Your cleaning skills may be superb, but sometimes even excellence doesn’t quite cut it. The reason is that the sow carries pathogenic bacteria in her gut. The sow stores bacteria like E. coli and Clostridium perfringens. If you have problems with diarrhoea in the farrowing section, you are probably quite familiar with these by now.
Trace minerals such as Cu, Zn, and Mn are essential to life, and their deficiencies in livestock result in health deterioration (Suttle, 2010). In an effort to prevent such deficiencies, dairy cows are commonly supplemented with Cu, Zn, and Mn. Various sources of trace minerals are used for this purpose, with inorganic sources (oxides, chlorides, sulfates, and carbonates) being the most commonly supplemented to dairy cows. Alternative sources such as organically complexed trace mineral supplements are specifically developed to provide greater nutritional bioavailability. Therefore, an important body of research has focused on determining the difference in bioavailability between trace mineral sources (e.g., Henry et al., 1992; Rojas et al., 1995;
Ward et al., 1996).
Analysis conducted by Dr. Barry Bradford and Muhammad Ibraheem at Michigan State University Copper, zinc, and manganese sulfate dissociate quickly in the rumen and release highly reactive free metal ions that harm rumen bacteria and fiber digestibility. Seven studies providing 11 comparisons across a variety of diet types were used in this small meta-analysis with the objective to determine if source of Cu, Zn, and Mn affects NDF digestibility.
Watch a presentation on the effects of zinc hydroxychloride on inflammation and intestinal integrity during feed restriction
An Overview of the Micronutrients Pre-conference Session at the 2019 Cornell Nutrition Conference
Micronutrients USA LLC, the market leader for hydroxy trace minerals, hosted the “No Guts No Glory” pre-symposium at the Cornell Nutrition Conference in Syracuse, New York, on October 22-24, 2019.
