Milne Ruminant Specialist, Dean Maughan, recently had a “chat” with Steph Coombes from Central Station about his life and aspects of his career in agriculture. In one part of the popular podcast Dean discussed the role of the rumen in young cattle. Simplistically, he said that a weaner is a bit like a rumen with four legs. It has a head and a tail, and it is how the rumen itself is developed that will have a big impact on how the animal grows and transitions from its mother to being able “to cook for itself”.
Developing the rumen can also have a big impact on short term and lifetime production. Rumens are lined with what are called papillae. It is the number and size of these papillae that have an impact on how efficiently a weaner can convert feed into growth. For those who do not know what papillae are, Dean describes them as being a bit like a “skin tag”, something he thought that those over 40 may relate to!
Research done many years ago in the dairy industry showed that calves raised on milk alone (mum) had very slow papillae development. By giving the calf access to roughage (hay/pasture) as well as the milk, papillae development improved. However, those calves fed a grain-based supplement, showed greatly enhanced papillae development.
During the podcast, Dean said that a 140kg weaner that has been raised on milk with access to hay and pasture will look OK, however, giving this same weaner access to a safe grain-based supplement for a week or two, would greatly enhance the rumen’s growth and hence the ability to convert feed of variable quality into growth. This is the result that yard weaning, using a safe grain/pellet source, provides in terms of improved feed conversion, when an animal gets to the feedlot.
If you want to hear more about Dean’s simplistic approach to the importance of rumen development tune in and start at the 42 min mark. If you want to hear more about Dean’s life in the agricultural industry and his connections to the north west, you might like to listen from the start.
Click here to listen to the full episode on Spotify, or listen on the Apple Podcast app by clicking here. The video below presents a snippet of the broadcast.
