection, has our other cell wall deficient bacteria technology to help with the immune function and acidifying the digestive tract.
So that, that is a very key part, the IgY in that. And then we also have a microbial gel, which is really designed for incoming feedlot cattle and older animals. So Scott, the IgY gives us so much flexibility over such a range of animal ages.
Scott Zehr: You mentioned the Biofresh Gel and I, I see such a obvious situation there. You take a fresh cow and she just needs a little something, right? This is a very susceptible day in her life this year, and being able to come in with some of these antibodies to just everything she’s exposed to that day in the fresh pen or so on it’s like we dose the calf with Convert and we can dose the, the mama with some, some gel.
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s think about that newly calved cow. Her immune system is down. She’s susceptible to these pathogens. She’s not eating like she should, so pH comes up in the digestive tract. That favors the pathogens. All of this inflammation that’s going on is taking up the immune system resources.
So what an ideal spot to use the IGY to clean up the digestive tract, keep the bad guys from taking off in number so that the animal can better concentrate its resources on resolving inflammation, repairing the body, rather than having to deal with these pathogens in the digestive tract.
Scott Zehr: Larry I want a story I wanna share with you about using IGY on mature cows. So not to get too funny here, but here’s my phone, and I do have a Bible app on my phone, so if you want me to swear in to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I will. That being said, I was not working for Agrarian at this time.
This was probably 2016, 2017, somewhere in there. And my dad, who has a dairy farm, we had a cow with E. coli mastitis that just crashed after morning milking. To the point that before I left the barn that day I’m like today’s not sale day. She has to live till tomorrow, and it doesn’t look like she’s gonna be alive tonight. But if I fill her with antibiotics, I can’t sell her anyway. If I do nothing that goes against my moral code. I would hate to euthanize her and not even try.
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: But, so I said “what can I do? What can I do?” She was running a fever, so this was what I did, Larry. I gave her six aspirin, and I didn’t know how much Convert an adult cow should receive, so I gave her six 60cc doses or six 60cc tubes of Convert.
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay.
Scott Zehr: Okay? That was about 9:00 in the morning. This is hot quarter, E. coli, watery mastitis, diarrhea across the floor. I cleaned up the diarrhea on the floor. I put fresh shavings down before I left. She was not eating when I left. I came back for night milking around 4:00, I got there, and the cow was standing up chewing her cud because she’d eaten all the dry hay I put in front of her. I don’t think it’s coincidence, but what happened inside that cow?
Dr. Larry Roth: with all of the Convert calf gel that you gave, certainly got a lot of the IgY to take out the pathogens, take a load off the immune system, that the immune system could work against other invading agents in the body. You also gave some beneficial bacteria with the calf gel as well to help stabilize that digestive tract pH.
When digestive tract pH gets too high or too low, the animal doesn’t want to eat. So what you were doing was helping to stabilize digestive tract pH, helping to take a load off the immune system to help the cow to feel better. That’s what you did. When we’re sick, we don’t wanna eat, but when we feel good, we wanna get up and eat all that we can.
Scott Zehr: Okay. Now I’ve solved that mystery. I’ve wondered for all these years. And I’m not suggesting that everybody should go out and write down a new mastitis cow protocol. But I- it does show, to me it shows the, the power in these, these kind of technologies that we’re using.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: And and obviously if all of those IgY would have been turned into nutrition, we probably wouldn’t have seen such a dramatic result there either.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: So Larry, you started talking to us about BioCycle Plus, the Biofresh Gel products that we carry here at Agrarian that have the IgY antibodies in. We also have some products, and we’ve mentioned Convert a few times. What are the other products that we design more specifically for the younger livestock that we utilize the IgY technology in?
Dr. Larry Roth: The the Convert calf gel to get the calf off to a good start, day one, and then any other time that it’s not eating, any time we’re doing electrolyte or antibiotic therapy. And then the Big Calf powder on a daily basis. To keep supplying the beneficial bacteria and the IgY to build upon the success that we started with the calf gel at birth.
Scott Zehr: I always like to ask this question, Larry. What’s a heifer calf worth today?
Dr. Larry Roth: That is a very interesting question. You have the value of taking that animal to the auction today. But you also have a future value in terms of milk production, future value in terms of her offspring that may be produced to come back into your herd or to sell. So that’s a difficult question to answer.
Scott Zehr: Is she worth investing $20 in for the first eight weeks of her life, 10 weeks of her life?
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely. Yep, absolutely.
Scott Zehr: That’s where the Convert Calf program comes in around that $20 mark, give or take a few dollars. Larry, a- an old colleague of mine who’s been a mentor to me, he used to like to say, “I would like to start taking these no-brainer type decisions and turn them back into brainers, because if you stop and think about it, it just makes sense.”
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: That’s where that 2 to $23, whatever that range is it’s a brainer, Larry. It’s a brainer. It just makes sense.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: So we started the top of the show talking IgY and IgG, what are the differences, how can each of them be used. I, I just have a, a couple of quick questions for you before I let you go. So, day one, calf is born. Are we gonna give it IgY or IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: Give it igY, but but we can also give IgG from the colostrum. And remember, colostrum is more than just the IgG, growth factors, all kinds of nutrition. So give both colostrum and the IgY from the Convert Calf Gel.
Scott Zehr: Yep. Larry, this calf is 10 days old, and man, it looks like it’s probably salmonella. Am I gonna give IgY or IgG here?
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s give you the IgY. If we give IgG, it’s just gonna get broken down by the protein-digesting enzymes, whereas the IgY is gonna be resistant to those protein-digesting enzymes. And therefore, the IgY is gonna be able to go down the digestive tract and take out the different pathogens.
Scott Zehr: Larry, I, I got this group of heifers that are in this one pen. They’re about three, 400 pounds and they’re, they just seem to be lagging. Doesn’t really look like pneumonia. Some of them are loose. IgY or IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: IgY. Again, don’t get gobbled up by those protein-digesting enzymes. Let’s clean up the track and get rid of some of those pathogens so that the good organisms have more space to live. We can think of it that way.
Scott Zehr: Interesting.
Dr. Larry Roth: Digestive tract health sets the basis for the whole animal.
Scott Zehr: Yes, it does. It all ties together. I’m- I don’t wanna get too on the nose with you, but that cow freshens, she’s in the fresh pen, the baby’s right there. Are we giving them both IgY or are we giving them both IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s do the IgY. Again, let’s get the benefits and the antibiotics down the cow’s tract. If we give the IgG, it’s just gonna be broken down by the protein digesting enzymes. But that cow may be going off feed, that lets the pH goes up, and the pathogens like that. So we’re giving the IgY from the microbial bolus or microbial gel, but we’re also bringing in the beneficial bacteria and some antioxidants as well.
Scott Zehr: Larry, the IgY are so versatile when we can feed them to different animals. I think the cliché thing to say is that they’re like the Swiss Army knife in animal health. They can be fed here, they can be fed there, they can be fed everywhere.
But to me I don’t carry a Swiss Army knife on me, but I tell you what, you give me a crescent wrench, I can turn a nut, I can straighten out a cotter pin, and I even have a hammer in my hand. So give me a crescent wrench any day.
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: ah, yeah. Larry, I, I appreciate you having this, this conversation with me today. And I would just encourage, if you’re, been following us along here on Ruminate This go ahead, take a look at the show notes, get familiar with the IgY technology. Get familiar with the idea of feeding the IgY and probiotics together as we’ve talked about some of the benefits there.
I know I- Larry, I did just bring up the heifer calf thing. But on a cash basis, those black hided calves, hey, we probably ought to be thinking about them. If you gotta let them sit around your farm for two or three days before they can go on a truck, I’d be looking at using some of our IgY technology…
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: to make sure that you can maintain their value. So again, if you have any questions for Larry on, on these topics or us here at Agrarian, podcast@agrsol.com, and check out the resources in our show notes, everything you would need to familiarize yourself with IgY and the Convert products that we carry at Agrarian, as well as the adult animal products that utilize IgY technology. Thanks everybody for listening, and we’ll be talking to you again soon.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right. Thank you, Scott.

The post 82: IgY vs IgG in calves: Same Mission, Different Tools appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

I had a herd that was in a world of trouble with somatic cell count. The producer had already received two warnings, with the herd over 500,000. Without really knowing if it was going to work, I suggested that he quadruple-dose the cows that were at 500,000 or higher for four days, followed by a double dose for two weeks. I told him I thought his cell count should drop considerably—and boy, did it ever.
Two days later, he told me he had to stop milking twice because the filter was blocked from all the infection coming out of the udders. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and to be honest, neither could I. Before long, his herd was below 300,000, and he was both happy and relieved.

For me, that was enough proof that I could run with this product.

Selling Something Nobody Was Talking About
Back then, we were essentially pioneers in talking about feed toxins. Even nutritionists didn’t really have toxins in their vocabulary yet, and sometimes we were made out to be a little crazy for talking about such nonsense!
Because toxins were such a relatively new conversation in the early 2000s, it made the products a tough sell. The issue simply wasn’t on most producers’ radar, and to add to that, I wasn’t their nutritionist, I was their genetics guy!
Fast-forward 25 years and things have completely changed. Toxins themselves are no longer really questioned. Now, the tougher sell is showing producers what makes our products unique, because it seems like everyone has a toxin product.

Sometimes the Best Sales Tool Is Sitting in Your Truck
One thing I’ve learned over the years is to keep your products visible in your sales vehicle.
Obviously, I don’t talk about every product at every farm. But when producers see the products in your vehicle themselves, they often ask about them, and that starts the conversation.
I’ve sold Maximizer that way simply by saying, “It’s made by the same company that makes the Convert you’re already using.”
My philosophy is pretty simple: don’t drive around with only semen tanks in your vehicle. Gas is too expensive for that!

Convert: An Easy Place to Start
A product that has recently been reintroduced to the Canadian market is Convert Day One Calf Gel. For anyone, in whatever area they may be in, who hasn’t done as much with products as they would like, I think Convert is a very easy place to start.
I remember Chad Christensen mentioning during one of the Agrarian “All In” Zoom calls that BioFresh Boluses (US product) were his “gateway product” for getting started in herds experiencing cell count problems.
Well, Convert can be your gateway product.

It’s a relatively small investment for the producer, and they have an opportunity to see results quickly, with little investment.
I also realized something after I started talking more about Convert: we don’t talk about calves enough. At least I didn’t. We tend to spend so much of our time talking about cows. Once I started asking producers about their calves, it became very apparent that calf issues are a real concern on a lot of farms.

The Convert Story I’ll Never Forget
One of my greatest Agrarian stories—and probably one of the most gratifying moments of my nearly 30-year career—happened with Convert about a year ago.
First, a little background on how I run my herd visits. I work on a six-week schedule. That has worked very well for me because much of my competition works on an eight- or nine-week schedule. Being there more frequently makes me more visible, and I believe that helps grow the business over the long term.

I usually text the producer either the morning of my visit or the night before. They have also already received an email or letter letting them know I’ll be at their farm the following week, so they know I’ll be in touch.
Sometimes my text includes a little product information. When I was introducing Convert, for example, I would send a picture of a tube along with a screenshot from one of Dr. Larry Roth’s presentations showing the pathogens it is intended to control. That often started a conversation immediately by text, or gave us something to discuss when I arrived at the farm.

At this particular herd, they purchased a box of Convert during my previous visit. I arrived at the farm at around 10:00 in the morning and was talking with the son in the office. I noticed the box of Convert was still sitting in exactly the same place where he had left it the last time I was there.

Not long after I arrived, his father came in from outside and told his son that one of their calves probably wasn’t going to see the noon hour.
Immediately, I saw an opportunity to give Convert a try.

I asked what was wrong with her. She was four days old, hadn’t drunk in two days, and they were convinced she was going to die. What made it even more unfortunate was that this wasn’t just any calf. She was out of their best cow, and they had lost the cow shortly after she calved. This calf was what they had left from her.

