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The modern dairy cow has an unparalleled ability to consume materials of little to no value for human consumption and transform those materials to food of the highest nutritional value and flavor for humans.
This ability must be supported by supplying the cow not only sufficient water but also a wide range of non-water nutrients, including protein, fiber, non-fibrous carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins.
History of NIRS Near-infrared radiation was first identified in 1800 by William Herschel, who was curious as to whether a certain color was associated to the heat of sunlight. It is this kind of curiosity that has characterized advances in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in forage and feed testing.
What is silage?
Crops such as corn, alfalfa and grass are preserved and stored as silage. Silage inoculants work with the lactic acid found naturally in crops to ferment sugars into lactic and other acids and alcohol to lower pH levels to preserve the crop for later feeding.
When we finish a TMR audit, some questions are pretty routine. “Which is the best facer to purchase?” though, is not among them. “Which is the best mixer?” is among them. Yet, both the facer and the mixer affect feed quality every day of the year. Do you give equal consideration to the facer and mixer you use?
The high-producing dairy cow in transition adjusts its metabolism to mobilize calcium from skeletal reserves and energy from adipose reserves in a timely fashion, along with up-regulating intake capacity, to meet nutrient requirements for peak milk production in early lactation. Circulating calcium plays an important role in physiological regulation of both intake and lipolysis.
Cattle were designed to convert low-quality nutrients into high-quality foods, such as dairy and meat products. For the last 15 years, energy co-products (distillers grains) have comprised an increasing proportion of cattle rations, as ethanol producers strive to extract value from their co-product.
With the advent of BMR hybrids, forages like forage sorghum, sorghum-sudan and sudan hybrids have moved sorghums from the “just heifer” feed category to the top of the “dairy” quality feed category (and became even better heifer feed).
In the sorghum family, there are three types of BMR plants available: BMR Gene 6, BMR Gene 12 and BMR Gene 18. For purposes of this article, BMR Gene 6 will be generally referenced.
In the last 10 years, the use of corn grain for feed has been reduced by nearly 30 percent. The emphasis on corn for fuel instead of feed has driven up the competition for corn grain and corn silage.
The reality of the future is that less corn and silage and more corn co-products will be available for use in cattle diets. Producers have had to seek out new uses for co-products from corn processing industries and will continue to have to do so.
Reaching high peak milk production is key to a successful lactation. Each 1-pound increase in peak milk translates into 213 to 304 pounds more milk throughout the entire lactation.
Unfortunately, a cow’s inability to increase dry matter intake during the first weeks after calving can prevent the cow from reaching high peak milk production. The challenge is even greater when rations contain high levels of forage that is not easy to digest.
Advances in forage fiber testing have been rapid over the past 30 years to keep pace with our evolving understanding of nutrient needs of high-producing dairy cows. Forage testing today utilizes a combination of chemical, physical and biological tests – all of which still need to be correlated with animal digestion or in vivo data.
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