Transitioning from one diet onto another always poses a challenge to rumen performance; be it a calf being weaned onto solid feed, older animals being introduced on to their final finishing diet, or new store cattle coming on to farm and being introduced to a new ration for the final finishing period.
Sudden changes to a diet can result in cattle suffering from rumen upsets and subsequent growth checks and therefore need to be avoided. It is therefore important that any changes to diet are made gradually over a number of weeks so that rumen microbes can slowly adapt.
During periods of transition, Levucell can be used to help ease the rumen ‘shock’ created by changes to diet by quickly stabilising rumen pH and ensuring that the rumen maintains anaerobic conditions.
Levucell is an encapsulated live yeast, this protects it in challenging conditions. It has the scope to be included in many types of the feed, ranging from pellets to pre-mixes, for use in home-mixes or total mixed rations.