I said, “Why don’t we try some Convert on her?”

They both kind of chuckled. At this point, they had pretty much given up on the calf and told me they were done putting money into her.
So I said, “I’ll pay for the tube if I have to. It’s worth a shot.”

We went out to the calf barn, and sure enough, this calf was lying on her side, somewhat bloated, with really not a whole lot of life left in her.
We gave her half a tube—30 mL.

Within about a minute, she started lifting her head a little and making a chewing motion, almost as if she were looking for milk. I told the owner, “Go get some milk.”
She drank maybe a litre—not a whole lot, but she drank.

The owner let out a few swear words—in a good way! He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. To be honest, neither could I.

I told him to give her the other half of the tube, another 30 mL, around 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon and to let me know that evening how she was doing.
That night, the son texted me: “She’s still alive.”

I sent him a big thumbs-up.

The next morning, he sent me a picture. The calf was standing at the front of her hutch, drinking from the bottle in the holder.

Knowing that they had already lost her mother—their best cow—made seeing that picture even better. After nearly 30 years doing this job, there aren’t too many moments that top that one.

On the left: Michel Crête, right, Sebastien Crête (son). Ferme Michel and Nicole Crête.  Dundee, Quebec

My Advice to Someone Who Wants to Sell More Products
If you want to get into the swing of selling products successfully, I would start with some of the smaller-ticket items, such as Convert or BioFresh Boluses.
It’s a smaller investment for the producer, and it gives them an opportunity to see a return without asking them to make a major commitment right out of the gate.
Once they’ve had a good experience with one of those products, the conversation about some of the bigger products becomes much easier. They have more confidence in the product line, but just as importantly, they have more confidence in what you are proposing to them.

For me, that has always been the key. You don’t need to sell every product on every farm. Every operation is different, so find the products that fit that producer’s needs and start there. When they see the value for themselves, it builds confidence in both the products and in what you’re recommending. That’s what opens the door to the next conversation.

The post Remo Wicki, Select Sires Canada: She Wasn’t Supposed to See Noon appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

In Episode 81 of Ruminate This, Dr. Larry Roth joins Scott Zehr to take a closer look at IgY antibodies, egg-derived proteins that target specific pathogens in the digestive tract.

Larry explains how IgY works, why it remains active in the gut, and how it can work alongside probiotics and other animal health strategies. The conversation covers pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, rotavirus, coronavirus, and Cryptosporidium, with a focus on the practical application of IgY in livestock.

Whether you raise calves, manage a dairy, formulate diets, or work with livestock producers, this episode offers a practical look at the science behind IgY and how this targeted approach can fit into a comprehensive gut health program.

Want to learn more? Check out our Guide to Important Scour-Related Pathogens for a closer look at the pathogens that can challenge calves. Then explore the Agrarian Solutions Calf Program for a comprehensive approach to supporting calf health from the start.

🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!

Scott Zehr: All right. Hey, welcome everybody back to another episode of Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions. I am here once again with Dr. Larry Roth. Larry, you had me all jazzed up after our IgY conversation a couple of weeks ago that I’m coming back to the well, Larry. I told you I love this technology, I think it’s amazing but I have more questions.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right.
Scott Zehr: All right. So we talked about and established what IgY are, how they’re made, and how they can be used. But then when I look across the marketplace and I, as I mentioned last time I’ve never gone into a farm store and seen a bucket of IgY laying there, but there’s so much emphasis on getting a lot of IgG into that calf in the first 12 hours. We agree with that.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep.
Scott Zehr: That should not change, and we’re not ever gonna recommend changing that. That being said, there are products on the markets- marketplace in the antibody space that use IgG-based antibodies. So you’ve told us what an IgY antibody is and what it can do. Talk to us about the IgG-based antibodies and, where they shine, if you would, and maybe what are some of the drawbacks on how we can feed them.
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. Great question. What are the benefits to the IgG products? The IgG products really don’t have a lot of advantages over the IgY. The IgG products, to be effective, have to be given the first day of life, due to their susceptibility to break down by the protein-digesting enzymes. So for example, there are some very good, well-recognized products on the market that are totally based on IgG, and if used that first day of life, they work reasonably well.
But the challenge comes in, Scott, that we can provide that initial day one protection, but what happens if the calf gets exposed day 10, day 20, what have you? We cannot come back and use the IgG-only products to complement the antibiotic usage. In our last call, Scott, we talked about how a normal antibiotic treatment program would include, for example, the Convert calf gel with the IgY.
Well we can’t do that with the IgG products. We come back day 10, day 20, day 30, we’ve got protein-digesting enzymes that are going to gobble up the IgG product, and we don’t have that effectiveness.
Scott Zehr: Talk to me about why we’re seeing– And I– Because I think it’s maybe adjacent within this conversation. But talk to me about why we’re seeing some universities talk about feeding colostrum for extended days. So even beyond… And they’re talking about it in terms of improving gut health.
Dr. Larry Roth: You bet.
Scott Zehr: Is there some benefit there beyond the IgG itself? Because as we just talked about, the IgG is susceptible to be broken down by proteins.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely, there are benefits to feeding colostrum or colostrum-type products past day one of life. Colostrum provides so much more than just IgG. Be it from energy standpoint, different growth factors, so many different things that will help the digestive tract to develop that much faster whole body health.
So yeah, there, there’s some merit to longer term colostrum feeding as compared to what we’ve traditionally done. And even from the human standpoint, Scott, that’s one of the fastest growing health food market niches is colostrum. So let’s think about it. A dairy can sell colostrum, right?
Because there’s all kinds of people that want to buy it. We don’t wanna short the calf on the benefits of the IgG that comes from the colostrum, but let’s come with the to igY to complement what colostrum does, to complement the IgG.
So I don’t look at ’em as being either/or. I think they work together. In fact, there’s a very good research study that showed that giving the IgY at the same time as colostrum IgGs actually improves health and performance of the calves. Actually, providing the IgY helps to boost the IgG levels in the blood, which contributes to the passive immunity.
And I reason it this way, Scott, if the IgY can can come into the digestive tract and start to latch on to some of the pathogens and then help escort them on out of the digestive tract, if we’re able to do that, the IgY is going to provide initial protection to the digestive tract so we don’t have to feed antibiotics to take down the beneficial bacterias at the same time we’re trying to reduce the pathogens.
So the IgY is gonna help to reduce the pathogen level, so we have better gut integrity, and the healthy gut is gonna be able to absorb more of the IgG as well as the IgY. So in this neat research study, providing IgY at the same time as IgG actually improved passive immunity or blood IgG levels, and also increased blood IgY.
Scott Zehr: Wow, okay. And then, as we get in, we talked about these animals being so like the, the 7, the 10, the 12-day-old, three weeks old, the, the opportunity to bring in IGY at that, that time for a health event, whether it’s scours or whatever, that’s really where I think the IGY start to separate themselves from just the diversity in how you can use them.
Dr. Larry Roth: So anytime that we give IgY, we’re reducing pathogens. And we can do that at any age of the animal. For example, at Agrarian, we have a product called BioCycle. BioCycle features some chelated trace minerals, our cell wall deficient bacteria technology, as well as the IgY. And we might use that, Scott, with mature cows who have some winter dysentery, or they’re just not doing as well as what they could be.
So let’s bring in some of the IgY and these other ingredients to help clean up the digestive tract. We also have the BioCycle Plus, which is, shall we say, an ultimate product. Has our cell wall deficient bacteria technology to provide the mycotoxin protection, has our other cell wall deficient bacteria technology to help with the immune function and acidifying the digestive tract.
So that, that is a very key part, the IgY in that. And then we also have a microbial gel, which is really designed for incoming feedlot cattle and older animals. So Scott, the IgY gives us so much flexibility over such a range of animal ages.
Scott Zehr: You mentioned the Biofresh Gel and I, I see such a obvious situation there. You take a fresh cow and she just needs a little something, right? This is a very susceptible day in her life this year, and being able to come in with some of these antibodies to just everything she’s exposed to that day in the fresh pen or so on it’s like we dose the calf with Convert and we can dose the, the mama with some, some gel.
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s think about that newly calved cow. Her immune system is down. She’s susceptible to these pathogens. She’s not eating like she should, so pH comes up in the digestive tract. That favors the pathogens. All of this inflammation that’s going on is taking up the immune system resources.
So what an ideal spot to use the IGY to clean up the digestive tract, keep the bad guys from taking off in number so that the animal can better concentrate its resources on resolving inflammation, repairing the body, rather than having to deal with these pathogens in the digestive tract.
Scott Zehr: Larry I want a story I wanna share with you about using IGY on mature cows. So not to get too funny here, but here’s my phone, and I do have a Bible app on my phone, so if you want me to swear in to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I will. That being said, I was not working for Agrarian at this time.
This was probably 2016, 2017, somewhere in there. And my dad, who has a dairy farm, we had a cow with E. coli mastitis that just crashed after morning milking. To the point that before I left the barn that day I’m like today’s not sale day. She has to live till tomorrow, and it doesn’t look like she’s gonna be alive tonight. But if I fill her with antibiotics, I can’t sell her anyway. If I do nothing that goes against my moral code. I would hate to euthanize her and not even try.
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: But, so I said “what can I do? What can I do?” She was running a fever, so this was what I did, Larry. I gave her six aspirin, and I didn’t know how much Convert an adult cow should receive, so I gave her six 60cc doses or six 60cc tubes of Convert.
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay.
Scott Zehr: Okay? That was about 9:00 in the morning. This is hot quarter, E. coli, watery mastitis, diarrhea across the floor. I cleaned up the diarrhea on the floor. I put fresh shavings down before I left. She was not eating when I left. I came back for night milking around 4:00, I got there, and the cow was standing up chewing her cud because she’d eaten all the dry hay I put in front of her. I don’t think it’s coincidence, but what happened inside that cow?
Dr. Larry Roth: with all of the Convert calf gel that you gave, certainly got a lot of the IgY to take out the pathogens, take a load off the immune system, that the immune system could work against other invading agents in the body. You also gave some beneficial bacteria with the calf gel as well to help stabilize that digestive tract pH.
When digestive tract pH gets too high or too low, the animal doesn’t want to eat. So what you were doing was helping to stabilize digestive tract pH, helping to take a load off the immune system to help the cow to feel better. That’s what you did. When we’re sick, we don’t wanna eat, but when we feel good, we wanna get up and eat all that we can.
Scott Zehr: Okay. Now I’ve solved that mystery. I’ve wondered for all these years. And I’m not suggesting that everybody should go out and write down a new mastitis cow protocol. But I- it does show, to me it shows the, the power in these, these kind of technologies that we’re using.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: And and obviously if all of those IgY would have been turned into nutrition, we probably wouldn’t have seen such a dramatic result there either.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: So Larry, you started talking to us about BioCycle Plus, the Biofresh Gel products that we carry here at Agrarian that have the IgY antibodies in. We also have some products, and we’ve mentioned Convert a few times. What are the other products that we design more specifically for the younger livestock that we utilize the IgY technology in?
Dr. Larry Roth: The the Convert calf gel to get the calf off to a good start, day one, and then any other time that it’s not eating, any time we’re doing electrolyte or antibiotic therapy. And then the Big Calf powder on a daily basis. To keep supplying the beneficial bacteria and the IgY to build upon the success that we started with the calf gel at birth.
Scott Zehr: I always like to ask this question, Larry. What’s a heifer calf worth today?
Dr. Larry Roth: That is a very interesting question. You have the value of taking that animal to the auction today. But you also have a future value in terms of milk production, future value in terms of her offspring that may be produced to come back into your herd or to sell. So that’s a difficult question to answer.
Scott Zehr: Is she worth investing $20 in for the first eight weeks of her life, 10 weeks of her life?
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely. Yep, absolutely.
Scott Zehr: That’s where the Convert Calf program comes in around that $20 mark, give or take a few dollars. Larry, a- an old colleague of mine who’s been a mentor to me, he used to like to say, “I would like to start taking these no-brainer type decisions and turn them back into brainers, because if you stop and think about it, it just makes sense.”
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: That’s where that 2 to $23, whatever that range is it’s a brainer, Larry. It’s a brainer. It just makes sense.
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: So we started the top of the show talking IgY and IgG, what are the differences, how can each of them be used. I, I just have a, a couple of quick questions for you before I let you go. So, day one, calf is born. Are we gonna give it IgY or IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: Give it igY, but but we can also give IgG from the colostrum. And remember, colostrum is more than just the IgG, growth factors, all kinds of nutrition. So give both colostrum and the IgY from the Convert Calf Gel.
Scott Zehr: Yep. Larry, this calf is 10 days old, and man, it looks like it’s probably salmonella. Am I gonna give IgY or IgG here?
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s give you the IgY. If we give IgG, it’s just gonna get broken down by the protein-digesting enzymes, whereas the IgY is gonna be resistant to those protein-digesting enzymes. And therefore, the IgY is gonna be able to go down the digestive tract and take out the different pathogens.
Scott Zehr: Larry, I, I got this group of heifers that are in this one pen. They’re about three, 400 pounds and they’re, they just seem to be lagging. Doesn’t really look like pneumonia. Some of them are loose. IgY or IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: IgY. Again, don’t get gobbled up by those protein-digesting enzymes. Let’s clean up the track and get rid of some of those pathogens so that the good organisms have more space to live. We can think of it that way.
Scott Zehr: Interesting.
Dr. Larry Roth: Digestive tract health sets the basis for the whole animal.
Scott Zehr: Yes, it does. It all ties together. I’m- I don’t wanna get too on the nose with you, but that cow freshens, she’s in the fresh pen, the baby’s right there. Are we giving them both IgY or are we giving them both IgG?
Dr. Larry Roth: Let’s do the IgY. Again, let’s get the benefits and the antibiotics down the cow’s tract. If we give the IgG, it’s just gonna be broken down by the protein digesting enzymes. But that cow may be going off feed, that lets the pH goes up, and the pathogens like that. So we’re giving the IgY from the microbial bolus or microbial gel, but we’re also bringing in the beneficial bacteria and some antioxidants as well.
Scott Zehr: Larry, the IgY are so versatile when we can feed them to different animals. I think the cliché thing to say is that they’re like the Swiss Army knife in animal health. They can be fed here, they can be fed there, they can be fed everywhere.
But to me I don’t carry a Swiss Army knife on me, but I tell you what, you give me a crescent wrench, I can turn a nut, I can straighten out a cotter pin, and I even have a hammer in my hand. So give me a crescent wrench any day.
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Scott Zehr: ah, yeah. Larry, I, I appreciate you having this, this conversation with me today. And I would just encourage, if you’re, been following us along here on Ruminate This go ahead, take a look at the show notes, get familiar with the IgY technology. Get familiar with the idea of feeding the IgY and probiotics together as we’ve talked about some of the benefits there.
I know I- Larry, I did just bring up the heifer calf thing. But on a cash basis, those black hided calves, hey, we probably ought to be thinking about them. If you gotta let them sit around your farm for two or three days before they can go on a truck, I’d be looking at using some of our IgY technology…
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: to make sure that you can maintain their value. So again, if you have any questions for Larry on, on these topics or us here at Agrarian, podcast@agrsol.com, and check out the resources in our show notes, everything you would need to familiarize yourself with IgY and the Convert products that we carry at Agrarian, as well as the adult animal products that utilize IgY technology. Thanks everybody for listening, and we’ll be talking to you again soon.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right. Thank you, Scott.

