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Scours can occur as a result of pathogens and stressors. When calves get scours they may experience electrolyte loss, dehydration and increased risk of death due to dehydration. During these times, oral electrolyte solutions become extremely important.
I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to feeding cows, every dairy farmer has the same end goal in mind: a consistent ration the full length of the bunk. Considering the choices in ration ingredients, feed storage methods and processing methods, this common end goal can be achieved in a variety of ways.
How can you select the mixer that is best suited for your farm? This article will discuss the capabilities and characteristics of the three most common TMR mixer types.
Everyone is scrambling to provide healthy, balanced rations for dairy cattle while dealing with changing feed prices and fluctuating ingredient supply.
One component of dairy rations that constitutes a large expense, yet is critically important for maintaining production in high-producing dairy cows, is protein and amino acid nutrition.
Milk components are the principle source of revenue on dairy farms and vary with milk volume and fat and protein content.
While it is often said that on a given farm production will be a function of genetic potential and the meeting of nutrition requirements, in the case of milk fat content, this may not be true.
Since a dairy cow’s diet consists of from 40 to 60 percent forage, the quality of that forage has an enormous impact on the performance and profitability of the dairy. What exactly determines the quality of forage?
Forage quality is determined by the nutrient content and the digestibility of those nutrients. Protein, NDF, fat, sugar and starch are the nutrients to be most concerned with.
With your 2013 harvest safely packed away, now would be a good time to think back and see if you can do anything better this year.
With forage representing 50 to 70 percent of most diets, the need for consistency and quality is paramount, especially as we move to even higher-forage rations, as was pointed out by all three presenters on a recent webinar, “Capture the Benefits of a High-Forage Ration.”
Join the club. You are not alone in your disdain for alfalfa diseases and insects. Invisible disease organisms sit in waiting until the perfect environment exists to indiscriminately infect your alfalfa plants.
Insects seem to appear out of nowhere and then reproduce faster than the speed of light to aggressively feed on your crop. Both disease and insect damage can lead to significant loss of production, reduced forage quality and early stand loss.
The 2013 corn crop continues to limit milk production in many parts of the country, mainly because of its heavy bushel test weight. Reports of 60-pound bushel weights are commonplace this year.
The starch content of this heavy test-weight corn is slow to ferment in the rumen, which lowers the amount of the volatile fatty acid (VFA) propionate produced as compared to a more typical corn starch year.
A thick, healthy stand is every alfalfa grower’s goal. Mother Nature throws plenty of curve balls, but using good management practices can help you come out the winner.
To successfully establish a crop of alfalfa, you must optimize seed-to-soil contact; it is the key to optimal yield. But how do we optimize that?
Lowering prepartum dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) in the three weeks prior to calving to reduce postpartum metabolic disease is a tried and true strategy with proven success.
This nutritional approach has repeatedly been shown to reduce incidence of health challenges like retained placentas and hypocalcemia, which are two causes of expensive and significant reductions in reproductive performance and milk production.
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