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We ensure that our cows receive a well-formulated, palatable ration – but how often do we think about the feeding environment and whether the dining experience enhances or hinders feed intake and production efficiency?
High-quality forage makes more milk and milk components, boosts longevity and increases income over feed cost. The well-established relationship between forage digestibility and dairy cow performance is that each 1 percentage-unit increase in NDF digestibility translates into 0.39 pounds per day more dry matter intake and 0.55 pounds per day more 4 percent fat-corrected milk.
Making milk is a lot of work, which is why it is important to provide a comfortable environment for the dairy cow, especially as temperatures rise. In fact, research shows that when cows spends more time resting and ruminating, they are better able to maintain milk production during times of heat stress.
Making milk is a lot of work, which is why it is important to provide a comfortable environment for the dairy cow, especially as temperatures rise. In fact, research shows that when cows spends more time resting and ruminating, they are better able to maintain milk production during times of heat stress.
A positive dining experience allows the cow to satisfy her behavioral needs for eating, resting and rumination. And a satisfied cow will be productive, efficient and healthy.
Essential forage concepts
Increasingly, our goal is to successfully feed higher-forage diets to dairy cattle. The two components of forage fiber – digestibility and physical effectiveness – must be in balance to optimize feed intake, promote rumen health and boost milk component output.
This past year, I have given numerous talks on the importance of managing for cow comfort. We know that the on-farm management environment explains over half of the variation among farms in milk production. Increasingly, producers are realizing that modest investments in housing, or changes in their cow management routines, can pay large dividends in greater cow health and performance.
