More in Dairy/Forage Nutrition

Corn stover treated with hydrated or pickling lime can replace grain in beef-cattle feed and may also – to a lesser extent – replace a portion of forage in dairy-cow diets, according to new research....More

Cattle, sheep and other ruminants have the unique ability to digest cellulose, the main component in plant cell walls, to produce energy for themselves. This is significant, since cellulose makes up 40-70% of forage....More

A rapid test that precisely measures rumen starch digestibility of feed ingredients is helping nutritionist Will VanNostran reduce his client herds’ ration costs. He estimates savings from 5¢ to 10¢/cow/day depending on ingredient costs. The test is part of a service called Calibrate Technologies, from Forage Genetics International. Nutritionists enter test results and ration information onto Calibrate’s online calculator, which assigns a rumen degradable starch score....More

Mixing hay and grain for young calves didn’t help them adapt to a total mixed ration later in life, University of Guelph, Ontario, researchers report. Starting at birth and continuing for eight weeks, Holstein bull calves were fed chopped hay and concentrate as a mixture or in separate buckets. They also received milk replacer for the first seven weeks. All calves were fed the mixed diet in weeks nine through 11, then were offered a novel TMR in weeks 12 and 13. The TMR contained haylage, corn silage, high-moisture corn and protein supplement....More

While scoring manure piles, producers and nutritionists should check their herds’ locomotion and body-condition scores, said Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois emeritus dairy nutritionist. Or evaluate cows as they come from the milking parlor, he added....More

Changes in dairy-ration formulation and feed management can help prevent reductions in dry matter intake during hot weather, advises Alvaro Garcia, South Dakota State University Extension dairy specialist....More

The pricing of homegrown vs. purchased forage will be one of several topics discussed at the 4-State Dairy Nutrition & Management Conference, to be held June 13-14 at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, IA. The conference is sponsored by university Extensions from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota....More

Illinois nutritionist gives advice on hay's worth and what producers can feed if they can't afford it....More

Protein supplements for lactating dairy cows is just one of the topics to be discussed at the Dec. 8 at Louisiana State University's AgCenter Dairy Field Day in Franklinton, LA....More

On-the-job training and the opportunity to build toward his own operation are two reasons Clem Miller, Medford, WI, signed up for Wisconsin’s Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program...More

Dairies trying to feed through the drought need to take a systematic approach for determining their forage needs, says Ellen Jordan, Texas AgriLife Extension Service dairy specialist...More