| 摘要 |
Systems and methods provide sugar alcohol to heat stressed ruminants to improve performance. During periods of high temperature or humidity, heat stressed ruminants may exhibit decreased dry matter intake, and in response, an effective amount of sugar alcohol such as sorbitol may be provided in the ruminant diet to cause performance to increase, which may include increased milk yield, improved feed efficiency or both compared to heat stressed dairy cattle without sugar alcohol in the diet. |
| 主权项 |
1. A method of feeding a transition ruminant during a transition phase defined by a period during which the ruminant is pregnant and extending through calving by the ruminant, the method comprising:
during pregnancy, feeding the transition ruminant a diet comprising sugar alcohol in view of a potential for the transition ruminant to experience heat stress; and determining the transition ruminant is experiencing heat stress by observing one or more of elevated internal body temperature, open mouth breathing, increased panting or sweating, the sugar alcohol ingested in the diet effective to improve performance after calving, and the sugar alcohol comprising at least one of sorbitol, xylitol, adonitol, allitol, altritol, arabitol, dulcitol, erythritol, galactitol, glucitol, iditol, inositol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, perseitol, ribitol, rhamnitol or threitol. |
