ft-UncMter Farming, Saturday. Nov. 1
1
Feeding
(Continued from P*f* 1|
fibre, are aUo being blamed
(or problems. Some doubts
arc being raised about the
trend to more and more
shelled corn as opposed to
utilizing the com and the
cob
Such {acts as well as a
brief assessment of the dairy
industry's future were
presented last week by Don
Ace, dairy specialist at Penn
State, in a talk given before
approximately 60
veterinarians, nutritionists,
and agri-businessmen from
Lancaster, York and
surrounding counties. The
occasion was the third an
nual Dairy Seminar on
Feeding and Health held
here at the Quality Courts
Inn.
Ace sees grain prices
softening slightly when
compared to prices a year
ago; no improvement is seen
in beef prices; milk
production is down by one
per cent which should help to
keep milk prices up; butter
and cheese are in low supply
and being consumed as
rapidly as they are
produced; skim powder is
overflowing the bins; im
ports are not expected to
increase, and the blend price
for milk is seen at above
$lO.OO per hundredweight.
Going into more detail, the
Penn State dairy scientist
cited this year’s record com
crop as being of excellent
quality; soybean supplies
are up 17 per cent; world
production of feed grains is
up four per cent, and with
reduced dairy supplies this
should all add up to a better
future for dairymen. Ace
was reluctant to go out on the
limb with the dairy import
question, however, when a
member of the audience
asked about it. Although he
sees no increases in import
levels, he added it is difficult
to predict something like
that because government
actions and intentions
present something of a
guessing game to
economists.
Ace continued his com
mentary, entitled “Sex and
the Hungry Cow,” by
proclaiming that ‘‘many
diarymen have to take a
pretty hard look at their
management practices.”
“Many feed companies
and many nutritionists are
taking a second look at lead
feeding,” he claimed.
Studies have shown, he
noted, that some dairymen
have fed grain to their cows
m amounts as high as two
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per cent of animal's body
weight per day prior to
freshening. This is wrolng,
scientists now announce.
Experiments have shown the
practical maximum for this
type feeding is 0.5 per cent
of the cow's bodyweight per
day, Ace said. Amounts
exceeding this level may
(and often do) result in
problems, particularly
retained placentas. Advising
that dairymen should aim
for greater grain intake after
freshening, Ace noted that it
would result in better health
and greater productivity. He
also recommended lower
grain feeding levels at the
end of lactations.
Fibre is the most im
portant thing in the cow’s
diet, Ace stressed, to the
accompaniment of a couple
of raised eyebrows. He
explained that this “lack of
fibre” problem is com
pounded when low quality
forages are fed and
dairymen seek to make up
for that shortcoming be
feeding more protein. “Cows
need good, digestible fibre,”
he exclamied, “for a good
working gut.”
On an overall basis, Ace
suggested that cows have a
dry matter intake equivalent
to about three per cent of
their body weight. At peak
production this ratio of dry
matter per bodyweight
should increase to about 3.75
per cent; and for dry cows
and heifers it's about two per
cent. A digestive tract free of
abnormalitite, and with
adequate fibre moving
through it has an effect on
butterfat tests, he remarked.
Eyebrows were raised
again when Ace told the
audience that he wouldn’t
throw the com cob away if he
were dairying. According to
Penn State experiments,
leaving the com cob in the
field amounts to losing 20 per
cent of the corn’s feed value.
Ace said the com cob is a
good source of fibre -
palatable and digestible -
and “you gain nothing by
throwing it away.”
Acknowledging that ear
corn does not fit into
everyone’s management
program today, and that the
textbooks do not indicate any
particular value for the cob,
he stood by his statements
and added that “the cow
does not believe the text
book.” In other words, cows
are finding something
valuable in the cob which
textbooks do not show.
Herds with low fat tests
have been on the increase in
recent years, according to
findings at Penn Slate. Ace
listed Insufficient fibre, poor
quality fibre, extra thin
cows, fat cows, extremely
fine ground feeds, and
pelleted feeds as potential
causes for low fat tests.
Fat cows cause more
problems than thin cows,
Ace noted. "If the cow Is
over-conditioned, the ration
needs to be looked at," he
said. Aside from scrutinizing
the feeds themselves, Penn
State dairy specialists also
cite fat tests, appetite,
manure, urine, haircoat.
udder congestion, retained
afterbirth, condition of off
spring, reproduction ef
ficiency, and condition of the
animal as being indicators of
a feed’s value and ef
fectiveness.
Com silage is good feed,
Ace said, but some in
dividuals are feeding too
much of it. “Anytime you
concentrate an ingredient
you increase the chance for
problems because of the
greater chances for im
balance,” he warned.
Ace said “you don’t want
to see the feed moving
through the cows too fast or
too slow,” and added that a
number of things affect
appetite, including barn
ventilation. Imbalances of
minerals, vitamins, and
protein cause appetite
problems - excess amounts
are as harmful as too little.
Speaking on trace minerals
specifically, Ace stressed the
importance of not “doubling
up” on trace mineral
sources. “If you get them in
the salt, don’t get them again
in something else,” he
suggested. He noted that
such a problem has become
rather critical in some
herds, and that “we’re
finding too many herds
which are fed more than
needed amounts of trace
minerals.”
Another topic Ace
discussed is mastitis and
milk quality. He stressed the
necessity of low leucocyte
counts, claiming that a count
of 1.5 million may reduce
production by as much as 40
per cent. A count of 800,000
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School in conjunction with
the annual I Lancaster County
FFA leadership Training
Conference.
In the contest, greenhand
FFA'crs were judged on
their ability in public
speaking as well as how well
they knew the creed. Steve
was presented his award
during a banquet held in the
Blue Ball Fire Hall following
the conference.
XXX
Members of a fox hunt in
Belton, England, learned
why the fox got away and
spoiled their day. The man
who showed up and blew the
wrong calls on the hunting
hom was a spy from the
League Against Cruel
Sports.
Speaking of New York
City’s attempt to solve its
financial mess with taxes on
more forms of legalized
gambling. Red Smith in his
New York Times column,
made this pertinent ob
servation: “American
politicians have a single
solution for fiscal crises
tax sin.”
One may go wrong in
many different directions,
but right in only one.
Aristotle
cuts production by around 20
per cent, he noted. To help
reduce incidents of mastitis,
Penn State may be taking
somatic cell readings
directly from individual
DHIA samples, Ace
revealed.
A last subject touched
upon by the Penn State
specialist is reproduction.
Silent heats are a particular
problem today, he said,
hinting that deficient energy
situations, and anemia may
be responsbile at least in
part.
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