Nutrition is the foundation of a healthy and productive herd, so formulating a ration that delivers the right nutrients to meet an animal’s needs is paramount.

In 2014, the USDA reported that 89.4 percent of dairy operations in the U.S. included corn silage lactating cow diet. Dry mater intake potential and, consequently, energy content of dairy cows’ dietary consumption is limited by the amount of fiber present in the forage.

You know the routine – as soon as the tractor starts, every cow on the farm gets up and rushes the feedbunk. By the time the feed arrives, all the animals are waiting impatiently and acting like they haven’t been fed in days.

Advances in forage genetics, harvesting, ensiling, management practices and forage analysis – in addition to dynamic ration-balancing software – have allowed dairy farms to progressively feed increasing amounts of forage to their lactating cows.

Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series.Silage’s drive from point A to point B: This probably sounds like a bad agriculture cartoon, as silage clearly does not sit down in a car and drive.

With the 2016 forage harvest season in full swing, dairy managers will be testing their forages for nutrient content and quality. Several questions have been asked on how to evaluate energy content of forage.

Rumination, the cow’s ability to turn food over and over in the stomach in order to digest it, is by far one of the most telling signals the animal has in conveying health status and well-being. However, most dairy producers don’t have time to watch each and every cow “chew it over” after the TMR mixer wagon passes.

In today’s total confinement dairies, cows don’t graze. They eat grains, typically fed as a portion of a TMR designed to optimize their intake of protein and energy, provide needed nutrients and maximize milk production.

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.

Recent changes to national and international milk quality standards have dairy producers everywhere working to continue to meet or surpass those standards.