Let’s first agree that nearly all cows sort their feed to some degree. That is why the leftover “scrape out” feed is always the coarse, large and unpalatable portions of the feed. It is apparent, however, as we compare different herds and rations that the amount of sorting varies greatly.

“Feeding cows is part science and part art; the trick is finding the sweet spot,” says Mike Hutjens, extension dairy specialist for the University of Illinois.

Growing and storing forage is something people have been doing since the beginning of agriculture. Many practices and beliefs have been passed from one generation to the next, leading to common misconceptions in the industry.

Each year, many thousands of tons of forages – corn and hay crops – are harvested and put up into bunkers, silos and piles for silage. A crop of ensiled forage represents a sizable investment in time and money for dairy farms as it’s being stored for future use.

Editor’s note: This is the third part of a three-part series. Management practices related to cropping and feeding can be major factors affecting the animal performance to maintain a sustainable profit margin.

This and last year’s cool, wet springs added to the challenge of making high-quality forage. With higher moistures than desired, low sugar content and higher ash levels sometimes resulted in poor fermentation and the production of butyric acid. Butyric acid is a strong acid that overrides the production of the preferred lactic acid, which gives good fermented silage that well-preserved smell.

“Mycotoxin” is a general term used for secondary metabolites, which have been shown to have some associated toxicity issues and are produced quite naturally by some fungi (molds). Mycotoxin production is sometimes stimulated by certain stressors.

Corn silage kernel processors are referred to as “crackers” by many in South America, where less than one-third of dairies feed corn silage that has had the kernels processed. Kernel processing is much more popular in the U.S. because roughly ten years ago, researchers helped us understand what impact processed corn silage grain really had on rumen digestion in cattle.

Feed continues to be the highest individual cost in confined dairy production systems. According to the USDA Economic Research Service (2016), during 2015 feed costs represented 56 percent of the total cost of producing milk in the U.S., progressively increasing during the last decade.

If you are a dairyman or a dairy nutritionist, you’ve been there. You open up a new silage pile, bunker or silo, or begin to feed a new crop of hay and you pull the first samples, take them by the lab and that afternoon get the email … and the nutrient values or the digestibilities are not what you expected – not even close.