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Kevin Jones is a dairy nutritionist and owner of Ghost Hollow Consulting with his wife, Tammy. The company provides nutritional consulting, feed testing, whole farm record analysis and employee training.
There has been a lot written and discussed about increasing the digestibility of starch in dairy diets, and for good reason. Starch comprises, on the average, 25 percent or more of most dairy rations. Increasing the amount of starch digested in the rumen and available to produce microbial protein can bring big dividends to the bottom line.
Since a dairy cow’s diet consists of from 40 to 60 percent forage, the quality of that forage has an enormous impact on the performance and profitability of the dairy. What exactly determines the quality of forage?
Forage quality is determined by the nutrient content and the digestibility of those nutrients. Protein, NDF, fat, sugar and starch are the nutrients to be most concerned with.
Transitioning dairy cattle from dry cows to healthy high-producing lactating cows is the single-most difficult endeavor undertaken on today’s dairy farms. Many studies on the incidence of metabolic problems in early lactation indicate that on average 20 percent of early lactation cows have had one or more metabolic diseases.
Everyone in the dairy industry is breathing a collective sigh of relief. The drought-induced feed prices are ending, and new-crop corn and beans are flowing to the dairies at substantially lower prices.
However, feed costs will still be double what they were just a few years ago, while milk prices are only up 30 percent. Margins will continue to be tight, and management must find every opportunity to maximize performance in order to increase margins and profits. One of the key elements to profitability on the dairy is reproduction.
The dairy industry has entered a time of unprecedented economic volatility. In 2011, there were dairies that made enormous profits; at the same time, their neighbors were declaring bankruptcy.
