Sodium Bicarbonate

Use: Buffer

Sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda, is a white crystalline solid that often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste. It is found in a dissolved form in bile, where it neutralizes the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach, and is excreted into the duodenum of the small intestine via the bile duct. The ancient Egyptians used natural deposits of natron, a mixture consisting of sodium carbonate decahydrate and sodium bicarbonate as a soap. Sodium bicarbonate as we know it today was first produced in 1791.

Consuming large amounts of grain at one meal may lower the pH of the rumen in cattle. Ideally, the rumen should vary in pH from 5.5 to 6.8. If the pH is not optimal, microbial yield and efficiency drops, intake of dry matter declines and metabolic disorders can increase. Sodium bicarbonate buffers at a pH 6.25. Buffers are most important during early lactation when ruminants are fed large amounts of silage or when the grain concentrate and hay are fed separately.

A farmer in Gloucestershire, England, had been feeding acidic maize silage that had been made too early. After adding live yeast to the cows’ rations along with 200 g of bicarbonate, he reported that the cows look more contented when the excessive acid had been neutralized and they are performing better all round.

Benefits

• Buffers like sodium bicarbonate are more important for dairy cows and intensively fed lambs and sheep than other ruminants because of the high percentage of grain in their diets.
• Reduces the acidity of the rumen and the likelihood of acidosis.
• Improves milk yield.
• Prevents reduced yield of butterfat during early lactation.

Directions for Use

If most of your grain feed is produced or mixed on the farm, you would be buying sodium bicarbonate separately. However, a purchased grain feed may already have enough sodium bicarbonate in the feed mix, especially at Homestead Organics. Ask your feed supplier about the need to add the product on the farm.

Cattle and Dairy:

• 5.2 – 7 oz or 150 – 200 g/day in small, frequent meals.
• 2% of grain ration.
• Feed recommended levels to have an effect in the rumen.

Packaging

• 2.2 lb or 1 kg, 55 lb or 25 kg

Safety

• There are no known health risks.