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The seasons are changing. The mornings are much cooler. Summer fans are quiet. As you walk the alley, heads are down; puffs of moisture come from noses buried deep in fresh feed. The aroma of fresh alfalfa silage and the quiet, satisfied sounds of soft bawls and a few sneezes gives you true satisfaction that your lactating cows are happy. They’re eating. They’re resting. Milk production is good. Life is good.
One of the key aspects in dairy production is dry matter intake. It is fundamental to ensure cows eat enough feed to maximize production and prevent diseases. This is particularly important when feeding lactating and close-up cows. Several studies show that when cows eat well before calving, they normally tend to perform well after calving.
Feed shrink is a major negative economic factor on dairy farms. On most dairies, feed cost will represent the largest single cost center. As feed prices have increased, awareness of this issue has increased. Feed shrink could simply be defined as the amount of feed delivered or raised on the farm that is not consumed by cattle.
TRENDING TOPIC ARTICLE: FEED & NUTRITION
Published: November 1, 2010 print issue of Progressive Dairyman
In this past article, nutritionist John Hibma outlined the different forms of fats available and each of their functions in dairy rations. to jump to the article.
Because this article was so popular, we asked Hibma, “Why are dairy producers curious about this topic?”
Hibma says, “I suspect that many dairy farmers are realizing the critical importance of body condition in their cows and how it affects milk production throughout the lactation.
"The rumen-protected fats will maintain body condition very well. The other factor is that energy balance is critical for reproduction, and a herd of cows that is long in days in milk is a herd that is losing money ... so there again, the fats do a good job of improving reproduction performance in a herd.”
Research by Dr. David Mertens, formerly of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center and now retired, indicates that a rain event in a bunker silo can affect milk production by up to 6 pounds of milk per head. On a 1,600-cow herd, that can total 8,000 pounds of milk. If moisture in the rain-soaked feed could be adjusted more easily, a more consistent diet could be maintained.
The dg precisionFEEDING System intends to do just that. It includes an NIR feed analyzer that can be mounted inside a payloader bucket. The NIR reads the dry matter content of forages and grain when the feed is placed in front of the infrared sensors, and also measures protein, starch, ADF, NDF, crude fat and ash values.
Water is essential for life and is the nutrient needed by all mammals in the largest quantity. Water is important for various body functions, in temperature control, and in the production of milk. Milk contains 87% water.
Limitations in availability of clean, fresh, and high-quality water can limit milk production quicker than a deficiency in any other nutrient. Water intake also regulates feed intake. Thus, understanding the importance of water and how to effectively manage your dairy feeding system to provide adequate water intake is very important. Important management concepts to achieve this objective include the following.
What is milk urea nitrogen?
Milk urea nitrogen (MUN), the concentration of urea in milk, is a tool to monitor the efficiency of crude protein utilization in dairy cows.
In the rumen, microbes degrade dietary protein to ammonia. When ammonia is coupled with fermentable carbohydrates, rumen microbes are able to capture the nitrogen and synthesize amino acids and microbial protein.
However, excess ammonia in the rumen is absorbed across the rumen wall and taken to the liver to be converted to urea. Blood urea is freely diffusible to milk, and therefore, MUN reflects the urea concentration in blood.
Translating calculations into ration formulation can be challenging, and a new tool from Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition is taking the guessing game out of Dietary Cation-Anion Difference (DCAD) balancing. The DCAD calculator – a web-based tool hosted on AHDairy.com – is helping nutritionists and producers translate their feed and forage analyses into useable, on-farm knowledge.
Feed efficiency can be defined as the amount of milk produced per unit of feed intake during a normal lactation, and will be affected by bodyweight changes and environmental factors (e.g. heat stress).
You already know that managing your herd to produce more milk per cow can make you more money. But did you know that it is also an excellent way to decrease the carbon footprint of your dairy? The bottom line (when it comes to the environment) is that using fewer resources to produce more milk will improve your herd’s carbon footprint.
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