Due to the emphasis on rising milkfat percent, total milkfat production, and the value of milkfat, many dairy producers are looking for ways to capture better feed margins and greater production efficiency

High-quality forages are the foundation of a productive and healthy dairy herd. However, the way feed is managed from the field to the cow is crucial for maximizing a producer’s investment in forages

Alfalfa hay has long been a premier forage for dairy cattle

Earlier this month, I was asked to speak on the future of forage in the dairy ration. Futuristic talks are both good and bad. On the one hand, it’s difficult to know what will happen before it happe

Forages are a key part of dairy diets with implications for dairy farm productivity and sustainability

Wabasha, Minn., may ring a bell as the setting of the 1993 comedy film “Grumpy Old Men.”

The University of Wisconsin’s Randy Shaver and his colleagues developed the MILK2006 model nearly 20 years ago

Smaller margins due to higher feed costs and lower milk prices have been forcing dairy managers to find opportunities to reduce expenses

The futures market is shining a more promising light on milk prices for the second half of the year. Even with record high milk prices expected, though, the risk of weaker export sales, changes

If raising replacement heifers is such a large expense and over 50% of those expenses come from feed costs, the question should be: How can we reduce the costs of producing quality feed for dairy heifers?

High-quality corn silage and alfalfa and grass forages are staples on dairy farms; however, these feedstuffs provide inadequate fiber and excess energy for breeding-age and pregnant dairy heifers

Livestock systems across the country are ultimately anchored in the forage and feedstuffs available to them. Even as advances in the agricultural industry allow more opportunities for farms to expand

In the face of rising feed prices, dairy producers are seeking opportunities to feed low-cost forages now more than ever

The objectives of feeding cows are to provide a nutritionally balanced and relatively homogeneous ration fed in a way that suppresses selection by cows, has roughly 2% residual in the feedbunk at the end

High-quality forages are vital for dairy farm productivity and sustainability

Dairy diets today typically contain 25% to 35% corn silage on a dry matter basis, and some may exceed these levels

As dairy producers have been growing more corn silage and feeding it in lactating cow rations, there has also been a rise in the use of other annual forages. This has been driven by expanding interest

Feeding a higher percentage of forage in dairy cow diets is a strategy that’s growing in popularity as homegrown feeds become more cost-effective compared to high-priced commodities. High-forage

Even if I yell at you, I still love you. Not exactly the definition of modern parenting, but it is my opening line when I teach my daughters to drive. As I sit next to them for the first time in the p

Forages are the foundation for nutritionally sound, profitable, and rumen-healthy rations. When Randy Shaver with the University of Wisconsin-Madison surveyed high-producing Wisconsin herds, he calcul