BLOGS > MORE MILK AND MILK FAT? ELAN®FAT ORIGINAL PUT TO THE TEST

Holstein dairy cows fed Elan Fat Original at a dairy farm.

MORE MILK AND MILK FAT? ELAN®FAT ORIGINAL PUT TO THE TEST

21/09/2026 Ruminants

Anyone can feed bypass fat. Champions want to feed performance.

Elan®FatOriginal is more than a rumen-protected fat. It’s a nutrient utilization technology. By combining 80% C16:0 with patented target-released lysolecithin, Elan®FatOriginal delivers a dual advantage: highly available bypass energy and improved utilization of nutrients from the entire ration. Each kilogram of dry matter has the potential to deliver more. Because winning isn’t about what goes into the feed bunk. It’s also what comes out of the milk tank.

More nutrients utilized. More milk produced. More profit captured.

So we put Elan®FatOriginal to the test. Head-to-head against a standard control group in a 7-week trial.

Experimental set-up

  • A field trial was conducted on a commercial farm in the Netherlands with 85 dairy cows that were divided between the left side (53 cows) and the right side (32 cows) of the feeding alley.
  • Each side had a similar milking robot, and each part was considered an experimental unit.
  • Milk yield was recorded daily per cow, whereas milk composition was recorded twice per cow. The groups were stable, i.e., no cows were exchanged between left and right. Cows were kept inside the barn all year round.
  • Both groups received the same total mixed ration (TMR: a mixture between roughage and concentrate/premix), except for the fat supplement that was evaluated.
  • The Basal diet (TMR without supplement) was fed to the left side (Basal group), whereas cows on the right side were fed the same TMR plus 300 g Elan®FatOriginal/head/day on top (Fat Original group).
  • The trial started on May 6 and ended on June 22, 2026. During the trial, there were two hot periods during which ambient temperatures were over 25 °C, between May 22 and 30 (average daily temperature: 27.3 °C; min. 23.0 °C, max. 31.2 °C) and between June 18 and 29 (average daily temperature: 30.3 °C; min. 26.7 °C, max. 36.8 °C).
  • Daily milk yield was recorded per cow, whereas milk composition was analyzed twice per cow (on May 7 and June 5, 2026).

 

Results

In both groups, cows were selected if they produced at least 15 kg/cow/day and were no more than 200 days in milk (DIM). The reason for the restriction in DIM was that cows during the first part of their lactation period experience a negative energy balance and therefore benefit from an increased dietary energy content, whereas cows producing less than 15 kg/day are generally fresh cows during the first 5 to 10 days of lactation where milk production is not relevant for the test. Based on these restrictions, the Basal group comprised 28 cows (53% of the total number of cows) and the Fat Original group comprised 14 cows (44% of the total number of cows).

Daily milk production during the week prior to the experiment showed that daily milk yield in the Fat Original group was 2.2 kg/cow/d lower than in the Basal group. During the first weeks of Elan®FatOriginal supplementation, milk yield increased from 41.5 to 45.2 kg/cow/d, stabilized at about 43.3 kg/cow/d, and subsequently increased to an average of 46.8 kg/cow/d during the last two weeks, whereas during the 7-week trial period, daily milk yield of the Basal group varied from 42.9 to 44.5 kg/cow/d.

Comparing the start and end of the experimental period, milk yield increased by 0.65 kg/cow/d in the Basal group and by 2.82 kg/cow/d in the Fat Original group. This resulted in an observed 2.17 kg/cow/day greater increase in milk yield in the Fat Original group than in the Basal group. These results reflect the conditions of this commercial farm trial.

Results of milk control are indicated in Table 1.

Table 1. Milk fat and protein contents (%) and combined fat and protein (kg/cow/d) on the indicated test days.

Table comparing changes from May 7 to June 5 for the basal and Elan® Fat Original groups. Milk fat changed by +0.12 versus +0.19 percentage points, protein by -0.09 versus 0.00 percentage points, and combined fat and protein yield by +0.08 versus +0.15 kg.

During the four-week interval between the two milk control dates, milk fat content increased by 0.19 percentage points in the Fat Original group and 0.12 percentage points in the Basal group, whereas kg fat and protein production increased by 0.15 kg/d and 0.08 kg/d, respectively.

 

Conclusions

Over the 7-week period, the increase in milk yield was 2.17 kg/cow/d greater in the Fat Original group than in the Basal group, with a greater increase in milk fat content, while maintaining milk protein content. During the four-week interval between two milk control dates, fat and protein production increased by 0.08 kg/d in the Basal group, and double in the Fat Original group.

 

 

Photo of Johannes Fuite, CEO of Olus, waring a black blouse of Olus and smiling before a green substainable wall.About the author

Johannes Fuite – CEO 

Johannes Fuite is the founder and CEO of Olus. He founded Olus in 2014 as a professional company complete with its own production facility in Hasselt, the Netherlands. Johannes brings extensive experience and a strong commitment to the livestock industry. Together with the team, he develops feed additives and investigates nutritional approaches that improve gut health and optimize performance.

Reach out to Johannes for personalized guidance on integrating Elan®FatOriginal into your feed program.

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