48 | RURAL SERVICES » Essential Nutrition Over 30 years developing solutions Bernie Pol ENL Animal Performance Specialist (left) and Matt McKenzie discuss results and what to work on next. Russell Fredric Farmers are reporting unprecedented lifts in animal health and production as a result of Essential Nutrition’s management advice and targeted inputs. Director Nigel van Dosser says he started the business in 1996 after working as an agricultural nutrition consultant and realising that correcting de ciencies was just a starting point. “In order to make economic improvements, actions and inputs needed to be pro-active and inputs suf cient to produce measurable bene ts – things the farmer can measure,” Nigel says. He was especially motivated by the wastage he was seeing in the dairy industry, estimated at the time to be worth in the order of $300 million annually in calving-related ill-health issues including assistance, paralysis, retained foetal membranes, milkfever/down cows, uterine infection and delayed oestrus. Nigel has spent more than 30 years developing solutions to issues that “bother dairy farmers, ” especially metabolic disease (milk fever) and calving performance parameters, and how these impact on both the amount of feed a cow will be able to process for the season and her likelihood of mating success. Lameness and under-grown replacements are also two of his “don’t-get-me-started” hot topics. “By understanding the basis of a farm’s animal ill-health challenge or performance gap, it is possible to recommend management changes and relevant inputs in order to prevent, solve or improve it.” Fundamental to this is his view that while proactive mineral nutrition is expected to reduce wastage and improve performance, the stand-out results come when implemented in parallel with adjustments in management. Essential Nutrition’s expert advice and practical solutions are now becoming more widely embraced. This is helped by recent industry emphasis on animal welfare and the supporting research from Dairy NZ’s Pillars of New Dairy System programme, Nigel says. “We are now talking the same thing; the central importance of preventing subclinical metabolic disease and achieving heightened immune responsiveness at calving.” Essential Nutrition Southland animal performance specialist, Bernie Pol, says beyond calving and mating performance it is not uncommon to see dramatic changes in persistent animal health problems such as sore feet and lameness. Apart from being an animal welfare issue, lameness has signi cant costs to production reproduction and wastage; it is the biggest single problem faced by Southland farmers, he says. “We are now talking the same thing; the central importance of preventing subclinical metabolic disease and achieving heightened immune responsiveness at calving.” “Most people are looking for a simple silver bullet x.” “Lameness is intrinsically linked to diet, especially optimum rumen function, so solving it requires a review of the whole farm system that includes grazing and feeding management as much as a review of inputs, Bernie says. One client he recently started working with who farms 780 cows was constantly having 70 to 80 of the herd with foot problems. This has reduced to less than 20 as a result of the dietary changes and inputs recommended. “He’s absolutely ecstatic, it’s a complete turnaround. It’s also had a massive effect on his milk production and mating results” “The farmers that we work with stay with us because, as long as they act on the advice that we give and follow our input programme, it makes a signi cant difference across the farm. “I love doing what we’re doing because it makes such an impact. It’s incredibly satisfying.” Proudly associated with Essential Nutrition Proud to support Essential Nutrition Partner with Toll Global Express for all your Transport, Logistics and Parcel requirements 0800 865 569 GLOBAL EXPRESS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=