Even when a farm does everything right prior to feedout, silage piles that are subjected to less-than-ideal face management have the potential for massive spoilage.

The cost of crop inputs and common feed ingredients used in dairy rations has dominated many discussions this past year. A commonality in growing crops and feeding cows is the need to balance cost and efficiency with production and return on investment.

Feed is expensive. The good news is: Successfully implementing feed management protocols can help to lower your feed cost. Feed management encompasses many aspects on a dairy, some of which can’t be controlled like weather, markets and supply chain.

As volatile markets push nutrient costs higher, consider diet options, market trends, ingredients, and milk markets to manage your feed budget. 

Producers should ask themselves and their nutritionists how to be more efficient and handle supply chain disruptions given the present state of milk prices, supply chain issues and lower forage inventories.

It’s a world full of confusing, shifting, mislabeled and misunderstood compounds and structures.

Each unexpected weather event, drought, heat wave, cold snap or any other knee-buckling pitch has an impact on your crop. Yields, nutritive value and feed hygiene can all be impacted, making the product you get out of the field unique from past years.