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Regular feed tests pay off

A University of Wisconsin nutrition specialist says monitoring the quality of feed regularly pays off.

Dr. Randy Shaver of the University of Wisconsin says dairy producers strive to have the best quality to meet the needs of the cows while minimizing dietary supplements.  He says regularly testing forage finds nutritional deficiencies, but when to test often depends on the size of the dairy farm.  “Smaller herds can often get by with once a month, but as we get into bigger dairies where the cost of analysis is getting spread across more cows, and also the cost of overfeeding or underfeeding gets to be more costly, we’ll see dairies that will go at least once a week or even every other week.”

If cows aren’t performing as expected, Shaver suggests running a mycotoxin test.

HeShaver says this year’s crops were mostly good except for some dry areas impacting corn silage.  Shaver says for those farmers, waiting two or three months before feeding may make that feed more digestible.

Shaver was one of four presenters discussing feed, health, and cow comfort benefits before about 100 dairy operators at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin Herdsman’s conference.

Dr Randy Shaver discusses feed quality and cow comfort with Brownfield’s Larry Lee