Cows want to do certain things at certain times, and there’s a reason for that. Cows naturally try to synchronize rhythms so that milk synthesis will occur when nutrients are available.

As the transition cow enters negative energy balance, no longer meeting her nutritional requirements, there is a huge demand on the liver to continue to make glucose to drive milk production.

In layman’s terms, what does NSC and NFC mean? NSC stands for non-structural carbohydrates, while NFC refers to non-fibrous carbohydrates.

Although the Southeast has suffered through some horrendous flooding in the last few weeks, most of the country has experienced a warm, dry period this late summer and early fall.

Ration dietary cation-anion difference, or DCAD, and dairy cow health and performance are closely intertwined. Still, the concept of DCAD isn’t always well understood, which can lead to dairies failing to obtain the best possible results from their nutrition program.

High-producing dairy cows like consistency, but more importantly, the microbiome in the digestive tract of a high-producing dairy cow likes consistency!

Even if cows consume an increased amount of dry matter, meeting the early lactation nutrient needs of high-producing dairy cows is a big challenge. The transition period is, more than ever, a critical period.

Proper silage feedout management is essential to maintaining consistent and high-quality ensiled forages and high-moisture grains. Research shows poor face management can easily double shrink losses.

B vitamin supplementation is often not considered in many dairy cow diet formulations. Despite the importance of these nutrients in animal metabolism, it is still believed that their supplementation to ruminants is not required due to adequate supply from the diet and ruminal synthesis.

We were at a meeting the other day where we overheard producers discussing the high cost of straw. We thought they were using straw for bedding, but many nutritionists are now suggesting adding 2 to 4 pounds of straw to dairy cow rations.