As a primary energy source for ruminants, volatile fatty acids (VFA) have been estimated to provide up to 75% of the total metabolizable energy (Bergman, 1990). Thus, it is not surprising that diets promoting fermentation and greater production of VFA also promote greater levels of productivity (e.g. milk production) than less fermentable diets (Kolver and de Veth, 2002; Oba and Allen, 2003a,b)...

Responses to sugars in dry or liquid form vary from study to study. To explain some of this variation and prioritize when sugars are more likely to have a benefit in diets for high producing dairy cattle, microbial function that influences susceptibility to low ruminal pH or a limitation in growth factors needed for efficient ruminal fiber degradation is discussed in this paper. When fed in pro...

Four ruminal cannulated Texel wethers were used to study the long-term effects of an acidotic diet on ruminal parameters and blood acid-base status. The short-term events around feeding and the recovery of the animals were followed after this nutritional disturbance. Sheep were limit-fed consecutively a control diet H (100% hay) (one week), an acidotic diet W (60% wheat + 40% hay) (2 weeks), an...

The objective of this study was to assess the value of triticale dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as a replacement for barley silage in addition to a portion of the dry-rolled barley (DRB) in a grain-based feedlot finishing diet. The trial used 160 crossbred yearling steers: 144 noncannulated (478 +/- 84 kg) in a complete randomized design, and 16 ruminally cannulated (494 +/- 50 kg...