The post 81: IgY: The Pathogen-focused Protein You Should Know appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

Clay-based feed additives have historically been a go-to for ‘insurance’ in dairy cattle rations with the goal of covering for unknown mycotoxin concentrations in the diets. Unfortunately, clay-based products are best used for aflatoxin but have limited efficacy on the other major mycotoxins. To make up for this deficiency, some products include yeast cell wall to provide beta-glucans, which have some ability to bind zearalenone but are less effective against most other mycotoxins. The yeast cell wall’s ability to bind zearalenone is minimal, and in a best-case scenario, it binds about 50% of the zearalenone.

Unfortunately, no product effectively binds DON, the most common mycotoxin, and the same is true for fumonisin and T2/HT2, which is becoming increasingly common throughout the mid-Atlantic.

Of the corn silage samples analyzed for mycotoxins by Agrarian Solutions last year, 95% had more than one mycotoxin. The majority contained DON plus one or more others, typically a mixture of Zearalenone, T2/HT2, and Fumonisin. Both ruminant and nonruminant research has repeatedly shown the cumulative negative effects of multiple mycotoxins. The mode of action of each mycotoxin builds on each other, especially when DON is present to break down the intestinal cell wall and allow other mycotoxins an easy way in. A strategy needs to be in place to defend against all the common mycotoxins in the ration.
​
DTX™ is specifically designed to combat all the major mycotoxins beginning with Agrarian Solution’s proprietary bacteria technology. Instead of trying to bind the mycotoxins, which is only marginally affective in the best case, DTX works at the intestinal level to protect the epithelial cells, the “castle wall”, against mycotoxins, pathogens and digesta trying to enter the body. The phytogenic technology in DTX strengthens intestinal tight junctions while providing powerful antioxidant support for liver health. These three modes of action help the cow defend against mycotoxins in the gut and protect the liver from damage.

DTX is research-proven to protect against DON, the most prevalent mycotoxin, as well as the other mycotoxins increasingly seen in North America. Decades of on-farm experience in dairy diets show dairy nutritionists and producers that whether there is one mycotoxin in the diet, or several, DTX is the product you can rely on to defend and protect the cow against the challenge. Defend and protect is not just a motto – it is how DTX Concentrate works.

Authors: Caroline Knoblock, MSc, – Director of Nutrition, Agrarian Solutions and Larry Roth, Ph.D., PAS – Vice President of Nutrition 

The post DTX™ – Not Just for DON appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

When the immune system is compromised, it may be less able to adequately defend the uterus against pathogenic bacteria. As a result, metritis is often more prevalent in first-lactation heifers than in other lactation groups. Metritis and other transition challenges in the first lactation can increase the risk of retained placenta, stillbirth, and reduced pregnancy per service in subsequent lactations¹. Helping first-lactation heifers successfully resolve inflammation can deliver economic benefits to the dairy today and well into the future.

The Nutritional Challenge After Calving

Uterine involution can be viewed as a process of wound repair and tissue regeneration occurring in the face of bacterial exposure². The combination of uterine involution and metritis places a significant nutritional demand on the animal, potentially reallocating glucose and other nutrients away from milk production, reproduction, and growth.

This challenge occurs at a time when nutrient demands are already high. Research indicates that dry matter intake declines as calving approaches and increases only gradually after calving. For first-lactation heifers, overcrowding, competition with older and larger cows, and adjustment to a new diet can further limit intake. The result can be a significant nutrient deficit even when the ration is correctly formulated. How can this nutrient deficit be addressed when feed intake is limited?

Cow Start™ Complete: Targeted Support at Calving

Agrarian Solutions’ unique Cow Start Complete is formulated to help overcome these transition challenges. At calving, a single bolus provides first-lactation heifers with more than 70 key micronutrients, including the antioxidants selenium yeast and vitamin E. The bolus slowly dissolves in the rumen over approximately 48 hours, providing targeted nutritional support during the critical period immediately following calving and helping supply nutrients needed for efficient immune function.

Research in First-Lactation Heifers

Two farms with persistent first-lactation metritis challenges provided a total of 248 heifers for a research study evaluating the benefits of administering a single Cow Start Complete bolus at calving. Veterinarians evaluated heifers for metritis on day 7 after calving at Farm A and day 9 at Farm B. At Farm A, metritis decreased from 10.3% in control heifers to 0% in heifers receiving a single Cow Start Complete bolus. At Farm B, metritis decreased significantly (P<0.05) from 17% in control heifers to 6% in heifers receiving Cow Start Complete.

Further results point to a reduction in inflammation after calving and a beneficial reallocation of nutrients. First service conception rate was improved by Cow Start Complete supplementation on both farms; Farm A improved (P<0.05) from 41% to 53%, and Farm B improved from 45% to 50%. These findings point to the potential for reduced post-calving inflammation and improved nutrient allocation during a critical period in the first-lactation heifer’s productive life.

First-lactation heifers represent the future of the dairy herd. Supporting their ability to manage metritis and post-calving inflammation is essential for helping them transition successfully into lactation, reproduce efficiently, and remain productive throughout their lifetime. Cow Start Complete provides targeted nutritional support when first-lactation heifers need it most.

References: ¹ Borchardt et al. (2024). Journal of Dairy Science, 107:9706–9718. ² Caldeira et al. (2025). Biology of Reproduction, 113:1132–1154.

Authors: Caroline Knoblock, MSc, – Director of Nutrition, Agrarian Solutions and Larry Roth, Ph.D., PAS – Vice President of Nutrition 

The post Setting Up First-Lactation Heifers for Long-Term Success appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

Originally released on The Dairy Podcast Show, this episode features Dr. Larry Roth of Agrarian Solutions and Dr. Liz Eckelkamp discussing the unique challenges first-lactation cows face at calving, including reduced feed intake, inflammation, and uterine health.

They explore how these early challenges can create a cascade that affects reproductive performance, retention and a cow’s ability to reach her genetic potential.

Listen in as they discuss fresh cow management and what can be done to help first-lactation cows get off to a stronger start, and set them up for a more productive future.

🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Welcome to the Dairy podcast show, brought to you by Wisenetix. I’m Doctor Liz Eckelkamp, associate professor and dairy extension specialist at the University of Tennessee. Today we’re joined by Doctor Larry Roth, who is the vice president of nutrition for Agrarian Solutions. His career in dairy and beef nutrition give him a unique perspective on solutions for first lactation dairy cattle. Welcome, Larry. Thank you for joining us today.

Dr. Larry Roth: All right. Thank you. It was a pleasure to be here.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: And I’m looking forward to our conversation, especially because we’re going to focus today on first lactation heifers, response to calving related inflammation and how this can impact their lifelong production in the herd. And we were talking a little bit in the green room. And it sounds like y’all have some research that y’all have just done around this topic.

Dr. Larry Roth: That’s correct. Yes.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So what unique factors were you focusing on specific to first lactation heifers?

Dr. Larry Roth: So I think when we look at first lactation heifers, they’re the group on the dairy that have the highest genetic value. They’re, they’re the latest genetics, improved genetics, compared to their older peers there at the dairy. And so I think we need to remember that they have a reduced dry matter intake during the close up period as they come into their most challenging day of the year.

And their intake is going to be depressed afterwards. Sometimes these heifers are put in with the older boss cows, both pre fresh and post fresh, which can further reduce their intake. And there’s also a social stress that is put on these animals. They’ve never been in these kinds of competitive situations. There’s a lot that they’re trying to figure out.

Let’s also remember that these first lactation heifers have a higher incidence of calving difficulties compared to their older peers, shall we say. This is also the first time that they have made colostrum or milk. So we have changes going on in the mammary gland as well. And this is the first time that they’re going to be going on to a higher energy type diet with their post-fresh diet.

So there’s changes going on in the digestive tract. But I think that one of the things that we want to focus on today that’s relatively unique to these first lactation heifers is they have a higher incidence of metritis as first lactation heifers as compared to the older cows at that dairy. Generally, transition issues increase as lactation number increases. But from metritis, the incidence is highest for the first lactation heifers and declines as we go to the multiple lactation cows.

