Rumen proof experiment: results two months later

NOVEMBER, 2018: There were no serious issues on our farm. We had moved onto third cut silage, and the dungs were a fair bit looser than we would have liked. Fertility was not bad, but we knew there was room for improvement.

In Mid November 2018, we read an article in the Farming Life, about a new technology called Rumen Proof, based on LARs Technology. The dairy farmer was making a lot a claims, and wrote about how he found out LARS technology is completely different to the traditional buffers. And he mentioned how he gathered information from the Westway Health and Mayo Healthcare website.

Instead, I just approached my local merchant Richard Powell in Keady, and asked his opinion on Rumen Proof. He had a fair few guys using it, and said that apart from one customer who had got a 10 days supply and stopped, he had got a very positive feedback, and the rest of the dairy farmers he had using rumen proof were very happy with the results.

I took the jump, and on the advice of Richard, I got enough for three weeks. He said that when the Rumen Function is fixed right in the cow, it could take up to three weeks to see the difference.

Results I have got:

- On the vast majority of cows, the dung had firmed up within a week.

- Between week two to three of our trial, average Milk Yield had gone up approximately 1 litre.

- The results I noticed most is really strong heats, longer heats, and more noticeable heats. We use sexed semen, and being able to notice those heats, is important. We have had only two repeats.

- Appetite/Intake went up after about two weeks.

- Laminitis nearly eliminated, digital dermatitis improved, but still not perfect.

- The cows have a really healthy shine on them and look fuller.

Also, I’m not completely sure if this is coincidence or not, but the SCC dropped drastically after using Rumen Proof, and the butterfat did jump up too. I will leave this to coincidence for the time being, though I do believe if a cow’s rumen is in perfect working order, there are a lot of secondary benefits due to that.

If anyone would like to know my personal experience of using Rumen Proof, they can ring me on: 079 26170347 (Wallace Porter).

See advert on page 7.