Kewords: Ethanol, polio, cattle, Land O' Lakes
FYI:
April 30, 2007
Ethanol byproducts could increase polio in cattle
http://www.joplinglobe.com/farm/x212060119/Ethanol-byproducts-could-increase-polio-in-cattle?keyword=secondarystory
SULFUR CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE Court Campbell, Ph.D., Land O' Lakes
Also see: http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54784
FYI:
April 30, 2007
Ethanol byproducts could increase polio in cattle
http://www.joplinglobe.com/farm/x212060119/Ethanol-byproducts-could-increase-polio-in-cattle?keyword=secondarystory
SULFUR CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE Court Campbell, Ph.D., Land O' Lakes
Source: http://www.beeflinks.com/sulfur.htmDuring the every day challenges of feeding cattle, you may not put much thought into the sulfur level in your finishing diet, but sulfur can play a major role in the performance of your cattle. Sulfur is a required mineral for all animals, where it plays an important role in protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy metabolism. However, this is one of those cases where more is not always better. The suggested sulfur requirement of cattle is .10 - .15%. Dr. Richard Zinn at the University of California recently obtained some interesting results when he fed diets containing sulfur levels of .15 to .25%. When sulfur exceeded .20% of the diet dry matter, dry matter intake and average daily gain decreased while feed to gain increased. Also, they noticed that rib-eye area decreased. High sulfur intake can lead to decreased dry matter intake and poorer daily gain in cattle, possibly by causing a copper deficiency.
Sulfur can come from several different sources. Corn by-products such as corn gluten feed, corn steep liquor and distillers grains tend to be high in sulfur. We have known for some time that these by-products can contribute to Polioencephalomalacia (Brainers, Polio), a disease created by a thiamine deficiency. It appears that sulfur can destroy thiamine in the rumen. However, studies evaluating thiamine supplementation under sulfate induced polios are very inconsistent. Polios can also be caused by a drop in the rumen pH resulting from acidosis. This drop in rumen pH can result in the release of bacterial enzymes in the rumen that can also break down thiamine. At Land O Lakes, we typically do not include thiamine in the diet, but rather, approach the problem by stressing the importance of bunk management and recommending immediate injectable treatment of individual animals showing signs of Polio.
Also see: http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54784