And this was born out in a study by Lean et all 2023, where they looked at 28,000 cows across Australia, Canada, United States. And we hear the similar findings as we talked to production vets, nutritionists and dairy producers in this country and elsewhere.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: We see that with ketosis too in first lactation animals don’t we? Because of those metabolic shifts, because she’s still growing and then everything else as well?

Dr. Larry Roth: Yes, quite often the ketosis may be a little bit higher in some of the multiple lactation cows. But I think it really comes to how these animals are able to handle inflammation as a first lactation. You know, again, I think we go back to the reduced feed intake. How are these animals housed? Are they going to be housed with multiple lactation cows who are wanting to share space at the feed bunk?

Both, both pre and post fresh? They’ve got to take off on feed intake. Just as you said, they’re still growing. They are all of these energy demands. And one of the unique things from an inflammation standpoint, is the uterus is going to get exposed to bacteria that has never been exposed to before. Matt Lucy, University of Missouri has done a tremendous amount of research on all of these things related to uterine health in relation and had a neat study, Sylvia and Lucy in 2025, where they looked at pathogenic profile, most with a healthy first lactation and multiple lactation animals, as well as those who had metritis first lactation and multiple lactation.

So the immune system has never really been exposed to some of these bacteria. So it’s got to go to school. It’s got to learn how to produce the factors that can limit these pathogens before they take off. But remember, all of this is happening while nutrients are needed to go to all of these other things. Making milk, helping the animal to grow. And oh yeah, the nutrient supply has been reduced due to the reduced feed intake where we started off our conversation.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So when you’re specifically thinking about inflammation factors focused on first lactation, are you really relating that primarily to the metritis or are there any other fresh cow disorders that you think about in that same area?

Dr. Larry Roth: Well, there could certainly be other transition issues going on. And I think it really comes back to how does that cow feel? Is just like us. We could go to a nice buffet, but if one of us is feeling kind of poorly, we’re probably not going to go up to that buffet multiple times. And so I think that we have to concentrate on what is going on that is requiring the immune system’s attention, if we can think of it that way.

And so I really think inflammation there in the uterus is one of the biggest draws for nutrients at this time. But yeah, remember, again, we started off saying these are the animals, the greatest genetic value, which means they have the greatest drive to produce milk, and they’re going to do all kinds of things to try to fulfill that genetic drive, breakdown their body if they have to. That can lead to the ketosis, which you reference a little bit earlier. But I really think a lot of this starts with inflammation.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So with that inflammation, are you, when you’re thinking about that playing into uterine infections, are you thinking specifically metritis? Or are you thinking kind of like that whole cascade. Right. So, do, does this start with inflammation and a difficult calving? Right. With increased retained placenta is going into metritis because you know, all of those things are so interrelated. So how do you see that playing a detour in infections? And what are some of those long term implications?

Dr. Larry Roth: Well, I think it’s all very interrelated. And let me give a quote. And I wrote this down, so I get it right from Caldera at all 2025, in which it said future studies and therapeutic treatments related to uterine health should consider uterine involution as a process of wound repair. So think of it right there. We’ve gotta repair this wound.

The uterus is going to be shrinking in size dramatically. That requires the function of the immune system. So we’re having nutrients that we want to go elsewhere to perhaps more profitable functions, such as helping the follicles to develop and, oh, yeah, produce milk. Instead, it’s going to work on wound repair. And then back to our quote, tissue regeneration in the face of bacterial infection.

So not just tissue regeneration, not just shrinking the uterus and size, but the bacteria infection. And so that’s where I come with inflammation is being right there at the root of that. So with that infection we’ve got some short term consequences like elevated acute phase proteins. And oh yeah go back to reduce feed intake. So if you’re starting to think I have a hang up about reduced feed intake, you’re, you’re probably right.

Because how many times do we say if I could just get the cow to eat. Life is good. She takes off. She doesn’t look back. So everything that we’re doing is thinking about what can we do to get her to eat and get the nutrients into her. And then glucose gets reallocated by the immune system from helping with, follicular development and milk production.

And as you stated earlier, growth is going to just try to keep the animal alive. We got to defeat these pathogens in the uterus. And oh, yeah, at the same time, we got pathogens trying to enter the body through the mammary gland. So the cow is really fighting a multiple front war at the same time. And she’s got to determine where do these nutrients go so that I can get the biggest return?

I got to stay alive. And that’s the first thing I got to do. That’s what she’s saying before I start to produce milk. And oh, yeah, I got to produce milk before I’m going to develop my follicles so that I can get pregnant and have a calf next year. So I like how you use the term, I think you said cascade, and I think that’s really what it is.

One thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another. And so we got to go back to where it all starts. And I think it’s defeating these pathogens, the wound repair in the uterus and regenerating all of these tissues. So that she’s ready to get pregnant on that first service so we can reduce those days open and have that very valuable calf next year and get her primed so that she’s ready to have milk for that second lactation.

And I think that’s really what brings us to some of these long term challenges. Been a lot of work. Ribeiro, Carvalho at home from 2017, looking at long term performance losses, delayed resumption of ovarian cycling, reduced pregnancies per service. And it goes on an increased calling from there. If these animals have a case of metritis. But they were really looking at multiple lactation cows.

I think it was Marshall et all 2024. That really opened our eyes to these long term consequences with first lactation have first having metritis because the dogma used to be first lactation heifers, they don’t have as much of a challenge, compared to the multiple lactation cows. So they’re going to breeze on through. But Marshall et all showed in a survey of 4800 cows at one dairy, 4200 cows and another that there was tremendous increases in the odds of retained placenta, delayed re-breeding and increased calling at the second lactation. If there was some metritis at the first lactation.

So, again, we’ve got to get this animal of greatest genetic value to have a strong immune system defeat the pathogens in the uterus here at first calving at the start of her first lactation so that she stays in the herd, has an opportunity to live up to her genetic potential, not just in the first lactation, but second and on. So it really, again, you use the term cascade. I think we can say that incidence and metritis at the first lactation leads to a cascade of events through subsequent lactation or cabins that reduces her ability to stay in the herd and live up to her genetic potential.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I would absolutely agree with you on that one. And when we’re thinking about something like metritis or, even things like ketosis and milk fever, they’re also interrelated. So if we start to solve one, we usually have a good handle on trying to address some of the others.

But if you’re enjoying this episode of the Dairy Podcast show presented by Wixenetics, please remember to like, subscribe and share it with your friends and family. You can also turn on notifications from our channel so you never miss an episode. Please feel free to leave us your comments at any time because we definitely want to hear from you.

So when we’re thinking with first lactation heifers and the greater risk associated with first lactation heifers, how can we help mitigate some of those issues so we don’t see that future cascade in second or third lactation, that we can make it to a third and fourth lactation with these high value animals.

Dr. Larry Roth: Well, I think that the place to start is with my hang up feed intake. Let’s do everything we can from a housing standpoint, quality of feed, bunk space to encourage feed consumption, pre and post fresh breast. Look at the right nutrients to support the immune system. Antioxidant support to help resolve stress that’s caused from metabolites produced during normal metabolism as well as with immune system.

And then we’ve got a unique product Cow Start Complete. And so we’re advocating based upon some recently completed research. Give it one. Just one of the Cow Start Complete boluses and freshening. It’s uniquely formulated with what I like to refer to as sea minerals from seaweed. There’s 74 macro and micro minerals, selenium, yeast, and a high level of vitamin E to provide some of the antioxidant support.

And what we saw in a recently completed study at two different farms, one farm had 48 cows that were randomly assigned to a control where there was no bolus giving at calving to the other treatment with one of the Cow Start complete. And then a second farm, where it was 200 cows. So 100 cows in each treatment.

And these were pretty productive herds. One was 27.5f for rolling herd average and the other was 28.5 five. First herd was 1500 cows. The second one was just over 5000. And so the dairies were doing a good job from a production standpoint, but their challenge was a high level of incident of metritis with these first lactation heifers, so what they saw in the course of this study was that, metritis was 10% for the control cows at farm A, but also got just one Cow Start Complete bolus there wasn’t any metrics. So from 10% to zero.

At the second farm went from 17% metritis for the control to only 6% for those who got one Cow Start Complete. So if we go back to our initial promise, highest genetic value animals at the dairy, less incidence of metritis, less cows starting down that negative cascade for problems in the first lactation and problem second, and so forth after that.

But as much as the dairy producer thinks they’re in the business of producing milk, I think they’re really in the business of getting cows pregnant and staying pregnant. And those cows who got the one Cow Start Complete bolus at calving, these first lactation animals, 53% of them were pregnant on the first service, as contrasted to 41% or 25% fewer for the controls.

And at the second farm, it was only 45% that were pregnant off the first service for control, as compared to those who got one Cow Start Complete bolus who were at 50%. And if my math is right, that’s about a ten percentage unit improvement. So again, these animals are subject to inflammation. They’ve never been exposed to these pathogenic bacteria in the uterus.

They got all of these other metabolic challenges going on. They’re under attack. And the mammary gland, all of the social stressors, it really comes down to what can we do to help resolve that inflammation. And I think here we’ve got a unique combination of the same minerals, 74 different macro and micro minerals, a high level of selenium, yeast and vitamin E to help that immune system resolve the inflammation so the cow can reallocate nutrients for profitable purposes: getting pregnant, staying pregnant, making milk and in the case of these first lactation heifers, continuing to grow.

But it all begins right there with that inflammation story right there in the uterus. So let’s help that wound repair itself, regenerate the tissue so the cow stays in the herd for a long time, lives up to her genetic potential, and makes the owner some money.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I know you mentioned that with Cow Start Complete it was a single bolus. I was doing some googling earlier. It looks like it’s a two bolus dosage. So was it a single dosage or a single bolus? Just so I’m clear, cause I’m nosy.

Dr. Larry Roth: Right question. So if you go back to the website, the information you were looking at those two boluses work for multiple lactation cows. And I think if you look at it, that’s a very key point. Mult second and grader two, first lactation one. And so I may have been a little bit dramatic like that kindergartner in the school place and one Cow Start Complete bolus. But I think we want to drive that point home. Yeah we’re talking second and greater two. If it’s just that first lactation heifer one.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I’m glad I asked for clarification because I would have left confused.

Dr. Larry Roth: I appreciate you saying that. Appreciate you saying that because we do want to bear it out, that it’s just one that is needed.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Well, Larry, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Related to first lactation fresh cow management. I think we hit on some important points around feed access. Some of the supportive roles that things like Cow Start Complete could absolutely play, and trying to manage those animals and get them off to a better start. I do have a few questions for you. Unrelated, before we in the episode, are you ready?

Dr. Larry Roth: I’m ready. Fire away.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Okay. What is your favorite dairy related book or resource?

Dr. Larry Roth: All right. You know, with this thing called the internet. I don’t know if we open up books so much anymore as we go online. And I think you look at some of the proceedings from, like the Cornell Nutrition conference. Being in Minnesota, I go to the four states. There’s also a tri-state that these proceedings are a tremendous resource.

So going back and looking up data, and again, how can you beat the Journal of Dairy Science? So let us go, Journal of Dairy Science, top of the list and then go to conference proceedings in second place.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So the JDS and then S pack. So all those things you can get with our subscriptions. I love that.

Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Outside of dairy. What’s your favorite book?

Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. Well, you know, when we start thinking about a manual for life, it’s hard to beat the Bible. Another book that I like to go to is, the book itself is called Gods and Generals. It was made into the movie Gettysburg. And, one time I gave a speech on 12 lessons from Gettysburg for the livestock industry.

And so there’s a lot of neat things. I think probably the primary lesson that comes from Gods and Generals is always take the high ground. And if we go through life that way, we’re always taking the high ground. We’re not taking the low road. We present ourselves from a high ethical standpoint. Life is going to be a whole lot easier.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: All right, final question. In your opinion, what sets successful dairy professionals apart from those that are less successful?

