Here’s the catch. IOFC only tells us the economics of what’s going into the tank, not what’s going into the cow for good health and reproduction, and impacting the farm’s true profitability. It measures how well we are converting feed dollars into milk dollars. IOFC values today’s milk but ignores tomorrow’s pregnancies.

Let’s walk through the main fatty acids found in dairy diets and talk specifically about the signals they are sending beyond being utilized for energy. While they may seem complex, the stakes are high in understanding their roles as there is a rare function of the cow that is not impacted by fatty acids. 

If there’s one set of research that has prompted me to think differently about how we manage dry cows, it’s the work done by Dr. Geoffrey Dahl and team at the University of Florida on the effects of heat stress on dry cows.