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Forage may be in short supply this year, and one way to respond is to feed fewer mouths on the farm. Frankly, whether forage is short or not, it is always best to allocate your forage to the cattle that will return the most: the animals that are most productive. It is time to cull the animals most likely to be the least productive.
Many dairy producers are facing a critical forage shortage to feed their herds. Forage stands were damaged across Ohio this past winter, and the wet spring has further deteriorated the few stands that initially appeared they might recover from winter damage.
A co-worker raised interesting questions: As dairy farms consolidate (fewer dairy farms with more cows on each farm), what changes in forage production need to be considered?
The efficiency of converting feed to milk matters on farms because it has a major influence on farm profitability and environmental stewardship in the dairy industry. Dairy feed efficiency in North America has doubled in the past 50 years, largely as a byproduct of selecting and managing cows for increased productivity.
Since mycotoxins were first identified in the 1960s, there has been an increased focus on contaminated feed due to global trading, increased monitoring and technology, changing agricultural practices, unexpected weather, food safety regulations and mycotoxin interactions.
New advancements in NIR (near infrared) technology are allowing dairy producers to precisely measure forage dry matter, fiber, starch and protein in real time right on the farm.
In turn, dairy producers now have the opportunity to improve the way they feed cows.
Decisions made at chopping affect silage quality in the bunker, nutrition in the feed alley and milk in the tank. Waiting to involve your nutritionist until you are ready to feed the silage may result in extensive ration adjustments or it may be too late to fix certain issues.
The 21st Annual Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on April 24 and 25, 2012.
This annual conference provided its 450 attendees the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of nutrition topics, including talks on nutrition and milk composition, forage management, dairy farm profitability and timely topics such as use of automatic calf feeders.
Since other feedstuffs are typically priced to reflect the corn and soybean market, the cost of almost all feed ingredients has increased. Since feed is the largest single cost in producing milk, most producers review their feeding program to see if there are ways to reduce these costs. Any changes made to rations should only occur after a thorough review of the feeding program and must take into account the impact a change could have on other aspects of the overall operation.
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