1382 Effect of Bovamine® on performance of lactating dairy cows

The objective of this study was to determine if feeding Bovamine® has an effect on the production performance of dairy cows. Bovamine® (Nutritional Physiology Company, LLC, Overland Park, KS) is a direct-fed microbial consisting of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Propionibacterium freudenreichii. Thirty lactating Jersey cows (147 ± 49 d in milk) were used in a randomized complete block design for 12 wk with a 2-wk covariate period and 10-wk experimental period. The cows were blocked by parity, calving date, and milk yield. There were 2 treatments: a control group and cows that were fed Bovamine®. As a top dress, control cows received 454 g/d of ground corn and the cows fed Bovamine® were given 1 g/d of Bovamine® and 453 g/d of ground corn. All cows were milked and fed the same TMR twice daily. DMI and milk yield were recorded each day. DMI for the control cows (20.3 kg/d) was similar (P > 0.10) to that for the Bovamine®-fed cows (20.5 kg/d). There was a trend (P = 0.07) for greater milk yield in cows fed Bovamine® (25.3 kg/d) compared to control cows (24.4 kg/d). Percentage of fat and protein in the milk was similar (P > 0.10) between the 2 treatments, with control cows averaging 4.58% fat and 3.67% protein compared to 4.65% fat and 3.69% protein by the Bovamine®-fed cows. Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) was greater (P < 0.05) in the Bovamine®-fed cows (15.9 mg/dL) compared to the control cows (15.1 mg/dL). Fat corrected milk (FCM) and energy corrected milk (ECM) also tended to be greater (P = 0.08 and 0.07, respectively) in the Bovamine®-fed cows, averaging 29.8 kg/d for FCM and 30.5 kg/d for ECM compared to 28.6 and 29.3 kg/d for FCM and ECM by the control cows, respectively. BW was greater (P = 0.02) for the control cows with an average of 426.7 kg compared to 418.1 kg for the Bovamine®-fed cows. FCM/DMI and ECM/DMI were not different between the two treatments (P > 0.10) with the control cows averaging 1.42 and 1.45 and the Bovamine®-fed cows averaging 1.46 and 1.50, respectively. With a trend for increased milk yield, FCM, and ECM, results from this study indicate that Bovamine® may be a viable option to increase production in dairy cows without an increase in DMI.