The Rumen Room Podcasts

cwestwood
  • 5.0 (1)
  • SCIENCE
The Rumen Room Podcasts

“What’s the guts??”. Deep within the interior of ruminant animals is a fascinating digestion system that enables animals to digest fibrous feeds that we as humans can’t. Focusing on how ruminants work, The Rumen Room Podcasts cover a broad range of topics that bring together the nutrition, health, reproductive performance and well-being of ruminant animals. Presented in a practical, down to earth manner by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, The Rumen Room Podcasts are a must for anyone with an interest in ruminant animals. Based largely on topics contained in the Facebook group ”Then Rumen Room”, these podcasts also include new content not published previously on Facebook. Proudly supported by PGG Wrightson Seeds New Zealand, the Rumen Room Podcasts are well worth a subscribe so you can be the first to tune in to the latest episodes. Thanks for joining us.

  1. NOV 6

    56. Ruminants aren’t the only herbivores that eat forage crops!

    This latest “bite sized” short podcast takes a look at summer crop establishment in New Zealand, including a detailed look at the tiny (unwanted) herbivores that eat forage crops. Charlotte Westwood chats with PGG Wrightson Seeds agronomy guru Greg Zeuren to hear about the successful establishment of spring planted summer forage crops in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. In a down to earth, practical manner, Greg scene sets around deciding between direct drill or cultivation as approaches to crop establishment, discusses spray out and the importance of rolling crop areas post-planting, before moving on to managing risk of slug and insect pest pressure in newly established chicory, brassica, lucerne and other “small seed” forage crops. Throughout the podcast, you’ll learn handy tips and tricks to help grow forage crops as a summer feed for our ruminants. Slugs enjoy Weetbix, really Greg?? Absolutely! Finally, we’ll learn that if we’re not proactively monitoring our crops, there won’t be any forage crop left for our ruminants to eat this summer. We hope that you enjoy our latest podcast.

    21 min

  2. OCT 30

    55. Baleage – A mystery surprise or valuable nutrients for our ruminants? Part 2

    Amazing feed quality or compost? This second of a two part podcast series focuses on how to make sure we get the very best quality feed from plastic-wrapped bales. Part 1 focused on how to assess baleage, and the importance of getting the dry matter (DM) % right to ensure a  tasty, good quality end product. In this, part 2 of our baleage series, we look at further factors that impact balelage quality, including chop length, bale compaction, individual or tube-wrapped bales, how to handle bales and answers the question of “just how long do we need to leave baleage from the point of wrapping until feed out”?

    33 min

  3. OCT 25

    54. Baleage – A mystery surprise or valuable nutrients for our ruminants? Part 1.

    Baleage can be a fantastic way to conserve pasture or crop, moving forage from times of feed surpluses to times of feed deficits. Once wrapped in plastic, all baleage looks somewhat the same. Yet behind that plastic lurks all types of feed, from very high quality baleage through to absolute compost. This latest podcast focusses on assessing the quality of baleage as a feed for your stock. After discussing how to assess baleage, we move onto the importance of getting good quality forage into a bale at the appropriate dry matter (DM) percentage to optimise baleage quality. Part 2 of this podcast series will focus on further aspects of baling forage, including chop length, bale compaction, individual versus tube-wrapping of bales, and answers the question of “just how long do we need to leave baleage from wrapping until feed out”?

    50 min

  4. SEP 10

    53. Switching on ‘the heater’ inside newborn ruminants – The role for brown fat reserves

    Hypothermia is a real risk for newborn lambs and calves - and is a significant cause of loss of newborns born outdoors during cold weather.   When body heat is lost to the environment faster than a lamb or calf can replenish core body heat from within, hypothermia is likely. What factors influence the amount of heat that a lamb or calf can generate to keep itself warm, from the 'inside-out'?In our latest podcast, we investigate how mother nature has designed a range of inbuilt systems that help newborn lambs and calves stay warm. The importance of brown fat reserves is explained and other mechanisms such as muscle shivering are explored. Farm-level factors, specifically the nutrition of the pregnant ewe determine the extent of brown fat deposition in the unborn lamb. Keeping ewes in good body condition from mating to scanning, then from scanning to lambing favours better reserves of brown fat in unborn lambs and calves. More brown fat available at birth helps lambs and calves keep warm during the first few hours of life - potentially reducing risk of hypothermia in newborn ruminants.

    34 min

  5. AUG 8

    52. Wild winter weather. Part Two, Farm-level practical concepts

    Building on this mid-winter topic introduced in Episode 51, this podcast explores practical, farm-based things that we can do to help our cows well in cold weather.  As a nutrition-themed podcast series, our latest episode focuses unashamedly on the importance of nutrition, but other topics are explored too.  The role for shelter for reducing effects of wind chill is discussed. Just why cows need more feed during a range of different winter weather events is covered. How the “Heat of Fermentation” inside the rumen helps keep a cow "toasty warm" is explained. The better types of supplementary feeds to offer cows during inclement weather are discussed.  The importance of good quality stock water for cows, even during mid-winter, is defined. Keep warm out there Rumen Room Podcast listeners!

