Nutrient restriction due to limited dry matter intake during early lactation in dairy cows may be a limiting factor for farm profitability. Improvement of feed digestibility through the use of direct-fed microbials may help alleviate challenges faced during this period. In the present work, cows were either fed a mixture of two strains of Bacillus subtilis, a mixture of six strains of Clostridium beijerinckii, a combination of both, or neither from 3 wk before calving until 70 d in milk. Cows offered B. subtilis had increased apparent total tract digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and starch. Additionally, ruminal fermentation was altered for cows offered C. beijerinckii and apparent total tract digestibility of NDF tended to increase. Results from this study indicate that individual supplementation of B. subtilis or C. beijerinckii, may improve the digestibility of Holstein cows.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.