Urea Analysis |
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Valacta provides dairy producers with an easy way to measure milk urea nitrogen (MUN) in order to optimize herd performances.
The URÉELAB service is a laboratory test done with an infrared analyzer, directly on your monthly milk samples. This method provides a sharp, reliable, quantitative evaluation of milk urea nitrogen. Results are available in 24 hours only, via Internet or fax. As soon as you have the data, you can take any appropriate action to balance herd feeding.
Measuring milk urea nitrogen is an additional tool available to dairy producers. This measurement provides a useful indication of the way each individual cow assimilates protein in the rumen. This in turn gives you vital information in order to maximize feeding strategies and reproductive performances.
With the MUN analysis results, you can modify the ration's content or sequence, often with direct improvement of:
With your Valacta advisor, you can optimize feeding strategies. The goal is of course to keep your herd in the optimal range for MUN. This way, you will benefit from better herd productivity and feed utilisation.
Milk urea concentration reflects blood urea concentration. The two values are directly related to the efficiency of food protein digestion.
Too much degraded protein in the rumen results in an accumulation of ammoniac (NH3) in the rumen. This ammoniac seeps through the rumen wall and gets into the blood flow. It goes to the liver to be transformed into urea, which is then eliminated through urine. This tranformation requires energy. Eliminating urea entails a waste of energy, and also means a waste of protein. This translates into a loss that can reach $0,50 per cow per day.
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When the rate of milk urea nitrogen is too low, this means a lack of nitrogen (protein) available in the rumen. The rumen microflora cannot work properly. The result is lower food intake and lower production. On the opposite, when the rate of MUN is too high, this means that the ration provides a very high level of degradable protein in the rumen while the microflora has not enough available energy to use it efficiently. So, it is important to synchronise adequately the amounts and sources of protein and energy available to the microflora. This is what we call balancing the energy-protein ratio.
Target values for milk urea nitrogen concentrations are between 10 and 16mg/dl, preferably betweeen 12 and 14. Outside of these ranges, the use of nitrogen in the rumen is not optimal, which translates into a loss of production, waste of nutrients, high feeding costs and problems with reproduction and health.
When interpreting MUN results, you must take into account the hour of milking. There is a substantial difference in MUN rate between morning and afternoon milking. Morning milking takes place several hours after the last feeding, which is not the case for afternoon milking. Typically, MUN is 15-20% higher in a sample taken in the afternoon, compared with a morning sample. Other important factors are:
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