Why should I use Molasses

Molasses Benefits

• Increases milk solid production
• Improves milk let-down
• Improves palatability of additives
• Promotes animal health
• Dilutes protein in the spring
• Improves fibre digestion
• Assists in reducing heat related stress
• Aids continued growth and development of young stock
• Increases diet density when intake is reduced before calving
• Provides sugar during early pasture growth
• Assists pregnancy rates - condenses calving patterns

Molasses

Blackstrap Molasses is the base feed used in the Agri-feeds range of products. The molasses is derived from Australian cane sugar and is characterised by its excellent palatability and flexibility of use. Molasses products are the key ingredients for cost-effectively managing the performance of other feeds including pasture.

The molasses is standardised to Feedgrade molasses maintaining a minimum 79.5° Brix and 74% dry matter.

Key Benefits

• There are both short and long term milk responses from feeding molasses. The immediate effect is increased total energy content of the diet. This gives the cow more energy for maintenance and production. Other effects include the manipulation of solids, increased lactation length and increased DMI due to better rumen functionality. Approximately 65MJME is required to make 1kgMS outside of the maintenance requirement.
   
•  Cows will enter the shed more enthusiastically when a molasses system is in place. Molasses in the shed is a valuable aid in training heifers or bought in cows to a new environment. Likewise, having molasses on an exit race will encourage cows to move through the shed on exit.
   
• The use of molasses will aid in improving Dry Matter Intake (DMI), cow behaviour, milk production, condition management, and energy parturition. These things combined will result in less animal health problems – a healthy animal is less likely to get sick.
   
• Grass is our cheapest form of feed but at different stages of the year there is a nutrient gap that either needs filling or reducing in order to provide the cow with the most efficient balance of nutrients. Molasses is a complementary feed that when fed to a grass based diet dilutes protein and fibre excesses as well as increases carbohydrate and energy intakes.

• The implementation of molasses into a diet will aid in the utilisation of fibre consumed. The lactating cow has a fibre requirement in her diet of 35-40% NDF. The NDF of pasture varies throughout the year; molasses helps re-balance the NDF to the desirable range.

• The way we feed our cows pre calving has a huge effect on the way in which the cows perform in the milking herd. An energy dense diet fed pre calving will assist in keeping the cows in a good nutritional state post calving. The use of molasses is a good component of a springer ration as it does not have a bulk factor Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) therefore will not take up precious space in the rumen. Molasses is a highly fermentable energy source that will help keep the energy density of the diet up. As molasses is highly palatable it encourages the cow to eat; when appetite drive is low.

• Molasses is characterised by a high content of soluble sugars (SS). This high sugar level in molasses will balance out the lowered SS in pasture at certain times of the year and because of the high sugar content, will increase the microbial bacteria in the rumen to improve digestion of high protein and fibre grasses.

• In order to assist in getting cows cycling soon after calving they should be fed a well balanced energy dense diet to encourage optimum intake. Molasses aids this situation as it will provide the palatability and energy density required in the diet. It will also provide consistency of rumen bugs if supplied continually throughout the season.

Methods of Feeding

• Open trough
• Ad lib lick balls or lick wheels
• Poured on or mixed with dry feeds and silage
• In shed feeders
• Incorporated into total or partial mixed rations (TMR or PMR) in mixer wagons

Feeding Directions

Molasses should be made available to livestock at the following rates:

Important Notes

• DO NOT feed molasses at rates greater than 20% of the total diet on a dry matter basis.
• Feeding very high rates of molasses to ruminants grazing very lush pasture may increase the requirement for an additional dietary fibre source such as straw or hay.
• It is advisable NOT TO ADD molasses to the milk of unweaned calves. Young unweaned calves may not be able to digest molasses when drunk with a liquid feed, as milk does not go into rumen.
• Calves CAN digest molasses when it is added to meal and ‘solid’ feeds, as the rumen is functioning when these feeds are consumed.
• DO NOT allow hungry cows free access to highly fermentable products as there is a high risk of cows developing ruminal acidosis.
   

Feed Test Attributes

High sugar, low protein levels

Molasses is characterised by a high content of soluble sugars. Sucrose is the main sugar, but molasses also contains small quantities of fructose and glucose. Sugars make up half of the weight of molasses on a wet weight basis.

Metabolisable Energy(ME)

The low estimate of ME for molasses reflects the relatively low protein content of molasses rather than the value of molasses as an energy supplement. Unfortunately the ME system underrates the value of molasses as a feed. Metabolisable energy fails to acknowledge the improved utilisation of other dietary nutrients when molasses is fed. Molasses doesn’t directly feed the animal. Molasses feeds the rumen microbes, improving the utilisation of other feeds in the diet. As a result, it is inappropriate to compare molasses with other feeds on a ME basis.

Low Dietary Cationic Anionic Difference (DCAD)

Molasses has a relatively low DCAD of +211meq/kgDM. This is low compared with other feeds including pasture and grass silage. Although molasses can contain about 35g of potassium/kgDM, this is ‘balanced’ by high levels of sulphur. The net DCAD is therefore relatively low.