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"We have found that the practice of steaming up can help create
a whole complex of disorders and diseases," explained Jim
Drackley, a Department of Animal Sciences professor who has
spent 17 years working on the question. "Among the potential
problems are milk fever, ketosis, fatty liver, retained
placenta, displaced abomasums and infectious diseases. "But
when you follow another plan -- feeding a high-roughage and
low-energy diet that allows dry cows to meet their energy
requirements without excess -- you can avoid those problems."
The dairy cow's "dry" period occurs prior to calving. During
this short period of time, the cow is not producing milk but is
expected to give birth to a healthy calf, stay healthy herself
and start producing significant amounts of milk after calving.
Steaming up -- by, in essence, overfeeding cows during this
period -- is a "dogma," Drackley said, that has taken on a life
of its own over the past 15 years, despite increasing evidence,
both in the United States and Europe, that it is
counterproductive.
Drackley noted that Keenan, an Irish dairy firm, has been
using the high-roughage, low-energy approach for about five
years, after pioneering it in France.
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"Their field experience and our tests here at the U of I, and field
experience by some nutritional consultants in the United States,
have produced similar results. The results are tremendously
positive," he said. Drackley continues to work on the approach in
ongoing research projects.
"We're trying to test the concept against alternatives, and we're
also developing mechanistic information -- how it works in the cow,"
he said. "Interestingly, we believe the research is strongly related
to similar problems in humans, specifically on obesity and type 2
diabetes. That's because the excess energy taken in by cows with the
steaming-up diet eventually goes somewhere in their bodies. It is
stored as fat in internal tissues that can't be seen.
"The same thing happens in humans, so this research might have
some benefit for people as well as cows."
Drackley's research has been supported by the Fats and Proteins
Research Foundation, the USDA National Research Initiative
Competitive Grants Program, USDA's Health and Disease research
funds, and the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research.
[University
of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental
Sciences news release]
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