THIS year's harvest hasn't been easy, with a large amount of feed grade wheat and barley affected by prolonged wet weather.
Unfortunately, the storage of high moisture/sprouted grain often produces moulds, which has led to a significant mycotoxin risk.
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Mycotoxins are nasty toxins produced by the moulds, which are commonly found on grains, silages, hay and other by-products used as stock feeds.
Stock fed contaminated feeds can suffer from digestive disorders, reduced feed intakes, immune challenges and increased susceptibility to disease.
Other symptoms include: Excessive saliva and in extreme cases cattle will display vomiting, scours, reduced milk production and weight gains, tremors and/or other neurological conditions, and poor reproductive performance and in severe cases an increase in abortions in pregnant stock.
While it is advisable not to use affected grains, it can be very difficult to visually identify dangerous levels of mycotoxins in stock feeds, as contamination is often limited to sections of the stored feed stuff.
The moulds to watch out for are the orange, red and pink moulds, These moulds tend to be more dangerous than the greens and blues.
The moulds to watch out for are the orange, red and pink moulds, These moulds tend to be more dangerous than the greens and blues.
- Matt Bastian, Alltech Lienert Australia
An effective way of combating mycotoxins is to use a toxin binder. Alltech's Mycosorb A+ is based on a specific strain of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is rich in glucans that have been shown to bind a broad range of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins.
This binder reduces the risk through a process of adsorption, removing mycotoxins from the animal's digestive tract.
This particular binder has a unique structure, providing several attachment sites for a range of mycotoxins, each gram of cell wall provides 20m of surface area for binding.
The inclusion rate for Mycosorb A+ for a low to medium mycotoxin challenge in beef cattle is 10g/head/day, equating to about 13c/head/day or a $10-$13/tonne. The recommended intake for sheep is about 4g/head/day, costing about 5c/head/day.
Alltech also offers a testing service for don, zea and aflatoxins, three of the main mycotoxins. A RapiRead test for these mycotoxins costs $90, with seven to 10 working day turnaround.
- Matt Bastian, a ruminant expert Alltech Lienert Australia based in Northern NSW.
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