Fat cats, vacations, and dry cows

The author is a dairy nutrition consultant with GPS Dairy Consulting LLC and based in Malone, Wis.

Our family’s cat is named Larry, and he is loved by all, including my wife, who hates all other cats. Larry came to us at no cost and spends his days roaming the outdoors; catching birds by the bird feeder, which is faithfully filled with seed by my bird-loving wife; blocking the driveway; flaunting his freedom as he walks slowly past the dogs in the kennel; and waiting to be carried around like the prince that he is.

Dry cows on a dairy farm remind me of Larry. They have no real obligations in life except to eat, drink, and take a nap. They are on a vacation from their normal vocation. But this vacation is not free for the farmer — the buffet is always open, and they eat a lot while generating no income to show for it.

A far-off dry cow eats 25 to 30 pounds of forage dry matter per day, which is about 80% of what a milking cow eats if consuming a 60% forage ration. A close-up dry cow eats about 60% of the forage of a milking cow ration.

Close-up rations are fairly rigid with most nutritionists. Depending on the calcium strategy, clean, well-processed straw is the base. Corn silage, maybe some haylage, and a protein supplement round out the ration. There’s not a lot of flexibility on the ingredients here.

Straw is a challenge

The key to success in these rations is usually straw, and maintaining a consistent source of straw is a major challenge for larger dairies. Processing the straw can also prove to be difficult. This is because processing straw through a mixer is inefficient and usually ineffective, while processing with a tub grinder is time consuming. If you have the option to hire an outside vendor with a commercial processor, that is often a good option.

Finding forages for the far-off dry cow is not as easy as it used to be. In the past, most dairies raised heifers on-farm, and there was always the need to put up some “heifer feed,” which usually ended up being a rained-on cutting of alfalfa and some corn silage. Most of my clients no longer have heifers on their dairy. They are at a boarding school in the High Plains, waiting to come back 60 days before their first calf arrives.

The emphasis on most dairies has been to harvest high-quality alfalfa or grass haylage, along with a lot of corn silage. Most good dairies don’t have a lot of cuttings get away from them, resulting in limited amounts of low-quality heifer and dry cow feed, although 2024 has proven to be the exception to the rule in the Upper Midwest.

Other options exist

Aside from a delayed hay cutting, dairy nutritionists are finding different ways to successfully feed dry cows. These are listed below and shown in the accompanying table.

1. Feed your high-quality haylage, maybe a bit of corn silage (it’s cheaper), and some filler such as straw, oat hulls, or grass hay. On many farms, straw is the go-to filler, but it is often underestimated for cost. Yes, it may be $100 to $150 off the field or off the truck, but the cost of processing and storage must also be considered. I use $200 to cover all the costs. Argue if you wish, but there is a real cost for storage and processing. I’m pegging this approach at $3.20 per cow per day with 30 pounds of intake.

2. Grow some high-volume rye or sorghum, chop it at 9% crude protein, and incorporate it into the ration. At some point, this strategy can lead to a forage that is a half-step above straw, and you end up putting in other forages to supply enough energy and protein. Yes, you can supplement corn, other by-products, and so forth, but it probably also adds cost. The other problem with this strategy is that how much is fed may be limited by the forage’s higher quality. If so, will you be able to keep the face of the pile or bunker silo fresh for this forage with a feeding rate of only 8 to 10 pounds per day? I’m estimating $2.70 per cow for this alternative.

3. Think about growing a forage specifically for your dry cows that will be fed in a high volume such as early-cut rye or triticale. Here, I’m referring to rye or triticale that is about 15% to 16% crude protein. At 25 pounds per head per day, it adds up nicely for tons fed. From an agronomy standpoint, it can be double cropped but carries the challenge of interfering with corn planting. Sit down with your agronomist and nutritionist and plan a strategy that works in your geography. I’ve calculated $2.53 per cow per day for this option.

4. This one is not shown in the table. Use your imagination . . . I’ve seen a lot of combinations. These might include using milking cow ration refusals, which is done on many farms. You are using a feed that is worth 13.5 cents a pound to replace a total mixed ration that could be 9 cents a pound. The benefits can add up quickly.

Another option is to buy a neighbor’s forage just for your dry cows. I like this one, if the situation is right, but it might not be a long-term strategy in many cases.

Letting one cutting of haylage mature longer and using it for dry cow forage can work, but this may mean having a field or two out of sync with the others.

Think it through

Do you need straw in your far-off dry cow ration? Are those costs I’ve presented correct for rye, triticale, and sorghum? Now you’re asking the right questions.

Not everyone will agree about using straw in the far-off dry cow ration. I like it for heifers that will often see a heavy straw ration in the close-up period. The prices for the cereal forages and sorghum are more difficult to estimate; we need hard numbers on production costs and realistic yield projections. Yields for rye and triticale can vary much more than alfalfa.

Does all of this matter? A 1,000-cow dairy might have 100 to 120 cows in their far-off pen. A 75-cent difference in feed cost, which is common, adds to about $28,000 per year. Maybe that’s not a life changer, but it is probably enough to take a nice vacation yourself.

This article appeared in the November 2024 issue of Hay & Forage Grower on pages 24-25.

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