What are some of the challenges and risks associated with the transition period for dairy cows?

The transition period for dairy cows is characterized by restricted dry matter intake, rapid increase in nutrient demand, intense metabolic and hormonal changes, negative nutrient balance, metabolic disorders, disease incidences, risk to foetal growth, cow health, fertility, milk production, involuntary culling, and reduced dairy profitability.

How does insufficient dry matter intake during the transition period impact the metabolic changes and health of dairy cows?

Insufficient dry matter intake during the transition period leads to physiological adaptions in cows, resulting in mobilization of body fat and protein to cope with nutrient imbalance. This mobilization triggers the release of NEFAs from adipose tissues, formation of BHBAs in the liver, oxidative stress, reduced immune function, abnormal regulation of inflammation, fatty liver dysfunction, metabolic impairment, and adverse effects on cow health, reproductive performance, and milk production.

Transition Cow Nutrition: Optimising Cow Performance with Choline-Lysine-Methionine Supplementation

Overview

The transition period is defined as approximately 21 days before and after calving, during which dry matter intake is restricted while the demand for nutrients increases rapidly and there are intense metabolic and hormonal changes which impact the whole lactation. These changes result in negative nutrient balance with attendant metabolic disorders and greater risk of disease incidences which affect foetal growth together with cow health, fertility, and milk production with the potential to increase of involuntary culling and reduce dairy profitability.

Therefore, the transition period lays down the foundation for the whole lactation. So, optimising transition cow health and performance is one of the most critical and challenging tasks, whilst at the same time, with a rewarding outcome for a dairy farmer. For those that achieve excellence in the area of transition cow nutrition and husbandry know it takes attention to detail to ensure precision feeding, cow welfare and optimal environmental conditions.

When a transition program is properly designed and executed, cows perform to the highest level. Such an accomplishment comes with considerable rewards of optimum health, higher peak milk production, increased total lactational yield, greater reproductive success and lower culling rates leading to substantial financial benefits.

The key challenge to transition cow nutrition is maintaining consistent and adequate dry matter intake of a ration that is palatable, highly digestible and matches nutrient supply with the requirements of the dairy cow. As is often the case, failure to manage transition cow properly results in poor feed intake and efficiency which can snowball into myriads of fresh cow metabolic disorders as shown below.

Choline, methionine and lysine supplementation of Transition Cow - Image 1

As a consequence of the insufficient dry matter intake, cows go through physiological adaptions manifested in mobilisation of body fat and protein in order to cope with the nutrient imbalance.

Collectively the metabolic changes have negative health and reproductive outcomes that reduce lactational performance. Estimates of body fat mobilisation during early lactation can range from 41 to 90kg and for protein can be up to 24kg (Erdman and Andrew, 1989).

Body fat mobilisation triggers release of NEFAs from the adipose tissues and formation of BHBAs in the liver. These two metabolites are the markers of negative energy balance. An elevated level of NEFAs in the liver is a typical hallmark of transition cows. Hepatic NEFAs overload limits the cow’s antioxidative capacity resulting in oxidative stress, reduced immune function and abnormal regulation of inflammation. Fatty liver is dysfunctional, which means the cow is metabolically impaired and adversely affects cow health, reproductive performance and milk production.

During the transition period, the dairy cow undergoes body muscle mobilisation to meet amino acid and glucose requirements of the foetus and uterus in addition to catering for amino acid requirements for body maintenance, colostrum synthesis and gluconeogenesis for the ensuing milk production. The extent of body muscle breakdown of a transition cow can exceed 13% of body protein in well-fed transition dairy cows and up to 25% with un-balanced and nutrient limited diets. (McCabe and Boerman, 2020).

There is evidence indicating that protein malnutrition can impair immune function and increase the risk of metabolic and reproductive disorders postpartum. Transition cow diets should therefore provide high quality rumen undegradable protein (RUP) sources including rumen-inert/protected amino acids needed to cater for immunoglobulins in the colostrum, cow health, reproduction and milk production.

Choline, methionine and lysine supplementation of Transition Cow - Image 2

Choline, lysine and methionine are essential nutrients for critical metabolic functions in the body particularly during the transition period due to their extensive microbial degradation in the rumen. The effect of rumen-inert/protected amino acids together with choline on the regulation of immunity, antioxidative capacity, anti-inflammatory status, reproductive efficiency and milk production performance, has been well researched (Khwairakpam, James Singh and Dahiya 2018). They have distinct but interconnected functions in the reproductive, productive and defence mechanisms in the body. Close to 28% of absorbed methionine is used for choline synthesis. They both enhance the capacity of liver to export triglycerides in the form of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) from the liver and help mitigate the negative effects of hepatic fat accumulation soon after parturition.