Dr. Larry Roth: What, what helps somebody to be successful? Not only the dairy industry, but in life in general, being willing to take advice from somebody else. If we start to think that we’ve got all of the answers, we probably don’t. So being willing to have that trusted cabinet of advisors, if you will, people around us who are smarter than us, let me tell you, it’s easy to be successful in life. Surround yourself with people who are wiser and smarter than you are, and it’s a breeze from there.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: It’s really, really good advice. Well, that’s going to conclude another episode of the Dairy Podcast Show presented by Wise Genetics. Doctor Roth, thank you again for sharing your time and experiences on the podcast. Really enjoyed talking to you and hearing your perspective.

Dr. Larry Roth: Thank you.

Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: And thank you to everyone, listening and tuning in today. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay updated on future episodes.

And if you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave us a review. Your feedback is invaluable to us. Until next time, this is Dr. Liz Eckelkamp from the Dairy Podcast Show signing Off. Have a dairy great day.

The post 80: Dairy Podcast Show | First-Lactation Cows: Inflammation, Transition, and Future Performance appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

In this Letters from the Field episode, Scott Zehr and Dr. Larry Roth explore the science behind clay-based mycotoxin binders, manure consistency, gut health, and nutrient bioavailability. They explain why firmer manure doesn’t always mean the underlying mycotoxin challenge has been addressed, review the research on how clay binders perform against common mycotoxins like DON (vomitoxin), aflatoxin, fumonisin, and zearalenone, and discuss an alternative strategy focused on protecting intestinal integrity rather than simply binding toxins.

If you’re looking to better understand what manure consistency is really telling you, this episode delivers practical, research-backed information for managing mycotoxin challenges.

🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!

Scott Zehr: Hey, welcome everybody back to another episode of Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions. I am your host Scott Zehr. And today Dr. Roth is joining me and Larry, we’re gonna talk about something that is near and dear to your heart. Welcome back to Ruminate This.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right.
Scott Zehr: All right. Well, you say that now. Uh, so Larry, you know, you and I have talked about mycotoxin mitigation a couple of different times on this platform. We have talked about binders at least once on this platform. One of the cool things about working in the field is that we come across different situations, different conversations that, that make us ask ourselves a question.
And, one of those such conversations you recently had at a dairy. And so I thought it was, it was a good idea to bring that in as kind of a Letters from the Field episode. Essentially the question is, Larry, why when we put in a, say a clay-type binder for mycotoxin mitigation, do we see changes like the manure stiffening up?
Which, you know, if we have high DON, we could have rumen disruption, rumen inefficiencies, all the things we’ve talked about before. And one of the symptoms of DON is that sporadic loose manure. So Larry, I’m a dairy farmer. I throw in some binder. The manure stiffens up. Problem solved, right?
Dr. Larry Roth: Not exactly. So let’s work with the i- idea that we’re putting in some hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate. That’s a l- long series of words, but it, it, it’s kind of a refined bentonite. Let’s, let- let’s go with that, okay? So why would we see things getting better? I’m gonna term things getting better from two standpoints.
One, what you were just referring to, the manure is a little bit stiffer. Well, these aluminosilicates, will bind water. Sometimes we use them in different situations to soak up water, s- soak up oil on the shop floor. That may be a little bit of what’s happening. So we’re absorbing some of the moisture that’s in the large intestine.
Manure is a little bit drier. It seems like it is firming up. We could also go with the example of, um, seems to be working that maybe milk production comes up a little bit, maybe repro improves a little bit. Probably not a whole lot. But let’s just say for the sake of discussion, the mycotoxins that we were concerned about were zearalenone and fumonisin.
Well, one of my favorite research studies is Cajal et al from 2022, the meta analysis of over 60 different peer-reviewed articles looking at the ability of different feed ingredients to bind or tie up different, uh, mycotoxins. And that would suggest that the aluminosilicates would bind 52% of the fumonisin and 52% of zearalenone.
So if we have low to medium mycotoxin levels, we’re, we’re gonna tie up some mycotoxin, yeah, we are. But if we have high levels of mycotoxins, I would contend that the aluminosilicates and some of these other, quote-unquote, “binders” are gonna be overwhelmed by the amount of mycotoxin that is in the diet. But at the same time, Scott, you’ve gotta come back and realize that these, quote-unquote, “binders” are also tying up some of our nutrients.
So principally minerals, amino acids, and some of the vitamins that, that support the immune system. So when we say, “Oh, I put in a, quote-unquote, binder, and cows seem to be doing better,” what do we mean? Do we mean that the manure is firmer? Are we seeing improvements from a repro or production standpoint?
I could see at low mycotoxin levels, you might see some benefits. But very easily the binder could be overwhelmed, and you have to think long-term, are we, uh, costing ourselves because we’ve reduced nutrient bioavailability? So a lot there to unpack
Scott Zehr: There is. I think first, when I, I think through what you just said, I, I wanna capture something you said because we can go to the, the Cajal et al research on the binding efficiency of the mycotoxins.
But I wanna come back to, and I’ll do a callback for one of our previous episodes called “Where Did the Protein Go?” And I believe that was episode 76. And we talked about why has, why haven’t we consistently been able to get protein up higher than what it is? And some of that comes back to this question I have from you.
So when, when you look at the, the research they’ve done with binders on, on amino acids, and I think this is not talked about nearly enough. Larry, I’m gonna s- I’m gonna say that you and I talk about it a lot. We talk about it a lot internally, but you don’t hear it talked about in the popular, mainstream dairy press.
Scott Zehr: I’m just gonna run through the list of results here. So take bentonite…
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay.
Scott Zehr: Tying up, 28.3% of lysine. Montmorillonite tying up 47% of lysine. Yeast cell wall fractions, 38% of lysine. And there’s other amino acids that’s mentioned here as well, and the range is from 28% to as much as 58% on certain amino acids. What is that, what is the net result of that happening?
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. Right. So we are tying up amino acids. We don’t have amino acids to go into making, uh, milk protein, which is where you started your question at. We don’t have amino acids to support immune function, rebuild tissues. And you really need all of these amino acids in the right ratios to make full use, be it, um… or to get the most efficiency. Be it for milk protein, rebuilding the body, repro, immune function, what have you.
So if we are reducing lysine availability, we’re not able to make the complete proteins. We lose the protein or amino acid efficiency. Yeah, we’ve got plenty of the other amino acids, but now we’re short on lysine, so, um, that’s our limiting factor. And, milk protein isn’t gonna be what it could be, nor are we going to have the health and repro that we would want to see.
So feeding a feed ingredient that ties up lysine is going to negatively impact protein efficiency.
Scott Zehr: Okay
Dr. Larry Roth: As well as efficiency of other nutrients
Scott Zehr: Okay, so talk about methionine in that same way.
Dr. Larry Roth: Sa- same…
Scott Zehr: Cause we’re talking 50%, 51% depending on the clay, 40% for mont- mornite, 47% for yeast cell wall.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep, same thing. Now we’re tying up some of our methionine that we need in certain ratios to make the complete proteins, and all of a sudden we’re missing some of our building blocks. So poorer protein efficiency, poorer amino acid efficiency because we don’t have all of the nutrients that we need in the right ratios.
Scott Zehr: Maybe I should apologize to the listener just a little bit, Larry, because I kinda took us down a rabbit hole. Um, you know, the, the original question was why the, why does that manure stiffen up, right? And here we are talking about amino acids, but I, I think it’s relevant. Because I think we…
Dr. Larry Roth: Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: And I’m gonna go back to a comment I’ve made before, is, i- i- I think a lot of these products were developed for combating a specific issue a number of years ago called aflatoxin.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep.
Scott Zehr: Um, and now we’re still broadly using them for other mycotoxin related mitigation. So we talked about this, these binders getting into the rumen. You know, they’re absorbing moisture. Do you think just the moisture absorbency is what gives the appearance of the drier manure? Is that what you’re kinda getting at?
Dr. Larry Roth: I think so. I think so. Now we may be tying up some of the other mycotoxins, and in my earlier example, Scott, I used fumonisin and zearalenone because the alumino silicates, um, tie up more fumonisin and zearalenone than they do DON or ochrat or T2. But the aluminosilicates are very effective at binding aflatoxin.
Aflatoxin is a carcinogen, negatively impacts the liver. So yeah, if we… But, but again, when do we see aflatoxin? Generally during a drought. And we just don’t see as much aflatoxin anymore as compared to, say, 25 or more years ago. We’ve made tremendous strides in agronomic practices, also in corn genetics, which is more resistant to drought or drought tolerant. And so we just don’t see aflatoxin like what we used to.
Scott Zehr: So, going back to this, this whole firm manure thing. You know, Larry, we, we have a product called DTX that we have research on. And,
Dr. Larry Roth: Mm-hmm.
Scott Zehr: You know, we have… I, I’m just gonna speak from my own personal experience in the field over the last five years. So many times I see farms, they’ll put their, their herd on DTX, manure changes within three to five days… Stiffens up.
Dr. Larry Roth: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep
Scott Zehr: hear the same thing about the clays. So if our objective is to stiffen up the manure, we can do that, but walk us through the differences between one product is doing, which you just explained, right? We’re absorbing some moisture where, where you have drier manure. Well, we’re not relying on binders with DTX. We have- we’re a probiotic. So what’s causing the manure to stiffen up there?
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. We’re protecting the animal against the negative impacts of DON for destroying gut integrity, so you don’t have the leaky gut where we have nutrients coming back into the digestive tract and being consumed by undesirable bacteria in the small and large intestine. So let’s absorb nutrients where they’re supposed to be absorbed, the small intestine, and don’t have them coming back into the body through leaky gut.
So protect gut integrity, help nutrients to be absorbed, stay absorbed, and not end up flowing back into the digestive tract. That’s how we’re improving manure consistency with DTX.
Scott Zehr: Okay. So w- w- we’ll talk about that manure just a little bit more. You know, we’ve, we’ve all looked behind the cow. Um, granted, you’ve probably looked at, at more manure in your life than I have. Uh, but, um, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s one of the quickest indicators we have. But…
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep.
Scott Zehr: the biggest misconception producers have about what, about manure when evaluating, say, the addition of feed additives?
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about, shall we say, manure consistency when it comes to some of these mycotoxin protection-type products? Well, we could still have challenges induced by DON changing the balance of bacteria in the rumen. We could still have leaky gut. But now we’ve got the bentonite or aluminosilicate in the hindgut to bind some of the moisture and firm it up.
So I think the biggest misconception we would have with aluminosilicates is they’re putting a Band-Aid on the problem, but not solving the problem back in the rumen and the small intestine. It’s all about gut integrity and having the right balance of bacteria in both the rumen and the small and large intestine.
If we lose control of microbial balance in the small intestine, and especially in the large intestine, we can get all kinds of fecal abnormalities.
Scott Zehr: So, Larry, let’s pretend I’m a producer for a minute. We have, uh, some cows that are a little off feed. We have some loose manure going around. The nutritionist puts in a product.
Um, you know, I’d say I, I, I put a binder and we’re good. You know? Take care of that. How, how can I as a producer know if the ingredients we’re talking about here today, bentonite, hydrosodium sodium aluminosilicate, Montmorillonite, yeast cell wall fractures, how do we know if those are the ingredients in the product or not? How can we find that out?
Dr. Larry Roth: How do we know if… Okay. We should be able to look at our feed.
Scott Zehr: Yeah
Dr. Larry Roth: We should be able to ask our nutritionist, “What are you putting into the diet for mycotoxin protection?”
Scott Zehr: Mm-hmm. Okay. ‘Cause it, you know, and I, I bring that up because, sometimes I think probably most producers are familiar with bentonite. That’s a very common, we throw in bentonite. But, all my years of, of being on the dairy, we fed binders back then. And, if people have been listening long enough, they’ve probably heard my, my binder story and, and how I swore I’d never work in the mycotoxin mitigation space because it’s all a joke.
Um, but, you know, then all of a sudden I find Agrarian. So that being said, though, uh, I just never remember hearing, you know, well, I, I threw in some hydrosodium alumos- aluminosilicate, right? We hear terms like bentonite. But there’s product names out there, and I think for the most part…
Dr. Larry Roth: Yeah
Scott Zehr: uh, Larry, and I’m, I don’t wanna step on anybody’s toes too hard, but for the most part, anything that’s out there is, generally speaking, a combination of a clay or a yeast cell wall or some of both. Maybe some enzymes.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yes. Perhaps.
Scott Zehr: Yeah. I think I’d really challenge the producer that you visited with is, is to, you know, okay, the manure stiffened up. Great. Larry, was that his only objective with mitigating mycotoxins?
Dr. Larry Roth: I think that his objective is to create healthier, more productive cows. Protecting against mycotoxins sounds well, but at the end of the day, the objective is to make money on the dairy. And the way that we make money is cows making milk and get pregnant and stay pregnant. So okay, fantastic. We saw a very quick result, manure firmed up. What are we seeing for production and repro?
Scott Zehr: Just out of curiosity, Larry, this one might get me in trouble. Are there many research studies out there on mycotoxin mitigation products that show an ROI?
Dr. Larry Roth: Very limited in terms of research studies where feed ingredients used for mycotoxin protection, note how I said all that, have shown a return on investment. They may show some returns at low levels of mycotoxins, ’cause again, Cajal et al says we’re going to tie up some of the mycotoxin. But it’s very easy for the mycotoxin contamination to overwhelm the supposed mycotoxin mitigation products. So, very limited, and the studies that are out there are with very limited numbers of cows.
Scott Zehr: Yeah I’m gonna come back to this again, right? So it’s a term that I think we sometimes hear overused a little bit, but let’s look at the data, right? And I think of DTX, and I’m getting a little promotional here, but this, this question about binders comes up a lot. And Larry, it… You know my take on this and how I think that, I think there’s, there’s a place for these binders, but I don’t think mitigating DON is the right place or even zearalenone or T2.
Dr. Larry Roth: Mm-hmm
Scott Zehr: 926 cows, Larry.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep. Absolutely.
Scott Zehr: Ta- T- talk, talk about, talk about that. What, what am I, what do I mean when I say that, Larry?
Dr. Larry Roth: So we’re, we’re talking about a research study in which we had over 920 cows randomly assigned to either a negative controlled diet, no mycotoxin protection, or DTX supplemented to provide that protection. These cows were exposed to a diet that had 1.5 part per million DON, and approximately 150 parts per billion of zearalenone.
So we would consider that to be a high risk for DON, medium risk for zearalenone, two mycotoxins stacked on top of each other, so definitely some mycotoxin issues. And we saw a very nice improvement in milk production and a tremendous improvement in cows getting pregnant and staying pregnant.
Scott Zehr: Yeah.
Dr. Larry Roth: So there, there you go. There you’ve got a large study conducted on a commercial dairy, a dairy that is used to doing feed trials, let me make that comment, so they know how to do things right. The study was blind in that at the dairy, they had no idea which supplement was the negative control and which one had DTX.
They only knew supplement A and supplement B. And we ended up showing a very nice ROI based upon milk production. And dependent upon how you view, uh, the value of a pregnancy, a tremendous improvement in ROI factor when you factor repro in.
Scott Zehr: Yeah, and tell you, the value of pregnancy, that’s, that’s pretty high. Always has been, but I think it’s even higher nowadays. Larry, I appreciate you visiting with us about this today because it’s, I think part of it is almost like a personal mission of mine, but, what we’re trying to accomplish at Agrarian isn’t to replace binders in all situations. Again, there’s a reason those products exist.
We’re just trying to help, uh, bring awareness to the fact that, “Hey, maybe this isn’t the right tool for this job,” right? If I was gonna paint this wall behind me, I wouldn’t start with a hammer. You know? It’s… There’s, there’s a correct tool and there’s an incorrect tool. So I-
Dr. Larry Roth: Scott, if your challenge is aflatoxin, there’s a whole bunch of feed ingredients out there that can tie up aflatoxin. Just be cautious, though, that those ingredients are also reducing the bioavailability of different nutrients.
But if your concern is DON, there really isn’t anything out there that’s gonna tie up DON, which brings us over to the DTX. Zearalenone, there’s a few that can provide some moderate protection. T2, really not anything out there. Ochra, a few, moderate protection. Fumonisin, eh, there’s a few that can provide moderate protection. So Scott, do you want excellent protection or moderate?
Scott Zehr: Larry, I’m wired to want kind of the best when I, when I go out and make these kinds of decisions.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep.
Scott Zehr: So I wanna wrap up here with, just a, a little back and forth. Again, think maybe rapid fire, but, feel free to, to complete it.
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay
Scott Zehr: So, top of the episode I asked you the question, the manure stiffened up after we fed a binder. Why?
Dr. Larry Roth: Absorbing moisture.
Scott Zehr: So we have research with Cajal et al that shows that binders will bind some mycotoxins, but they’ll also bind B vitamins. They’ll bind vitamin E and amino acids. What about…
Dr. Larry Roth: And minerals.
Scott Zehr: What about DTX?
Dr. Larry Roth: DTX is not a binder. It will not reduce the bioavailability of vitamins, amino acids, or minerals. In fact, we’re gonna improve gut integrity so that we can improve the absorption of those costly nutrients.
Scott Zehr: And Larry, talk to us about inflammation. You know, because at the end of the day,
Dr. Larry Roth: Yeah
Scott Zehr: uh, I, I think the real story here isn’t loose manure or stiff manure. I think it’s we’re dealing with mycotoxins and the negative effects of mycotoxins. And when I think of what the negative effects are, I used to think less milk, less repro. And now I think the negative effects really are more inflammation, more nutrient reallocation towards non-productive purposes.
Dr. Larry Roth: Yep, there you go. I th- I think you nailed it. Inflammation is simply the body’s trying to repair itself due to some insult. It could be pathogens affecting the small intestine, could be mycotoxins being absorbed, could be heat stress. Inflammation is also involved in normal processes such as the cow giving birth and repairing the reproductive tract, as well as gearing up the udder, the mammary gland, to produce milk.
So inflammation is normal. It can be also induced by outside stressors. But basically, inflammation reallocates nutrients away from profitable purposes: growth, milk production, reproduction. Reallocates nutrients to just trying to stay alive. Repair the body and stay alive.
Scott Zehr: Okay. Now I’m gonna ask you one more question, Larry, and it’s probably got a few different answers or a few different parts to an answer, but here we go. So if you could give dairy producers kind of one framework, if you would, for evaluating any mycotoxin product, what questions should they ask before they put it in their cows?
Dr. Larry Roth: What challenges are you seeing in your cows today? Have you been testing for mycotoxins? Do we know that there’s a mycotoxin issue there? And then we would want to ask, are you prepared to use a product that’s gonna reduce nutrient bioavailability, so you gotta feed greater levels of nutrients? Or would you rather feed a natural product that is going to help the body work the way that it should and promote gut integrity and help defend the liver?
Scott Zehr: There we go. Good questions for you to ask the next time you’re thinking about doing something with mycotoxin mitigation. Larry, I appreciate you joining us for this episode. We’re gonna be talking to you again soon about calf, calf raising. So in particular, what we’re putting into that calf on day one, and that kind of excites me because, Larry, it brings me back to one of your favorite sayings, and what is that, Larry?
Dr. Larry Roth: Whatever happens day one, week one, month one of life affects that animal the entire rest of its life.
Scott Zehr: I love it. I… Folks, I did not tell him I was gonna do that, so all I had to do is mention the word day one and Larry, like, he, he knows that. He believes it, he preaches it, and, uh, it’s the truth. So just look it up. But Larry, again, thank you for joining us on this episode of Ruminate This. We’ll be talking again soon.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right. Thank you, Scott.

