Boost Milk Yield by 3.69kg! The Role of RUNEON® Bile Acids in Transition Cow Management

Milk is highly nutritious, but many factors influence milk yield, primarily including dairy cow breed, nutrition and feeding practices, cow health, weather and environment, pasture management level, feed additives, medications, and other factors.

Lactation Curve

The lactation curve represents the changes in milk yield over time within a specific lactation cycle of a dairy cow (Figure 1). This cycle refers to the period from after calving until the dry period. The standard lactation period is 305 days, but the length of the lactation period can vary due to many factors, including milk yield, nutrition, health, animal type (first-calving or multiparous), age, surrounding weather conditions, and other factors.

Peak milk indicates the cow's response to feeding methods and overall pasture management levels during the peripartum period (dry period, calving period, and early lactation). Most cows reach peak milk production between 45 and 90 days, after which milk yield slowly declines over time. The longer a cow remains at peak milk production, the greater the total lactation yield.

Peak milk yield and its subsequent decline trend are related to lactation persistence (though not absolutely correlated). Lactation persistence generally refers to the rate of decline in milk yield after reaching peak production. High lactation persistence is a goal pursued by pastures, and the level of lactation persistence is related to the speed of the decline in milk yield.

The peripartum period is when dairy cows face the greatest risks. Metabolic disorders and physiological changes, along with other factors, can limit a cow's ability to reach peak lactation.

Nutritional issues during the peripartum period are complex and influenced by the interplay of factors such as protein, minerals, hormones, vitamins, and energy status, which increase the metabolic challenges for cows. These factors, combined with the effects of weather and pasture management, can easily lead to negative impacts.

Application of RUNEON® Bile Acids in Ruminants

In this section, we will focus on the impact of RUNEON® bile acids on the milk yield of peripartum dairy cows. The results are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Peak milk yield response of peripartum dairy cows to bile acid supplementation (P < 0.05).

Milk yield is one of the important key performance indicator parameters for evaluating production performance.

Compared to before bile acid supplementation, the peak milk yield of cows after feeding RUNEON® bile acids increased by more than 3.6kg.

In this study, RUNOEN® bile acid supplementation helped improve the liver function of dairy cows, thereby reducing metabolic disorders, enhancing animal health, which in turn stimulated dry matter intake, achieved a higher energy balance, and contributed to sustained milk production increases during early lactation and subsequent stages.

Combined with good pasture management, all the above factors resulted in higher efficiency for cows during early lactation, leading to a higher peak milk yield in this study.

According to the experimental results, supplementing the diet of peripartum Holstein cows with 0.15% dry matter (DM) of RUNEON® bile acids (equivalent to 30g/day) helps increase milk yield during early lactation and subsequent stages.