Source: nhachannuoi.vn Dairy producers often add clay as a feed additive to reduce the symptoms of aflatoxin toxins and subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) in lactating cows. In a new study from the University of Illinois, researchers have shown that clay can also improve the ability to digest feed. Farmers are using clay, but they want to know if their silage or pasture is affected. We found that it does, clay is changing the way cows digest their feed, said Phil Cardoso, Associate Professor at the Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois and co-author of the Feed Science and Technology Journal. Cardoso and his team examined the digestibility of six types of feed – dry alfalfa hay, dry grass, wet-fermented grain, ground corn, corn meal, and soybean meal – with no clay added, one percent, or two percent dry matter. The researchers placed the feed in mesh bags and directly into the rumen through a fistula or orifice, an entry path created to allow for quantitative sampling of the ...