Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is talking with Elanco Beef Cattle Technical Consultant Frank White about Rumensin for beef cattle by Elanco.
Since the 70s, White said Rumensin is a product that offers an array of benefits for beef cattle producers.
“How Rumensin works is whatever you are feeding that animal or that ruminant, you are going to get extra energy out of it, and it controls coccidiosis,” White said.
Regarding dosage, White said he recommends 200 milligrams of Rumensin per head each day. The label claim is to improve beef cows’ feed efficiency and control coccidiosis, and it will also increase average daily gain for heifers, and decrease days to estrus.
“There is a recent study that was published that allows us to talk about a lot more derived benefits,” White said. “In those, on beef cows, you are also going to increase milk production.”
When looking at common themes in the research conducted on the effectiveness of Rumensin since the 1970s, White said a few important trends included an increase in milk production and a decrease in the days between calving and cycling. White added that shortening the interval between calving and cycling is important for successfully breeding females each year.
“That led to almost 19 percent more cows cycling when you started your breeding season, and that is an important number,” White said. “If they get bred earlier, they are going to calve earlier. We wean them all on the same day, so those calves are going to weigh more because they are older at weaning. Those cows are more likely to stay in your herd if they calve earlier.”
Another benefit of Rumensin is that because the cattle have more energy, they will voluntarily eat eight percent less feed.
“Most animals eat to meet their energy requirements,” White said. “If they have more energy, they will voluntarily eat less.”
White said Rumensin also decreases the amount of methane and carbon dioxide released into the environment.
“That carbon is really energy that you are going to save, so you are not releasing that energy into the environment; you are going to grab that and use it,” White said.
To see how Rumensin can benefit your operation, White said to contact an Elanco consultant or visit https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef/products/rumensin.
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