Higher grain prices in recent years have encouraged dairy producers to consider increasing the amount of forage and byproduct ingredients in rations for lactating dairy cows. Because this differs from past traditional diets, a feeding study led by Dr. Kenneth Kalscheur at South Dakota State University was conducted to evaluate milk production with diets with elevated levels of forage and byproducts.

Most of the 2013 crop has been harvested and is beginning to be fed to dairy cows across Canada; however, dairy producers need to be aware of the mycotoxins brought in with the year’s crop, and the impact they can have on herd health and performance.

The dairy industry has come a long way in formulating and delivering quality dairy diets. It’s really quite extraordinary the level of information dairy producers and nutritionists now have at their fingertips about each ingredient included in rations.

Animal health experts and feed and crop specialists are using new feed analysis technologies and diagnostic biomarkers to characterize the risk of Penicillium mycotoxin exposure to dairy herds and to monitor preventative and remediation strategies for mycotoxicosis.

The optimization of feed efficiency and animal health is critical to the success and profitability of the beef industry. In feedlots, one of the biggest challenges is the nutritional management of newly received cattle, who enter the feedlot with a wide range of different nutritional and health backgrounds.

Dairy producers and nutritionists are evaluating rations carefully these days. When doing so, their focus should be on developing rations that will promote efficient nutrient utilization and cow health and productivity while addressing opportunities for improving income over feed cost (IOFC).

The 2012 corn crop started out with early planting and emergence before it took a turn for the worse, tormented by a severe and widespread drought across Canada. Yields suffered, and the environment was just right for moulds such as fusarium to prevail. Aspergillus showed up in some of the Western provinces but was still not as prevalent in eastern Canada as the fusarium and penicillium moulds.