"Wolfswinkle Dairy milks about 500 cows. We began our herd on Royal Stimulac the beginning of June and had them on during the summer months; June, July, and August. After the Wolfswinkle Dairy was on Royal Stimulac for three months, we decided to cut costs and quit using it. After a month of being off the Royal Stimulac, we saw a drop in milk production of 3-4 pounds of milk per cow. It was then that Wolfswinkle Dairy decided the herd needed to go back on Royal Stimulac. Our milk production went up in a matter of weeks. The feed intake was much higher than normal and since the feed intake was better, we have not seen the cows go off feed near as fast. Overall our herd health is better. We are happy with the results we have received from Royal Stimulac and I would recommend it to any dairy producer. It has been money in our pocket since we've started using Van Beek Scientific products!"

Randy Wolfswinkle
Wolfswinkle Dairy

"I am Dr. Merle Kuennen and I am a veterinarian at the Elkader Vet Clinic in Elkader, Iowa. Recently, my VBS rep came to me and discussed a product that VBS has been marketing and has been having success with. The product, called Royal Stimulac, is to be fed to dairy cows in their TMR's or grain mixes. Since I had been seeing results with some of the other VBS products I agreed to discuss the product with my producers and see if they would be willing to do a trial. The results, so far, have been extremely positive. Several of the things that we have seen are:
• Increased feed intake in many of the herds, including one producer who had been having terrible breeding problems due to the lack of feed intake. This producer, upon using the product, saw his feed intake rise by 16 pounds per head per day!!
• Cows digest feed better, and as a result have much better conditioning. One of the benefits of this is, in almost every herd that is trying the product, has seen much stronger heats. n Increased milk production in most herds, in a few as much as 5 pounds per head per day!
• Reduced somatic cell count in some herds.
• Increased butterfat and protein in some herds.
Herds that are on this product seem to have increased resistance to bacterial problems such as winter dysentery. Dysentery has been widespread in our area this winter; however, no herd that has been on Royal Stimulac has had a dysentery outbreak. Two herds have had two cows out of about 75 break (you would expect 25%). Also one herd, which is comprised of a 90 head unit and a 50 head unit, tried Royal Stimulac in the 90 head barn. The 50 head unit broke with dysentery; the 90 head unit did not. According to the producer, if one herd gets it, the other will shortly after. We are very excited about this product, for the future, as tests during last summer in Texas seemed to indicate that cows stayed on feed better during the heat and humidity. In our area, which is very hilly, and close to the Mississippi River, it can get very humid and difficult to move air through the barns. We tend to have a lot of problems with feed intake in the summer, and consequently breeding problems have plagued many of my herds all the way into February of this year. I am f inding this Royal Stimulac to be very helpful to my producers, and would recommend that anyone should try Royal Stimulac."

Dr. Merle Kuennen
Elkader Vet Clinic
Elkader, IA

"Your product is excellent. We put our herd of 1600 cows on Royal Stimulac about a month ago (January 2002) and during that month we saw an increase in our milk production of approximately 4-5 pounds. This 4-5 pound increase took about 10-12 days to show up in our milk tank. The interesting part of this whole trial is that before starting the second 30 day feeding of Royal Stimulac, we went off the product to gage the herd reaction. After 5-7 days we saw a decrease in our milk production! Needless to say, we have now resumed feeding Royal Stimulac to our herd."

Larry Bos (Manager)
Van Beek Dairy
Jerome, ID

"Coping with the summer weather is a big challenge in dairy management. Effects of heat stress at the Anndell Dairy are a decrease in dry matter intake and a decrease in milk production. Reduction in milk production is an economic loss to the dairy. The problem we would have is that the feed intake would decrease because of the hot weather and from there the milk production would follow. We began using Royal Stimulac from Van Beek Scientific in the first part of June on 100 head of milk cows. Within four weeks we increased the Total Mix Ration to 1300 lbs more feed than we were normally feeding the 100 cows. Their appetite was increasing instead of decreasing during the heat. We couldn't believe it. We also saw an increase in milk production, which was a definite positive during the heat of the summer. We fed the cows Royal Stimulac during the months of June and July. During this time frame, the heat and humidity were quite high. In the past we found signs of heat stress becoming evident in our dairy herd when the humidity index was exceeding 72-75. Using Royal Stimulac in the dairy ration has been very beneficial to our dairy. In fact one evening we were an hour and half late in feeding the cows because we were in the field chopping hay, when the cows heard the tractor they all came running to the feed bunk. We have kept the herd at an incline instead of decline on the feed consumption and milk production during the summer months. We have been very happy and would recommend using the Royal Stimulac to any dairy producer, using this product would be a big positive implemented into their dairy program!"

"Royal Stimulac is excellent!! We started using it during the summer months and it worked wonderful. As the fall and winter months came around the corner, our herd was doing so well on Royal Stimulac we decided to presume as normal and keep using the product for various reasons. We've noticed over the past couple months our herd health and herd condition has been great. The cows have had stronger and better heats. Our herd problem with DA's has been decreased by 70%. Before we had the herd on Royal Stimulac we would have 1-2 DA's a week. We are now down to 1-2 DA's a month. Solving this problem alone has been very cost effective on my vet bills. Not to mention the increase in pounds of milk and decreased in our SCC. We are presently feeding 1800 lbs. TMR a day more than my nutritionist said I should be feeding my herd. The cows do not go off feed near as fast and my heifers take off better too once they've calved. I've also noticed the feed stays a lot fresher with Royal Stimulac in the ration. I have been very happy and more than satisfied with the results I have received using Royal Stimulac. Thanks again, Van Beek Scientific."

Ladell & Ann Kaster
Anndell Dairy
Northwest Iowa