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With an overall message encouraging farmers to think “outside the (silage) bag,” Silvia Abel-Caines, DVM, Ph.D., staff ruminant nutritionist for Organic Valley, said feeding dairy cows sprout fodder can make sense nutritionally and economically in some situations.
“It’s always cheaper to let your cows do the harvesting,” said Laura Paine, grazing broker with Southwest Badger Resource Conservation & Development Council.
In the northern U.S., pasture growth provides forages for only six months, and producing or purchasing hay is often a grazier’s largest expense. In a 2010 study, Paine and other researchers found that pasture cost $14 to $40 a ton, while producing hay costs $70 to $90 per ton, and purchased hay is $90 to $140 a ton – and prices have not gone down.
For herds milked with robotics, the secrets to success may be in the palatability and quality of the pellets fed in the milking station and the consistent delivery of the remainder of the ration.
Jim Salfer discussed how robotic milking dairies are feeding their cows during his presentation at the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held this summer in Dubuque, Iowa.
“We can improve feed efficiency by improving how we feed, breed and manage cows,” says Mike VandeHaar of the department of animal science at Michigan State University.
VandeHaar was a presenter at the 4-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held this summer in Dubuque, Iowa.
General perceptions about forage grasses may very well be wrong, according to University of Wisconsin Extension and Forage Agronomist Dr. Dan Undersander.
Feeding controlled-energy diets prior to calving can help increase feed efficiency and profitability, said Dr. Phil Cardoso, assistant professor, dairy researcher and extension at the University of Illinois.
Cardoso was one of the presenters at the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held June 11 and 12 in Dubuque, Iowa.
Will genomic selection be the key to improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle? That was the question addressed by Dr. Kent Weigel, a geneticist at the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin during his presentation at the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held June 11 and 12 in Dubuque, Iowa.
Wooded pastures need “health checkups” just like open pastures do, according to Keefe Keeley, an agroecology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
When it comes to running an all-natural successful grass-fed beef operation that produces tasty meat, Rod Ofte and Dr. Allen Williams agree: It all starts with the soil.