The post 79: Why Does a Clay Binder Firm Up Manure? The Science Behind Mycotoxin Binders appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

But what if the biggest opportunity starts much earlier?

We’re excited to share this episode of The Dairy Podcast Show, where host Dr. Barry Bradford sits down with John Lawlor, dairy industry consultant, to discuss why forage quality, feed management, and system-wide thinking have a greater impact on profitability than many producers realize.

From harvest decisions to feed efficiency and long-term herd performance, this conversation explores how seemingly small management choices can influence milk production, feed costs, and overall business success.

In this episode:

•  Why profitability begins before feed reaches the ration
•  How forage quality drives feed efficiency
•  The hidden costs of poor feed management
•  Why system thinking improves dairy performance
•  The importance of measuring what matters
•  Common management decisions that quietly reduce profitability
•  Building a more resilient dairy operation
•  Practical ways to improve long-term return

💬 Have thoughts or a story to share? Email podcast@agrsol.com.

🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!

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Barry Bradford: Hello. Welcome back to the Dairy podcast show, brought to you by Wisenetix. My name is Barry Bradford from Michigan State University. Today I’m happy to welcome to the show John Lawlor. John is the managing director of Anchor Life Sciences Limited. John, thanks a lot for being on the show today.

John Lawlor: Thanks, Barry. It’s an absolute pleasure to be chatting to you today. And we’ve done a lot of research in the past, and one of the big areas that kick started all was a lot of your research back in the day, looking at the the role of information and what it does and certainly think a little bit differently about transition cows and performance and to see, well, you know, is it all about calcium or something else at play.

And that really started the kind of ball rolling. And I think we’ve learned an awful lot more in terms of tradition, cows, maybe in the last 5 or 10 years that we have for a long, long time before. And there’s a lot more data research being done in this whole area. So another five years, ten years. We know a huge Whittemore.

Barry Bradford: Yeah. That’s exciting. Thank you. Let’s start a little bit with where you’re from, how you got to where you’re at. It doesn’t sound like you’re from Pennsylvania necessarily. No, no. Tell us about this space.

John Lawlor: This is a very strong Irish accent. So I, I grew up on a dairy farm just north of Dublin in Ireland. My local hometown is actually the hometown of Pierce Brosnan, who used to be James Bond back in the day. So we have a bit of a link. And so at home we milked about 350 cows on what we call a liquid build system.

So autumn calving and spring calving and trying to produce much grass as possible from far, and particularly grass if we can. And I suppose I went from the farming into business, so I started, I spent five years with Altec, the nutritional supplement company, and then started with a company called Celtic Sea Minerals. And they harvest a special type of seaweed called Lithuanian calcareoun up in Iceland.

And that business has a human health prior to the business. It has an animal health practice which is Calyx Minerals. And now we have Anchor Life Science, which is an animal veterinary product division. And between all of those, we have about 130 peer reviewed published papers on the role of that seaweed. So it’s very well studied, understood. I could do an awful, really fantastic things.

And when I saw some of the data of the beneficial role in terms of animal and human health, that’s where I suppose anchor kind of sprung from. How can we apply this type of seaweed into a range of health products? And that’s really where this was the product we have today: Cow Start Complete. It’s really kind of come from.

Barry Bradford: Very cool. Maybe we could take a minute and help us understand, like at least to people in the US, I think if you’re like, oh, I’m going to feed seaweed. Maybe people think of methane reduction or something, but like help us understand is, is it like dried and ground and what’s, what’s the logic of using a seaweed for cows?

John Lawlor: Yeah. So there’s three species of seaweed. There’s brown seaweed and green seaweed. Most people think of seaweed, they think of the stuff that washes up on the beach. And that generally is the brown seaweed. And the green seaweed. Very much a kind of a kind of a plant. And if we think about this bit like compared to making silage, you know, you let the grass grow, you cut it, you take it away and then it grows again.

You cut it. That’s the brown seaweed on the ground. So you’d have that kind of a life cycle. Okay. Our seaweed was a raid species and it has a very different life cycle. So it grows down to a depth of 15m because it needs sunlight for photosynthesis. And it grows really, really slowly. And what it does is over a long time, it absorbs 74 different minerals from the seawater, and it embeds them in a very unique plant matrix.

