When the words “precision feeding” come up, dairy producers usually have one of two very distinct reactions: excitement or hesitation. In light of this, I want to give you a straightforward approach: Let’s look at how to implement precision feeding without increasing our operational costs.
The number one thing we have to remember when implementing new technology is that we are not recreating what we are doing; we want to maximize what we already have. There are three easy precision feeding technologies outlined in this article that accomplish this goal. These three technologies have strong correlations to improved efficiencies, better data insight and provide us with clear return-on-investments (ROI).
Cattle management software
The most important part of precision feeding is having the right data management software to collect and view what you are doing on a daily, monthly or yearly basis. These systems are the most crucial parts of the precision feeding process because the data is what allows us to measure the effectiveness of the technologies we implement in our operation. We use this data to make many management decisions from feed, genetics, cow health and many more.
If we don’t have the right data collection center, we are blindly making decisions without numbers or facts. The whole precision feeding industry is positioned around moving away from subjective data and moving toward more objective data to improve our operations.
There are many cattle management softwares from cloud-based to hardware. My recommendation is to use what you feel fits your operation the best and gives you the right data insights. Even though these software programs have an associated cost, they allow us to find opportunity in our operations through better identifying our inefficiencies and offsetting the cost of the software. Once we can implement these management platforms, it also helps us to identify other inefficiencies and allows for us to better analyze if other precision-feeding technologies would work for our operation.
Genetics testing
There is an old cowboy saying, “The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back into your pocket.” In dairy terms, the best money-making opportunities are in cows we already own. We don’t need to buy a new herd; we need to find ways to get the most out of the herd we already own.
Genetic testing is one of the quickest ways to establish this foundation on how we should be feeding our cows. By establishing a baseline on how our cows should be fed, it gives us better insight on how to maximize the potential of each singular animal or each group.
There is a lot of genetic testing information out there that can help us make decisions. However, when it comes to what puts money in the bulk tank, we have to look at the leptin gene. In the most simplistic definition, the leptin gene is the cow’s metabolic ability to turn dry matter into milk. Through focusing on the leptin gene, we can make better feeding decisions and start to precision feed different groups on farm.
With your nutrition team, you can use this data and look at different strategies to implement. For example, maybe we should feed higher grain concentration rates to one group and the other group focus on feeding a cheaper diet. The money we spend doing our genetic testing should easily be recovered through feeding our cows to their genetic potential or using that information to cheapen up our rations.
Microdosing machines
In the last 10 years, the dairy industry started to see more producers implement microdosing technology. Microdosing machines are built to deliver micronutrients to cattle through a water discharged directly into your TMR mixer. Microdosing machines allow us to create a premix or micro on demand at our farm. This allows for dairy producers to adjust the rate of their micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, ionophores and microbials at every feeding.
These machines are able to more accurately feed essential nutrients to the cows. Dairy cows are creatures of habit and do best when fed consistently. The precision of microdosing machines help to create an environment to increase cow health and production.
Not only does it allow us to be more precise in our on-farm feeding practices, it also allows for us to reduce our fixed costs by eliminating bulk milling and trucking costs from our suppliers – therefore, improving the efficiency factors and bottom line potential of dairy farms. Eliminating these costs helps to improve our margins and lower our cost per head. The combination of reduced feed expenses and precision-feeding micronutrients allows for dairy farms to have increased efficiency in their delivery of feed.
The bottom line
Precision feeding does not need to be a costly addition to our farm, if we focus on precision-feeding solutions that provide the highest ROIs and don’t change our cash flow structure. This allows for us to implement these technologies seamlessly into our operations. Precision feeding should not mean we are recreating the wheel. It just means we are adding tools in our toolbox to improve what we already have.
To accomplish this, focus on technology that gives more data, more efficiency and more potential to what we already are doing. There is a lot of great technology or processes that we can implement to help improve our farms without increasing costs. When looking at precision-feeding technology, ask yourself these two questions:
- Does it help improve or give us more insight into something we are already doing?
- Does it have a clear ROI that does not change our farms' cash flow?
If you can answer both of these questions with a yes, then this precision-feeding technology is a great fit for your operation.
