Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Chapter 9

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Unit 9 Objectives
• Discuss life-cycle feeding programs for dairy
• Identify nutrient needs and additives used
• Understand nutrition related diseases/disorders

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Feeding for Milk Production
• General
• What types of systems are in use for milk
  production in todays industry?
• What influences which system is utilized?
• Feeding is often the determining factor in
  productivity of lactating dairy cows
• Represents 50 of the total cost of production
• Nutrient requirements for lactation are several
  times that of maintenance requirement

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Things to remember
• There is more variation in protein content and
  quality and energy in forages concentrates
• Primarily concerned with NEl, CP, DP, RUP, AA
  contents of the ration
• Mineral content and interactions are becoming
  much more important and manipulated
• Forage Consumption
• Estimated daily intake of forages is based on
  body weight and forage quality
• What does forage quality have to do with it?

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Forage intake must be restricted somewhat to
  allow for sufficient grain supplementation to
  support milk production
• Silage can replace hay at a ratio of 31
• Pasture intake will usually exceed silage intake
• Some evidence that increased feeding times can
  increase total forage consumption
• Increasing forage variety can also help increase
  consumption

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Concentrates for Dairy Cattle
• Concentrate mixture
• Grains, milled feeds, protein supplements,
  min/vit
• Mixture will vary with the forage program
• Consider availability and cost of nutrients
• Level of concentrate fed depends
• Amount of forage consumed
• Milk production
• Milk fat composition
• NEVER feed over 60 concentrate in the diet
  drastically changes VFA composition in the rumen
  what health problems does it cause?

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Intake is affected by
• Palatability
• Time they have access to feed
• How has feed access changes over the years?
• How did we used to offer feeds?
• Concentrate feeding levels should be appropriate
  for each operation
• No book-value is very accurate
• Can underfeed the high producer and overfeed the
  low producer

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Steps in Ration Balancing for Lactating Dairy
  Cattle
• Establish needs
• Maintenance plus milk production reproductive
  needs
• Determine feeds available
• Forages
• Kind quality
• Concentrate Mix
• Kind amount
• Establish feeding levels
• Forage
• Appropriate for quality and production

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Concentrate
• Supply additional nutritional needs
• Balance
• Make sure protein energy needs are met
• Evaluate forage concentrate ratio
• Check protein sources and amino acid levels
• Ensure proper min/vit supplementation
• Feeding Guidelines
• Groups can be separated based on
• Stage of lactation
• Age
• Dry period
• What groups can/should we have?

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Early Lactation or Post-fresh Group
• 0 60 or 70 DIM
• Milk production increases rapidly, peaks 6-8wks
  post-calving
• Avoid excessive levels of grain
• Encourage forage intake
• Keep it palatable
• High dietary protein
• Limit urea content
• Increase energy density (increase fat content)

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Peak Milk
• Highest DMIs
• 60 140 DIM
• Maximal DMI during peak milk increases total milk
  production each 1 peak milk 300s milk in
  lactation
• Feed several times/d
• Maximize ration forage content without
  compromising energy, protein, and amino acids
• Mid to Late Lactation
• 140 DIM to dry period
• Milk production declines, cow is pregnant

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Match grain intake to milk production be
  careful not to waste feed and over-condition cows
• Dry period (Far-Off)
• 21 60d prepartum
• High forage content
• Maintain body condition dont lose weight,
  maybe slight weight gain
• Enough grain and supplement to support CP,
  energy, and min/vit requirements
• Drop Ca supplementation levels

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Dry Period (Pre-fresh)
• 0 21d prepartum
• Increase ration energy protein content
• Make ration more energy dense
• DMIs reduced greatly prior to calving
• Manipulate ration min/vit concentrations to help
  with post-calving problems what are the target
  problems
• DCAD
• Increase feed palatability
• Decrease stocking rate
• Maintain pen cleanliness

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Things to Remember
• Feed young growing cows for growth, as well as,
  milk production
• What about a separate first calf heifer group?
• More cows are usually underfed on energy than
  protein
• Balancing for amino acid content can help
  minimize overfeeding of protein
• Limit finely ground feedstuffs (except for grain)
  to prevent drop in milk fat test
• Inclusion of hay is recommended

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Have water available at all times
• 3-5 lbs of water/lb milk/d
• Adding fat
• Adding fat helps in early lactation to improve
  energy density
• Avoid excessive fat levels due to unpalatability
  and feed freshness problems
• bST use
• Begin at 9th week of lactation
• Increases milk production by 8-10lbs/d
• Does increase DMI

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Feed for Dairy Calves
• Common Feed for Calves
• Colostrum
• Remove calf from cow immediately
• Try to get 2 quarts on colostrum in within 30 min
  to 1 hr
• Milk replacer
• Various programs
• 20/20
• Accelerated growth
• Antibiotics usually included

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Calf Starters
• Usually 16-20 CP
• Must be extremely palatable
• Antibiotic is recommended to help w/ respiratory
  and scour problems
• Encourage starter intake ASAP
• Wean when they eat 3 lbs/d for 3 consecutive days
• Calves with growth faster and more efficiently on
  dry feed
• Do not feed hay

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Heifers 4-12 mos of Age
• Need to supplement grain to help meet energy
  needs
• Rumen capacity isnt sufficient to get all needs
  from forages alone
• Include an ionophore for improved rate of gain
  feed efficiency
• DO NOT let them get over conditioned
• Decreases reproductive performance
• Decreases milk production capability

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Heifers 12 mos to calving
• Forage should be able to support their
  nutritional requirements
• Supplement enough grain to include min/vit and
  ionophores
• Target breeding weight is 800 lbs
• 550 for Jerseys
• Heifers must gain 1.75lbs/d to reach target wt by
  15 mos
• Breed by weight
• Goal should be to have average first calving lt24
  mos
• Avoid over conditioning
• Some producers include straw or other high fiber
  components to slow down growth

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Unit 9 Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Mix with dry cow 60d prior to calving
• Minimum of 21d in a pre-fresh group
• Keep DMI and energy levels up
• Adjust to higher grain content and better quality
  forages