And then over time, as it matures, it gets carried away in the current to a an area of dead material. So we only harvest for the dead materials. We never got here, the live plants, we need them to keep producing and growing. We just have us over the dead material. So as a comparison, I would say that the red seaweed is more like an apple orchard.

You have the trees, they grow a crop of apples, they fall down. We take those apples away, but we leave the trees to keep growing apples every year.

Barry Bradford: Yeah, I like that. Okay. That’s cool.

John Lawlor: Yeah. So as a product is very it’s purely a mineral product except a 74 different minerals. But what makes it unique is that because our plant structure they’re very bioavailable in the human and in the cow very different. So say if you say main captive source might be limestone a rock source, it’s not nearly as bio available. Whereas the calcium and our product is completely bio available.

Barry Bradford: Kind of like what we talk about with like milk complex calcium versus a supplement like for humans. Same idea. Yeah. That’s cool.

John Lawlor: Exactly.

Barry Bradford: Okay. Well, I know your anchor is focused on transition cows, so maybe we could start off with you work across different systems, you know, kind of work with people around the world. What do you see kind of as big trends in terms of managing transition cows? Are we making progress on reducing disease incidents and that sort of thing?

John Lawlor: Yeah, I think it’s fascinating. In the last month I’ve been to South Africa. I’ve been to Holland, Ireland as well. We do a lot in New Zealand as well, and I think it really depends on the region you’re in. Some countries are at the cutting edge, like America, in terms of using native decade diets as much as possible and then supplementing cows at the point of calving to try and improve performance.

And other countries are really far behind where really what they’re trying to tackle is clinical milk fever. Okay? They’re just the cow that’s gone down. They get up, they get a going, and they think that that’s what they can do to solve it. But the one trend that really is growing everywhere is the use of oral calcium supplements, the ability to pick and choose higher risk cows and target a kind of a treatment program on them to try and reduce the risk of those issues.

And that is growing very strongly, the US being probably a more mature market, but certainly in Ireland we’re probably 5 or 6 years behind the US. Other markets could be 5 or 6 years behind us. But the one thing that’s really clicking into gear comprehensively everywhere is the picking a choosing of cows and supplementing to try and reduce the risk, because there’s no bigger problem or pain in the backside than a cow It goes down and then trying to trade or lifter and get it going, and there’s a good chance you’ll end up never really coming to anything anyway. So it’s just something to be avoided at all costs.

Barry Bradford: Yeah, yeah. Good point. And maybe a lot of our listeners, I mean, we have listeners from all different systems, but maybe you could help us understand a little bit better. What what are the biggest pain points for pasture based systems versus TMR based systems? Do they differ very much or not really?

John Lawlor: Yeah, I suppose very, very different and very the same at the at the same time. So pasture based systems were typically if cows are out on grass during the dry period, it’s a complete recipe for milk fever.

Barry Bradford: Yeah it is. Yeah.

John Lawlor: Absolutely. Absolutely. We see that in South Africa. We see it in New Zealand or we see it in Ireland. And our biggest challenge, I would say on the European side is we have a strict ban on the spreading of slurry during the winter. Yeah. So generally what happens is you make your first cut silage a really good stuff that goes to your milking cows, your higher ceiling, and then you put as much story out as you can on the second, third quarter.

And it’s low and you can, you know, you’re just restricted. And on every grazing system it just plays havoc. So certainly in Ireland, UK, lots of countries, the main cause of fever is not calcium, it’s potassium. Absolutely too much potassium locks up your magnesium. You can’t get the calcium going. Well you need to. So that’s the biggest challenge I think in other systems like in North America, you know, the forest, the diet you have can be quite high in calcium.

So you could be dealing in a, you know, a .8.8 5% calcium in the background in Ireland is probably 0.6, 0.55. So you have to tackle calcium and also potassium levels in the diet source. It’s very much the potassium managing grazing after that for the for the factors are different. The challenges are still the same. When cows are calving in the amount of time it takes to try and avoid the issue, and the cost of that issue are the same number of what part of the world you’re in. It costs exactly the same on that goes down. And obviously the sub tentacle cow is the biggest cost of all. It’s 80% of all of the costs of the subclinical cow. 

Barry Bradford: Yeah okay. Help us then. You made a point that I’m not sure I would have seen from my vantage point that you said, you know, we see increasing adoption of oral calcium bolus is at or shortly post calving. What’s your read on I guess the research literature on that lately. What’s the takeaway points?

John Lawlor: Really interesting. There was a paper you’re from my alias. It was published a couple of years ago, and they did a meta analysis of 22 peer reviewed published papers on the use of oral calcium products and essentially what they were doing and what they weren’t doing. And I think traditional thinking is if we can keep that cow on our feet on the day after calving we’ve done everything we can do what you love a great lactation going forward, it’d be very productive and reproductive.

And this paper really said actually the data doesn’t support that viewpoint. So what it did find is in the day after calving in terms of clinical milk fever cases and retained the use of oral calcium products, did reduce the risk of those two diseases. But when you go to four days in milk fever, no effect, where you go to three weeks looking at urine infections displays amazing and ketosis no effect.

When you go to 100 days, you look at energy status in terms of body condition scoring. You look at milk production, you look at fertility, no effect. So I think it does a certain amount, but it may not just do everything we think it’s going to do.

Barry Bradford: Interesting. And how do you think that intersects with the concepts of the transient, hypocalcemia and persistent? Are you familiar with those ideas?

John Lawlor: Yes. Yes. We use that research from Jesse McCartney and Cornell in the development of of our product. And it’s interesting. Some of our data would support it, and some of our data would say, well, we get the calcium levels quite high in those calcium first four days. They produce more milk than any other group of cows, the ones that go down and back up, but the ones that go down completely.

So I think we need more data, more data points to see exactly. And I think if you look at the latest research from Cornell, you know, where they looked. The initial paper was looking at the transient cows and the delayed cows and the four different groups, and then they looked at the calcium level as being the kind of driver of cattle was low on day one, but okay.

Or day four or then that was perfectly fine. And I know they reviewed and actually looked in terms of inflammation markers of all of those cows to see what’s happening. And they’ve also seen a link certainly in one of those groups, it was inflammation. That was also a key factor in that. So I think this whole area, like I said, where you started all those years ago, looking information has a much bigger role to play, and our data would support that.

In terms of what we’ve seen, we certainly see that there’s more than calcium at play here. If we want to get the best performance out of transition cows, we need to look beyond just putting it to those cows because like that, that review of 22 papers, the effect is actually reasonably limited. And up to day one, there’s an effect what we want to get a successful transition cow period.

We’re not just thinking about day one. We’re thinking about the following days. We’re taking about production of fertility, fewer issues, fewer vet calls, that successful transition management. And if we want to achieve that uncertainty our data would support, we need to think a bit more than just calcium in these cows.

Barry Bradford: Okay, that makes sense. So yeah, like you said, that’s like one of the biggest headaches for a farm is down cows with milk fever. No. Yeah. Nobody likes that. It’s a headache that you feel horrible for the cow. But let’s say, you know, we we have strategies are hard to implement in some systems, but we have strategies that are pretty good at reducing that. Right? But we still don’t have great performance from all of our cows. So you said we got to look beyond calcium. So what do you what do you think about then? What’s the next things you’re looking at?

John Lawlor: Yeah. So I suppose when we were looking to develop the product first we kind of had the philosophy, you know, cows of three problems at calving. Calcium is only one of them. But immune function and energy status of two of them massively challenges those cows face. So I suppose our logical as well, if we can tackle those three issues together, if we can reduce the level of issues in those first two weeks after calving, can we then go and see a better performance of good production of fertility?

So in our product we have our seaweed in there. So it is very, very high levels of completely bioavailable calcium and easement as well as 72 other minerals in there. We have and again like I said, potassium is a huge challenge in a lot of areas. Having that extra magnesium in there is a huge benefit, but not usually available in most oral calcium products.

We also have some vitamin D3 in there. But we have to remember that our seaweed is proven in humans and in cattle to have a very strong, natural and potent anti-inflammatory effect. So we have the ideal ingredient in terms of we have something of a lot of calcium, magnesium, but it also acts as a very potent anti-inflammatory. And if you look at the latest work from Lance Baumgart where he’s saying, well, actually information is the first thing that happens, and then the drop in blood calcium levels is a consequence of the inflammation.

We used to think of this slide of this gateway disease idea, this gateway calcium drops and then all the problems happen afterwards. Whereas Lance is kind of saying, well, actually information happens for us. One of the side effects of that is the calcium dropping. But you have all the other issues in terms of energy, data production and other.

But the calcium dropping is side-effectively. It’s not the main event that starts. Everything that we used to think was and I think again, our data would, would show that when we have our, our product in there with that anti-inflammatory effect, when we compared to products that just put calcium in there, we get a very different range of performance across the lactation.

Barry Bradford: That’s interesting. Maybe you don’t know, but I’m curious, like the way you’re talking about this, it’s like a plant complex set of many minerals. So I’m sitting here thinking, okay, you see anti-inflammatory effects in multiple species. Do you have any idea what might drive that response with this product?

John Lawlor: Yeah, we’ve done a nice bit of research. So in cows we’ve seen in terms of induced acidosis, induced heat stress and in transition cows lowering of those markers of inflammation. We’re also just seeing a more detailed research. You know when there is an inflammation response, when that cow has an infection as an inflammatory response, we do want the cow to have some level of information because that is that response is a natural thing.

So we generally have a kind of a 12 hour quick response. And then you have a chronic response, which is for 12 hours afterwards. So what we’ve seen with our seaweed is it does not affect the natural first response of the body, but after that the chronic response, it has a very potent role to reduce the level that ongoing inflammation, which is the thing when we start rolling into one week, into two weeks, into three weeks, if if you’re that inflammation going, it’s holding back the performance of those cows.

So it’s good because if we had something that knocked inflammation right off the bat, that would be not an optimal scenario for the cow, because you’re just switching off our natural ability to tackle an infection. So we know that we can have, lead the code to do our natural thing to get that thing under control. And then we help from that 12 hour point afterwards to try and reduce the challenge on those cows.

And we look at body temperatures. Interestingly, we could see that we see an increase in the first 12, 18 hours after calving as that natural response kicked in. But from that point all the way to two weeks after calving, that the cows getting our product have lower body temperatures compared to the control groups. So there is, there’s definitely an effect there that is happening.

And we know that if you get a high, a rise in body temperature, it a is a huge challenge for the cow, but also takes a lot of energy for the immune system to fight that high level of inflammation, the high level of temperature. And at the time when every ounce of dry matter is really critical to really t this cow up, we don’t really want to be shipping 1 or 2 kilos of that to fight at the temperature effect.

Barry Bradford: Yeah. That’s fair. So yeah, you’ve referred to some important insights from your research. Maybe you could talk us through 1 or 2 of the studies you’ve conducted with, with this product.

John Lawlor: Yeah. I suppose the most interesting one is it’s a very large herd. And in the year 2024 on the main farm, they camped in 2035 second lactation and all the cows and all that, they had five cases of milk fever. So using an egg had died, but absolutely exemplary in terms of managing cows and calcium status. And no matter where you go in the world, you know, a quarter of a percent of cows having attended a case is as good as you will get.

So we knew when we started the work there that, you know, we’re going to get it was going to be a tough challenge to match what those cows are doing, but it was absolutely exemplary. So in the trial, we had group getting the standard treatment and then getting our two Cow Star Complete bonuses are calving. And when we looked at blood clotting status, it was exactly the same. 

Numerically, we were a little bit ahead, but from a statistical point of view, there was no difference. And that’s interesting because that shows that those cows were ISO calcium. So if we saw any difference in performance after that, it was nothing to do with calcium because they were all exactly the same in terms of calcium. We also saw in terms of rumination levels, and we know rumination and calcium status are completely correlated.

