Dry matter (DM) is what remains when water (moisture) is removed from a feed. In the example corn silage report (Table 1), you’ll see DM is listed at 35.9 percent. (For simplicity, we’ll round to 36 percent DM.) Another way to think about the concept of DM is: For every 100 pounds of this corn silage that is fed, 64 pounds of it is water.

Rumen micro-organisms require trace minerals for proper function. However, most research has shown micro-organism requirements for copper, manganese and zinc are minor and much lower than those typically provided by ruminant diets.

Many dairy production operations have achieved very high performance levels, and change of any type can have a significant impact on milk production. Dairy cows perform at their highest levels of production when everything is consistent.

To optimize the growth and production of animals, we have long realized good nutrition is key. Trace mineral supplementation has been simplified to strictly meeting the parts-per-million requirements set out in the nutrient requirement tables, with little attention given to the form in which the mineral is provided.

Are we lucky or what? We raise dairy cattle. Usually, we are very busy with daily chores and don’t have much time to contemplate the larger world of mammalian physiology, but we might stop for a moment and consider this: These animals are ruminants, and we are indeed lucky to raise a creature ideally designed to harvest sunlight.

The incorporation of commercial rumen-protected amino acids in dairy diets has been growing since the early 2000s.

High-quality corn silage contributes greatly to supplying the energy, starch and forage neutral detergent fiber needs of high-producing dairy cows, reducing purchased feed costs from expensive grain and byproduct supplements, and generating milk revenue for dairy producers.

Politics is the art of telling people what they want to hear. Truth is telling it like it was, is and eventually will become ... no hazing, hawing or beating around the bush.

One option often considered for dairy farmers currently operating an anaerobic digestion system is the co-digestion of off-farm substrates.

It probably took me a lot longer than others to realize what I was missing. The words “World Dairy Expo,” “Madison” and “colored shavings” were relatively lost on me for the first half of my years in the dairy industry.