D22-Lancaster Farming Saturday, January 13,1990
Pipeline
(Continued from Pago Dl9)
fibrous when harvested, and once
harvested, were subject to more
weathering. Consequently, fiber
content is higher and digestibility
is lower. The reduced digestibility
of these forages, combined with
prolonged plant respiration due to
slow drying and the loss of soluble
carbohydrates due to excessive
leaching, resulted in lower energy
values for these forages. The ener
gy content of feeds is further
reduced by the presence of mold
organisms. Reduced digestibility
slows down the passage of feed
through the rumen. This reduces
dry matter intake and the yield of
microbial protein. Poor quality,
less digestible forage also hogs up
valuable space in the rumen, simi
lar to a dry cow occupying a stall
that could be filled by a high pro
ducer. In other words, less energy
and protein are available to the
cow, and production suffers.
As the winter feeding program
progresses, it is not uncommon to
see a weakening of cows’ immune
systems; infections increase, cows
respond more slowly to treat
ments, conception rates may
decline, etc. Part of the reason for
this is, the level of soluble vita
mins and minerals is lower in
stored feeds and cows’ body
reserves become depleted before
they receive fresher feeds.
Because more soluble nutrients,
including some vitamins and min
erals have been leached out of our
forages this year, cows may show
signs of weakened immune sys
tems much earlier than usual.
Additional vitamins and minerals
may be needed in some situations
this year.
Options and Concerns
There simply is no substitute
for good quality forage in the
ration for high producing cows! It
sure would be nice to see .more
truckloads of good quality, .green
hay moving down the road to fill
dairymen’s needs! What can you
do if you don’t have good forages
or if prices exceed quality? I cer
tainly don’t have all the answers -
only a few ideas.
Focus on the basics first such as
feeding adequate amounts of for
age, saving good forage for the
best producers, feeding adequate
levels of rumen degradable and
rumen undegradable protein and
energy, increasing the nutrient
density of the ration, improving
feeding techniques such as using
TMR’s or feeding more frequently
and offering feeds in proper sequ
ences, reducing parasite loads, etc.
Try to get some good alfalfa for
your high producers. How much
EXTRA can you afford to pay for
good alfalfa over normal-year
prices or over this year’s prices for
junk hay? An EXTRA $lOO per
ton increases the price by $0.05
per pound. If 10 pounds are fed
per day that’s an increase in feed
cost of $0.50 per day. If this helps
high producers improve milk pro
duction by 10 pounds (not guaran
teed) income is increased about
$1.60 ($l6 milk); that’s a pretty
good return!
I wouldn’t be surprised if some
of the com fodder that’s been
baled for bedding would have a
higher feed value than some of the
junk hay I see on trucks moving
down our highways.
Also be concerned about the
mold content of feeds and pro
ducts of abnormal fermentation.
You may have your rations prop
erly balanced, but some of these
off quality feeds could be keeping
your ration from doing the job you
expect of it.
If you have off quality feeds,
what do you do with them? You
might be able to feed them in
reduced amounts to lower produc
ers, dry cows and heifers, but be
very cautious. Remember, your
dry cows and heifers are tomor
row’s producers. Don’t sacrifice
the future by making poor deci
sions today.
This is a good year to rely more
heavily on com silage, but remem
ber that a lot of our late planted
silage com wasn’t as well eared
and doesn’t have quite the energy
and protein value of normal-year
silages.
Feeding generous amounts of
com silage along with generous
amounts of grain, especially high
moisture grains, can cause acido
sis. To help prevent this problem,
add buffers to the ration, feed less
barley or com, and feed grain
more frequently. Barley and com
are high in starch. They break
down quickly in the rumen and
can contribute to acidosis prob
lems if fed in large quantity.
Corn silage could be a better
buy than high priced, low quality
hay. Expect to lose some quality
in the transfer process as it goes
through a second heat. To reduce
this risk, purchase well-preserved
silage and transfer it when it is
cold.
When you buy silage, consider
its moisture content, quality,
transportation and convenience.
The drier the silage, the more it is
worth unless it is too dry to fer
ment well. If 70% moist silage
(let’s call this our reference silage)
is priced at $25 per ton, how much
is 60% moist silage worth? Divide
the dry matter of the silage you are
buying by the dry matter of the
reference silage and multiply this
by the price of the reference sil
age. In this case it would be 40 S:
30 x $25 = $33.
If decent forage simply is not
available, look for other sources of
ASGROW
Blair Courier of Mill Hall, Pa. uses Asgrow soybeans on
his "Dairy of Distinction" to reduce the cost of protein for
the milking herd. Sixty acres of Asgrow soybeans have
been grown and roasted each of the last three years.
"Asgrow A 3127 is the variety that I tried first, three years
ago. I tried another brand but I'm growing Asgrow soy
beans now because they yielded more. The Asgrows'
have real good standability, too."
* y&NW Harvestabllity Seed Quality
PA VORK DIVISION
tsw-m-yim
digestible fiber; work closely with
your nutritionist. Increasing the
forage content of the grain ration
can help, but it won’t have the
same impact as fiber from long
stemmed or coarse-chopped for
ages which stimulate cud-chewing
activity.
Production vs. Profit
Although we desire to make
more milk now to cash in on the
high milk prices, this may be a
year when less means more. In
other words, look carefully at the
cost of getting the extra produc
tion, the long range impact of your
decisions, and the affect it has on
profit margins.
High milk prices encourage
farmers to hang onto cows and
milk them longer, and to increase
cow numbers. Some of these long
lactation cows may have high cell
counts. If they carry contagious
infections, they also are a risk to
other cows in the herd.
Recently, I was in a 50-60 cow
herd where 4 cows were responsi-
ble for 67% of all the somatic cells
in the bulk tank; some of them
were chronic cows. If twoof these
cows kept the fanner from getting
a $O.lO quality premium payment
on 3000 pounds of milk produced
that day, that’s a $3O loss in
exchange for about 100 pounds of
milk worth $15.17, not counting
the risk of infecting other cows.
If you are buying cows to make
more milk, be careful not to
expose other cows to new infec
tions. Until you have a chance to
culture the new cow and know that
she is free of contagious infec
tions, milk her last to minimize the
risk. Ideally, she should also be
housed separate from the herd for
observation, or until she or the rest
of the herd has had time to be
properly immunized. Work close
ly with your veterinarian on these
herd health concerns.
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion is an affirmative action, equal
opportunity educational insti
tution.
55 WILLOW SPRINGS CIR
york, pk rrm