Feeding programs have a tremendous influence on cow health and performance. Routine monitoring of your feeding program is important to maximize profit and minimize cow health problems. If you wait until the cows tell you the ration is out of balance by decreased milk production, changes in components, or changes in cow health, you are being reactive and will not achieve maximum productivity. A better method is to set up a proactive program to allow you to identify potential problems early and respond with appropriate changes. Here are some areas of your feeding program to monitor on a regular basis: Determine daily dry matter intake (DMI) Knowing DMI of groups or the herd is important to help your nutritionist balance a ration to meet the cow’s requirements and yet minimize feed cost. Cows require units (pounds and grams) of nutrients for milk production, not percentages. Underfeeding results in de-creased production; while overfeeding results in higher feed costs. Don’t forget to subtract the feed that cows do not consume. Graphing DMI and production per cow will help determine if overcrowding, ration changes or other management changes are affecting intake and/or production. Even though it is difficult, try to measure intake of close-up and just fresh cows. These are transient groups, but cow health in these groups can be greatly affected by changes in intake. A goal is that daily variation in DMI should be less than 2.5 lb/cow/day. In addition, work with your nutritionist to determine if intake is within the expected range for groups. Feed and forage dry matter Silages have the potential to change moisture frequently, particularly hay silage. The frequency of silage dry matter checks should be related to the crop (hay vs. corn silage) and to the storage structure used. I recommend checking hay silage for dry matter at least twice a week. Often hay silage is harvested from several fields and stored in bags. There can be great dry matter variability from day to day when feeding. Corn silage is usually harvested in a short time frame and is less likely to have wide variations in moisture than haylage. Therefore, checking corn silage weekly may be enough. Moisture testing does not take much time if you make it part of your daily routine. Adjust the amount fed if ingredient moisture is more than 4 percent different than the values used by your nutritionist to balance the ration. Evaluate ration mix and individual cow sorting The goal of a true TMR is to have every bite the cow eats contain the same nutrients. Look down the bunk line for even distribution of ingredients. Does the mix of feeds look the same down the entire bunk? With some mixers, more dry hay tends to come out near the end, when unloaded. Evaluate the mix for sorting after feeding. All rations get sorted to some degree. An easy, low-cost method to determine if feed is well distributed and/or cows are sorting is to measure particle size distribution. First, sample several places within the bunk immediately after feeding to evaluate TMR mixing and delivery. Return 4-6 hours after feeding for another set of samples, and 12 hours for another set of samples. You should also evaluate refusals before the following day’s feeding. These samples will allow you to determine if cows are sorting during the day and over a 24-hour period. If you find greater than 10 percent difference in particle size distribution of samples taken during the day, excessive sorting is probably occurring. Aggressive cows are likely eating the fine particles (mostly grain and protein) leaving the lower-energy forage for the less aggressive cows. Or, sorting might be leading to short periods of rumen acidosis. Sorting should be evaluated monthly or when major ration changes are made. Some ways to minimize sorting is to maximize the amount on the middle screens, add liquid or feeds that bind feed particles together, push up more often or feed multiple times per day. Using these routine measures to proactively monitor your feeding program will allow you to develop a more consistent feeding program for your herd. If you woul like forms or help in setting up a feed management monitoring program, contact your local extension educator or call me toll-free at (888) 241-4591 or (320) 203-6093 or by e-mail at salfe001@umn.edu.