Dietary supplementation of rumen inert forms of choline and the essential amino acids is a potential cost-effective nutritional strategy in alleviating many of the metabolic problems during the transition period. It can, in equal measure, reduce the adverse effects of NEFA-induced metabolic disorders and safeguard the health of transition dairy cows, increase their reproductive efficiency to enable them to produce milk to their genetic potential.

Precision feeding of rumen-inert amino acids has the potential to optimise nitrogen utilisation efficiency and protect the environment by reducing the level of protein supplementation, over dependency on soya and carbon footprint of milk production. Furthermore, dietary supplementation with rumen-protected methionine and choline has been proven to be a successful method for improving the cows’ ability to use nitrogen, regulate their metabolism, improve milk yield, milk components as well as liver health (Gummer, 2017).

Cholymet

When designing a diet to increase milk yield and milk protein, the level of a single amino acid supply is vital, but even more important, is the need to evaluate whether the supplied amino acids are balanced and liver function primed for optimal performance. For example, our own on-farm observations have clearly demonstrated that supplementation of dairy rations with rumen-inert Cholymet (choline, methionine and lysine) from 21 days pre-calving to 50 days post-calving increased milk yield and as well as concentrations fat and protein. We have also shown the beneficial footprint of balanced amino acid dietary supplementation in reducing the level of soya and protein in dairy feed as well improving the efficiency of nitrogen utilisation. This confirms the findings in other research studies that a balanced combination of rumen-protected lysine, methionine can improve nitrogen utilisation thereby contributing to reduced environmental nitrogen levels (Kim and Lee, 2021).

Similarly, a combination of choline and methionine have been shown to increased glucose production, enhanced milk production, increased postpartum dry DMI, regulated hepatic lipid metabolism, and improved immunity (Overton, 2019). Elsaadawy et. al. (2022) also demonstrated that feeding rumen-protected lysine and methionine improved DMI and milk production efficiency, maintained body condition, and reduced β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations of transition cows.

These findings collectively underscore the crucial role of balanced amino acid supplementation as a promising strategy to address nitrogen-related environmental challenges and enhance nutrient utilization in livestock. Choline acts to prime liver function improving glucose production to drive milk output. A feeding approach of this kind that ensures balanced supply of the essential nutrients to the animal can significantly promote sustainable dairy production while simultaneously enhancing animal health and overall productivity.

Supplementation with 100g/cow/day Cholymet, in a rumen-inert form delivered 10g methionine, 20g lysine, 9.5g choline from 21 days pre-calving to 50 days after calving resulted in a consistently superior performance in terms of milk yield, milk constituents, nitrogen utilisation efficiency (NUE) of 31% and return on investment (ROI).

Effect of Cholymet on dairy cow performance

Choline, methionine and lysine supplementation of Transition Cow - Image 3

Conclusion

The limited dry matter intake during the transition period when the nutrient demand for rapid foetal growth and increasing milk production is greatest puts the dairy cow in physiological adaptation mode leading to negative nutrient balance. This leads to body tissue mobilisation with the attendant metabolic disorders which adversely affect cow health, reproductive performance and milk production. Supplementation with Cholymet - rumen-inert choline, lysine and methionine has been effective in improving transition dairy cow performance with positive effects of increased milk yield and milk constituents with high return on investment.

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Transition Cow Nutrition: Optimising Cow Performance with Choline-Lysine-Methionine Supplementation

References

What are some of the challenges and risks associated with the transition period for dairy cows?

How does insufficient dry matter intake during the transition period impact the metabolic changes and health of dairy cows?

Why is it important for transition cow diets to provide high quality rumen undegradable protein (RUP) sources including rumen-inert/protected amino acids?

How does the dietary supplementation of rumen-inert forms of choline and essential amino acids help in alleviating metabolic issues during the transition period for dairy cows?

What are the benefits of supplementation with Cholymet, a rumen-inert form delivering methionine, lysine, and choline, to transition dairy cows?

Trace minerals are vital for cattle performance

Choline: A brief history