When a cow's ruminal pH dips below 5.8, it starts to drag her overall health down, too. The cascade of events ultimately leaves producers with increased treatment expenses and decreased overall production."For the modern dairy cow, it's common to take between 6-10 meals in a 24-hour period,"says Anthony Hall, MSc MSB, PAS,Technical Services, Ruminant, with Lallemand Animal Nutrition. "This naturally leads to fluctuating pH throughout the day. It's been docu-mented that lactating cows can spend up to 11.8 hours with a rumen pH below 5.8, which can mean nearly half a day of impaired digestion. A cow is simply not going to be in the best rumen health under these circumstances, and lowered health can damage the overall productivity of the farm."
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