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Mailbox milk prices do change; this is the reality of the matter and one that dairymen have to deal with. When the price within a year drops more than 30 percent, as it did in the last 12 months, it raises yellow flags. And for many, this means looking for ways to cut ration costs. Milk price changes should not be a surprise. In the recent past, we have experienced similar, if not wider, swings.
Decreasing reproductive efficiency in dairy cattle has been documented not only in the U.S. but also in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Australia. Ideally, cows should be pregnant by 85 days in milk, the conception rate at first breeding should be more than 50 percent, the numbers of breeding per lactation should be less than 1.7, and the calving interval should be less than 390 days.
In the recent past, distinct differences existed in the composition of diets fed to high-producing dairy cows in different parts of the U.S. and Canada. Forage availability often dictated how the rations were formulated.
Several factors dictated the main forages available, including weather and soil quality. The Northeast relied heavily on corn silage with some winter grass hay/silage; the Midwest, alfalfa silage with some corn silage and limited alfalfa hay; the West and Southwest, alfalfa hay and corn/sorghum silage.
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Much attention has been devoted to estimate the economic impact of heat stress on lactating cows; in 2003, researchers estimated that production losses in the U.S. reached $900 million. During the summer months, cows produce less milk volume and milk components.
Methionine, a required nutrient for cows, has been principally used in dairy rations with the goal of improving milk production or composition.
When cows are fed diets enriched with methionine, they respond with an increase in milk volume, an increase in the percentage of protein in the milk, or by a combination of both. Further, it is not uncommon to see an increase in milk fat percentage.
The balancing of amino acid (AA) levels in dairy rations has been in the news, useful commercial products have been introduced and formulation software has been updated. What are realistic expectations today for AA balancing? The answer rests with research results, what is measured on-farm and transition considerations.
Engineers had the slide rule. Nutritionists used Pearson’s Square to calculate the proper inclusion rates for two ingredients in order to achieve the desired concentration of a single nutrient.
A lot has changed since those days. Yet dairymen continue to maximize production efficiency by using the forages and feedstuffs on hand and making wise feed purchases. Diets must supply minerals, vitamins, fatty acids, amino acids, carbohydrates and water.
Cows have a history of being easy targets for blame. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow was credited with starting the fire that burned down Chicago when she kicked an unfortunately placed lantern on Sunday, October 8, 1871.
Now, some 140 years later, cows are being blamed for methane pollution and for the inefficient use of nitrogen in feedstuffs, an inefficiency tied to pollution from needlessly high levels of nitrogen in urine.
Amino acids (AA), essential nutrients for dairy cows, cannot be considered optional feed additives. When AA levels in the ration are properly balanced, milk production, the cow’s reproduction and health each benefit.