    28 min

  6. JUL 30

    51. Wild winter weather. Cattle outside, how we can help - Part One

    Cold winter weather. Great if you love skiing, not so great for us and our ruminants when we’re out and about in rough weather. That said, ruminants can be remarkably resilient in cold winter conditions – to a point. In this, part one of a two part podcast series, we explore why ruminants (focusing specifically on dairy cattle) can tolerate moderately cold winter conditions.  Risk factors that influence the degree of tolerance by cows to cold conditions are discussed. The range of coping mechanisms provided to ruminants by “Mother Nature” to improve resilience to colder winter weather are explored. Part two of this latest podcast series (episode 52) will cover some practical, farm-based strategies, with a nutritional twist, that can help keep cows well through winter weather events.

    37 min

  7. JUL 4

    50. Soil contamination of feeds – any issues for our ruminants?

    Ingestion of soil during grazing of pastures and forage crops is a common and unavoidable event.   Soil contamination of silage and baleage is another challenge that we sometimes need to deal with. Our latest episode explores the whole topic of soil ending up where it doesn’t belong. How much mud and dirt do animals eat during grazing? What factors increase risk of animals eating too much soil? Are there any health or nutrition issues we need to think about when animals eat too much mud and dirt? What happens when we get soil contamination of silage? All this and more. We hope you enjoy our latest podcast. 2.25 Overview of content of our current podcast 4.00 How ruminants end up eating soil 4.30 Post-grazing residual management – it’s not only about soil ingestion 6.55 Soil type and structure 9.00 Plant pulling during grazing 11.00 Earthworms – wonderful things but how about those worm casts? 12.45 Hot, dry dusty conditions 13.15 Flood irrigation 13.55 Annual forage crops, including bulb crops (Fodder beet, swedes, turnips) 14.35 Different types of bulb crops and risk of soil ingestion 17.00 Sugar beet and soil tare 18.00 When soil contaminates conserved feeds. Risks for spoilage of silage 23.30 Listeriosis risk when soil-contaminated silage pH is high 25.05 What parts of a feed test reports could indicate the presence of soil in your silage sample? 27.20 Soil ingestion when animals have a depraved appetite and eat soil (pica) 29.20 How much soil do grazing ruminants eat during grazing? 34.45 Potentially good aspects of soil ingestion 39.00 Potentially not so good aspects of soil ingestion. 44.50 Risk of physical damage to the gastrointestinal tract when ruminants eat soil

    50 min

  8. MAY 31

    49. Dry cow and transition cow management – it’s all about the COW. Featuring Dr Sue Macky

    Well known New Zealand-based veterinarian, nutritionist and farmer Dr Sue Macky joins Charlotte Westwood in our latest podcast. Sue steps us through everything to do with the individual dairy cow during the dry and transition periods - from the cow's point of view. Too often we get overly focused on the detail of the diet and management dry and transition dairy cows - and forget about focusing specifically on the cow herself. Not in this latest episode, this is very much about the cow herself! Sue discusses a cow-centric approach to managing dairy cows from dry off, during the far-off dry period and into the “springer” period (close-up dry period) and colostrum mob.  This is one episode you simply will not want to miss! 0.40 Introducing Dr Sue Macky, defining her lifetime of global experience in dairy cow feeding and management 3.35 The dairy cow is an elite athlete, and should be treated as such 4.35 The New Zealand dry (non-lactating) cow period - redefined 5.10 Managing cows heading into dry off including redrafting cows for the dry period. Impacts on an individual cow with changing herd social structure discussed 7.10 Cow body condition score at dry off through to calving 7.50 Gut fitness in dairy cows; Capacity and muscularity during the dry period 10.20 Feeding cows through dry off – “don’t confuse the cow” 10.50 Immune functionality through dry off 11.40 Stock water supply and access by cows during the dry period  13.30 Late dry period through to the transition period – setting cows up well 14.00 “Calves are obligate parasites during late pregnancy” 14.40 The challenges of pasture-based diets in late pregnancy 15.30 Mob size for springer (close-up) dry cows, it’s all about compromise 16.05 How long should cows remain in the springer mob? 16.30 The calving cow – the importance of access by cows to feed and stock water 17.50 The cow-newborn calf bond 18.45 Feed, water and calcium for freshly calved cows 20.10 Cow behaviour after calving – the modern cow vs. the cow of ancient times 21.05 Milking out a cow after calving (“energy in, energy out”) 21.35 Once-a-day milking of cows after calving, it’s all about gut fill and rumination

    24 min
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About

“What’s the guts??”. Deep within the interior of ruminant animals is a fascinating digestion system that enables animals to digest fibrous feeds that we as humans can’t. Focusing on how ruminants work, The Rumen Room Podcasts cover a broad range of topics that bring together the nutrition, health, reproductive performance and well-being of ruminant animals. Presented in a practical, down to earth manner by New Zealand veterinarian and nutritionist Dr Charlotte Westwood, The Rumen Room Podcasts are a must for anyone with an interest in ruminant animals. Based largely on topics contained in the Facebook group ”Then Rumen Room”, these podcasts also include new content not published previously on Facebook. Proudly supported by PGG Wrightson Seeds New Zealand, the Rumen Room Podcasts are well worth a subscribe so you can be the first to tune in to the latest episodes. Thanks for joining us.

Information

  • Creator
    cwestwood
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    The Rumen Room Podcasts

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