But the rumination levels in those two groups was exactly the same as well. But we look at the levels of metabolic issues. So we look at in terms of, So there were no clinical cases in either book, which we expected. You look at your cases of retained the center, you look at the center. Traders displays are made some ketosis.

The cows and our group had lower results of metabolic issues in those first three weeks after calving. Really where we see the big difference when we look at body condition scoring, we can see and this is 147 cows per group. We can see that we have a statistically significant higher body conditions for every two weeks to 12 weeks into the lactation.

So despite the calcium being exactly the same and the rumination being exactly same, the energy status was notably different. We then saw in terms of those cows 2.6 kilo. So it’s going to be 5.3, 5.5 pounds of milk increase in milk production per day across the first 12 weeks. Imitation. That control group were at about 100 pounds of milk, so there were no slouches.

They were really, really top performers, but we still managed to increase the milk production on those cows across that time period. And again, when we look at fertility in that group, the conception rate for service was 49%, which for that level of performance and production, these are 29,000 pound cows is really good. Again, no slouches, whereas we started the group at 63%.

So a massive improvement of performance. So we’ve seen reduced levels of retained placenta and uterine infections and better body condition scores. And we know that those are two key drivers of better fertility in cows. And that data is very consistent. We do that on grazing cows and very high yielding cows. We get a very, very similar profile of terms of that increase in milk production and the increase in fertility and better body condition scores.

And if we go back to that research paper from the 22 studies they showed when we put oral calcium just straight oral calcium into those cows, no effect of body condition scores, no effect on milk production and no effect of fertility. Whereas we take Cow Star Complete, we’ve taken a wider range approach to tackling a wider range of issues. We do see a benefit across the board that you don’t get with other oral calcium products. 

Barry Bradford: That’s fascinating. 

John Lawlor: And there was another, there’s another research group who are doing a lot around this whole idea of getting the calcium consistently up to 48 and 96 hours after calving, but very much focused on the calcium side of the equation and getting the calcium perfect.

And in that way they have got the calcium perfect. But certainly from the the available public, publicly available data on that research group, they’re not having an impact in terms of energy status, in terms of glucose, in terms of BSB, in terms of body condition score, and not seeing an effect in terms of production either. So I think, again, when we look purely at the calcium side, we don’t shift the needle in terms of stuff that’s actually going to pay the farmer return on investment in terms of more milk production and better fertility as well.

Barry Bradford: Very interesting. So I think you talked about a little bit, but this is a bolus that you give one time. Like what’s your target window. Is that right?

John Lawlor: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So one of the big things we tried took us seven years to perfect the technology, what it is to be able to give one dose to the calcium, one doses, two boluses at the point of calving, and it will elevate the blood calcium all the way to 48 hours and all the way to 96 hours in those cows.

And that’s really important because, statistically speaking, the highest risk period for milk fever is between 12 and 24 hours after calving. So it’s not the first 12 hours, it’s the second 12 hours. Most traditional oral calcium products masked for what they claim 12 hours, but it may only be 8 to 10 hours. So when you put the first one in all those manufacturers, if you look at the label, recommend that the farmers give a second dose 12 hours after calving so that when the first one is out, is out of the system, you give an extra hit of calcium for these girls has of just entering into a higher risk period, whereas the concept we have is much more simple. It’s just one handling of the cow. 

The two boluses is going to go on at the same time, but once she’s done, she’s okay for 48 hours and at that point they can start increasing their own supply of calcium. So it’s very much in terms of convenience, in terms of farms that may not have a lot of labor available, but they may not a very good handling and drafting facilities. So catching that the second time can be too much of an effort in a job and it just doesn’t get done. This just simplifies that.

Barry Bradford: Yeah. Well, and I was going to say too. I think I’ve seen a lot of farms thinking more about the stress implications of locking up the fresh pen every day. And that’s really declined in the US, I think. So having a strategy that you could take care of this in the fresh pen and then in theory, if she’s healthy, you’re not locking her up again.

John Lawlor: Exactly.

Barry Bradford: As has some real advantages. Interesting.

John Lawlor: And I think one of the real advantages in reality is, you know, the first time you go and you get the gun and you bolus that cow, you know, that’s okay. When she sees you coming for the second time with the gun in hand, she knows what you’re about. And they generally tend to be very uncooperative. So it can be a really tough job to do.

Barry Bradford: Yeah I agree with that. Okay. Well we’ve got our famous questions we’ve got to throw at you. So first of all, what’s what’s your favorite dairy related book or resource?

John Lawlor: As you might have guessed, I like people who think outside the box and who just won’t accept, you know, the standard protocol and say, well, can we not do things better? And I think as dairy farmers spend a lot of money asking and talking to people like the accountant, like the vet, like the nutritionist, but there’s one team out there that can tell those farmers an awful lot out there, and it’s the cows themselves.

If you can only learn how to read what that cow wants to tell you, because if every cow is at all times telling you something about the environment she’s in. So there are two guys in Holland who developed this system called cow signals. So I’m not sure if it’s very popular in the US or some people know or not.

But yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s a fantastic way of thinking about things. And if you could just learn to read what that cow is telling you, it can tell you so many things and you can make some small, what you might think are small changes, but could be big changes for the cow. And you can make a lot of improvements quite quickly.

If you could just learn how to read what that cow is telling you. It’s very simple, but it can be very, very powerful and effective. And I think in terms of a dairy related resource, that to me is one of the best ones out there.

Barry Bradford: Yeah, I don’t think any major brought that up on this show that I’ve heard. That’s great. That’s a good point. I’m familiar with that program. Very good. All right. What about your favorite book or resource outside of agriculture?

John Lawlor: Okay. This one is a special one to be. So this is a book called Race Without End. So this was published in 1994 and I actually had a signed copy. So back in the 80s and the early to mid 90s in Ireland, Ireland was a very poor country. We were bottom of the league in terms of economic development and everything, and this guy called Eddie Jordan set up a Formula One team and he became massively successful with that former team.

He was a really great entrepreneur. He won the Irish Entrepreneur of the year competition, but he had an Irish team fighting at the pinnacle of the biggest sport in the world. And just in terms of inspiration, when you’re looking and nothing is going right in your country and you can say, well, actually people from Ireland can do the best of the best and fight up with Ferrari and with Williams and McLaren and all these big guys.

And he was a hell of a story. That team now is the Aston Martin formula one team. That team is worth billions today. But it started one Irish guy who was plucky enough to just give it a go and see how far he could take it.

Barry Bradford: Wow. I hadn’t heard of that story. That sounds awesome. And then that was kind of right when the what? The Irish tiger economy took off.

John Lawlor: The mid 90s. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Really started to take off. And we grew up a lot and everything developed. So we’re very much at the top end of the scale running the bottom. But but you’re in a place where you look around and everything is dreary and unemployment is 30% and there’s no real kind of hope and you can see something like this happen.

I know he’s inspired a lot of Irish people to kind of go, you know, we can do these things. We can fight on the global stage and a really interesting, unfortunately, we lost Eddie Jordan last year. He died. But he left a big legacy in sport and in business in Ireland.

Barry Bradford: Okay. Last question. In your opinion, what sets successful dairy professionals apart from those who are less successful?

John Lawlor: If I could distill down to one thing? Honesty. Being brutally honest, I find and I would go to a lot of dairy farms and I have a discussion with them and the guys that are really open and say, look, these are the problems I have. You can make a lot of progress with those guys, and sometimes a lot of times, what we might find as being a solution has nothing to do with us as not to do.

Bolus isn’t like that. There could be something else, but if you could just find a guy that’s really honest, you can make real progress. And I think sometimes you go to farm and the farmers telling you I’m here, or you walk around the cows and you see the farm and maybe they’re here, but they might be down there, you know.

So but you get out and you see, you get a really good appreciation for where they’re at. But the guys that are completely honest, if the farm is here, they’re, they’re they’re not up here, they’re here are sometimes a little bit down here. They’ll be humble. But the guys that can be really honest and say, look, these are the challenges.

This is what it’s been we’ve been struggling with for the last few years. And we really want to focus on improving this part of the business. They can make real progress. The guys who just don’t think it’s a problem or don’t address it, or just a bit embarrassed or they don’t want to admit it, you know, they just keep muddling on and not making progress.

Barry Bradford: I like that a lot. It brings back to mind to me a very short list of key traits of a good leader. And one of them was deal in reality. Like, you know, you can, you can pump people up, you can try to support them. But we have to face the real issues we have with honesty, like you said. That’s good. Yeah. Well, John, I very much enjoyed the conversation. Thanks for being on the show today.

John Lawlor: It’s been an absolute pleasure. Barry. Thank you very much for having me.

Barry Bradford: So again, our guest today has been John Lawlor from Anchor Life Sciences. And this has been another episode of the Dairy podcast show, brought to you by Wisenetix. If you’re not already following the show or you haven’t liked it, make sure you do that so you don’t miss the next episode, and we’ll see you then.

The post 78: Rethinking Transition Cow Health appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.

The small and large intestine linings are singular cell layers separating the digesta contents and the bloodstream. The epithelial cell layer is responsible for absorbing nutrients and keeping pathogens in the digestive tract and out of the body. The intestinal mucous layer is a chemical barrier protecting against pathogens. The physical barrier at the intestinal lining consists primarily of two parts: the digestive tract lining cells themselves and the tight junction proteins tightly holding the cells together.

Unfortunately, destruction of the individual digestive tract lining cells creates holes in the castle wall. Tight junctions may fail to renew themselves, thereby creating a gap between digestive tract lining cells. Either failure of the physical barrier leaves a way for mycotoxins, pathogens, and digesta to enter the bloodstream for distribution throughout the body.

During heat stress, high-producing dairy cows naturally reduce feed intake which reduces the heat load of digestion. Increasing the blood flow to the skin dissipates heat, which decreases blood flow to the digestive tract and reproductive system. Reducing water intake and decreasing blood flow to the digestive tract results in the shrinking of the cells lining the gut, thereby stretching the tight junctions attempting to connect the gut lining cells. Consequently, the physical barrier created by the linked tight junctions fails. The shrunken cells are also weaker and more susceptible to damage and cell death.

Mycotoxins, especially DON and T2/HT2, are specialists at disrupting the castle wall of the digestive tract. They are potent digestive tract cell killers and tight junction disruptors. Their main action is to turn off protein synthesis, stopping the renewal of tight junction proteins and leading to broken junctions between cells. Within the cell, shutting down protein synthesis quickly leads to cell death and a loss of the digestive tract cell, thus creating a hole in the castle wall.

The simultaneous occurrence of heat stress and mycotoxins creates a cascade of havoc for animals by decreasing feed intake, leaving fewer nutrients available for normal functions, and resolving the inflammation associated with digestive tract damage, which eventually results in fewer nutrients available for milk production and reproduction. During hot weather, this challenge may intensify because poorly and improperly stored feeds are at risk of mold growth, increasing the risk of mycotoxin production in storage.

DTX™ Concentrate is specifically designed to protect the digestive tract during stressful situations such as summer heat stress and mycotoxin contamination. Agrarian’s proprietary bacteria technology upregulates the natural defenses of the digestive tract cells, enabling the protection from damage. The plant phytogenics curcumin and naringin work together to support tight junction protein renewal for protecting the tight junctions from damage. The combination of microbial and phytogenic technologies protects cows from digestive tract disruption, thus reducing inflammation and the associated nutrient costs. Consequently, nutrients can be allocated to productive purposes making milk, getting, and staying pregnant.

Authors: Caroline Knoblock, MSc, – Director of Nutrition, Agrarian Solutions and Larry Roth, Ph.D., PAS – Vice President of Nutrition

The post Defending and Protecting Against Leaky Gut and Mycotoxins appeared first on Agrarian Solutions.