Optimizing ruminant health through OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition®

In Brief

• Ruminants require precise levels of vitamins to maintain health, growth, and productivity.
• dsm-firmenich introduces its new OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines, designed to enhance ruminant nutrition and improve farm efficiency.
• Experts emphasize the role of vitamins in immunity, reproduction, and overall performance, highlighting the importance of precision feeding and science-backed supplementation strategies.

Vitamins play a crucial role in ruminant health, impacting immunity, reproduction, and overall productivity. However, determining the right level of vitamin supplementation remains a challenge due to variations in diet, environment, and specific animal needs.  dsm-firmenich organized a webinar gathering industry experts to discuss this key question and introduce the company’s updated OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines.

The importance of vitamins in ruminant nutrition

Vitamins, such as A, D, and E, are essential for maintaining animal health and ensuring optimal performance. Vitamin A supports vision, growth, animal heath, reproduction and immune function, making it indispensable for young calves and lactating cows as well for beef cattle. Vitamin D plays a critical role in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, bone health, Immune response, milk yield which is particularly important for dairy cows with high milk production demands and gene expression for muscle development, carcass weight and meat quality and color in beef cattle. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, supporting immune response, reproductive efficiency, and muscle function.

Despite their significance, the precise requirements for these vitamins in ruminant diets remain a topic of ongoing research. Many factors, including forage and diet quality, feed composition, production phase (dry period, transition phase, lactation, growing phase in dairy and beef, finishing phase, etc), health status and environmental conditions, influence the vitamin needs of ruminants. Poor pasture conditions, stress, and intensive farming practices can all contribute to deficiencies, affecting overall herd performance.

dsm-firmenich’s OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 Guidelines: a step towards precision feeding

The dsm-firmenich OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines provide updated recommendations for vitamin supplementation in ruminant diets. These guidelines are based on the latest scientific research and real-world field data, ensuring that animals receive optimal nutrition to maximize productivity and well-being.

One of the key focuses of the OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines is precision feeding. Instead of relying on generalized vitamin recommendations, precision feeding considers factors such as the physiological stage of the animal, production goals, and farm management practices. By tailoring supplementation to the specific needs of the herd, farmers can enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and improve overall farm sustainability.

Addressing the challenges of vitamin deficiency and over-supplementation

One of the main challenges in ruminant nutrition is striking a balance between deficiency and over-supplementation. Vitamin deficiencies can lead to severe health issues, including:

• Impaired immune function, making animals more susceptible to infections.
• Reproductive failures, such as increased calving difficulties and lower fertility rates.
• Reduced milk production and poor growth rates in young animals.

The OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines aim to provide science-based recommendations to help farmers optimize vitamin use improving animal health and performance, sustainably.

Expert insights on vitamin needs for ruminants

During the webinar, industry experts emphasized the importance of a well-balanced vitamin supplementation strategy. Several key insights were discussed:

• Forage Quality Matters: The natural vitamin content of feed varies widely depending on harvest timing, storage conditions, and processing methods. Poor-quality forage often lacks sufficient vitamins, increasing the need for supplementation.
• Environmental Stressors Increase Vitamin Needs: Heat stress, high milk production, and transportation stress can deplete vitamin reserves in the body, making additional supplementation crucial.
• Bioavailability is Key: Not all vitamin sources are equally effective. The bioavailability of vitamins varies based on their chemical form, delivery method, and interaction with other nutrients in the diet.
• Animal production phases: growing, reproduction, transition and dry period, early, mid and  late lactation and finishing phase in beef cattle. The adequate vitamin intake varies according to production system and animal category.

By implementing the OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines, farmers can ensure that their animals receive the right levels of essential vitamins to maintain health, optimize production, and reduce disease risks and improve sustainable milk and meat production by reducing carbon footprint by kg of milk and meat.

More detailed and up-to-date information from highly experienced professionals on the importance of vitamin nutrition in ruminants is available in the book “Optimum Vitamin Nutrition for more Sustainable Ruminant Farming”.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Vitamin Nutrition for Ruminants

Advancements in nutritional science continue to refine our understanding of vitamin requirements for ruminants. Emerging technologies, such as precision feeding systems, automated monitoring tools, and data-driven nutrition plans, are expected to enhance the accuracy of vitamin supplementation. These innovations allow farmers to make real-time adjustments to feeding strategies, ensuring optimal nutrition for every stage of production.

As the industry moves towards more sustainable and efficient feeding practices, the dsm-firmenich OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines serve as a valuable tool for optimizing ruminant health and performance.

In 2025, the Ruminant OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® Guidelines will be updated with the inclusion of new 25OHD3 recommendations for some applications based on new research and the recent 2024 approval of 25-OH-D3 from Hy-D® in the EU and indeed already approved in the key ruminants markets world wide.

 By adopting a precision approach, farmers can improve efficiency, enhance animal welfare, and contribute to more sustainable livestock production.

Conclusion

Ensuring that ruminants receive the right level of vitamins is crucial for their overall well-being and productivity. The latest OVN Optimum Vitamin Nutrition® 2022 guidelines and 2025 Hy-D® update from dsm-firmenich provide updated, research-backed recommendations to support farmers in achieving optimal vitamin supplementation. By embracing precision feeding and considering individual farm conditions, producers can maximize the benefits of vitamin nutrition, improving both animal health and farm profitability.