A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 14, 1994
BETTER OUR COWS
THAN YOURS
Walker McNeill, Manager
Dairy Cattle Research
And Education Center
Have you bver fed your cow 40
pounds of grain a day when she’s
giving 120 pounds of milk? How
about SO pounds of grain? Why
not? Did someone tell you it
wouldn’t be healthy for the cow?
How did they know? And why did
you take their word?
Prove it to yourself. Take 10 of
your highest producing cows and
increase their grain to SO pounds
per day.
If you feed a total mixed ration
(TMR), why do you feed 14 to 18
percent crude protein in the mix?
Why not 10 or 20? You don’t think
it’ll work?
Prove it to yourself. Feed your
highest producing cows a 10 per
cent crude protein TMR and see if
they continue producing 90 or
more pounds of milk per day.
Do you need to get
your heifers into the
milking string quicker?
Feed them to gain 3
pounds a day and breed
them at 12 months of
age. Who said they’d
have trouble calving and
wouldn’t be as
productive?
You don’t do these
things. They aren’t cur
rent recommendations.
Somewhere along the
way, someone per
haps an extension spe
cialist, county agent,
consultant, veterinarian,
professor, or a colum
nist in the trade press
has told you that cows
have to be fed a certain
level of fiber; large
amounts of concentrate
will cause the cow to go
off feed; there isn’t
enough protein in a 10
percent TMR for a high
producing cow; and
overfeeding heifers will
cause them to get too fat
rather than grow.
But 30 years ago we
were told that a cow
should not be fed more
than 22 pounds of con
centrate, regardless of
production. And back
then we thought that
heifers shouldn’t be
pushed to enter the
milking suing at less
than 36 months of age.
How did these changes
come about?
They arc the result of
dairy scientists continu
ally questioning the
“current way” of doing
things. What happens in
the rumen when more
than 22 pounds of con
centrate is fed, and what
can be done to change
it? How can a heifer be
fed to reach breeding
size at a certain age
without putting on fat?
These practices and many others
we now accept as standard didn’t
come about without paying a price.
For every one idea that becomes a
recommendation, many more do
not
Crude protein (CP) level recom
mendations in TMR rations are a
good example. Depending on pro
duction level, it’s recommended
thatTMßs contain 14 to ISpcrcent
CP. This means, however, that
sometime some cows wore fed
eithera 12 or 10 percent or 20 or 22
percent CP TMR. Cows on a 12 or
10 percent CP ration didn’t milk as
well as those on 14 to 18 percent.
Production was down, milk sales
were lost Cows fed a 20 to 22 per
cent ration milked as well as the 14
to 18 percent cows, but didn’t
increase production enough to pay
for the extra protein. Someone lost
money paying for the needless
extra protein supplement
Better it happened to our cows
than yours.
What ideas and recommenda
tions are currently being chal
lenged by dairy scientists at Penn
State? Some but not all of the
dozen or so research projects now
ongoing at Penn State’s Dairy
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• Hydraulic spinners
• PTO-powered chain
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• Walking beam suspension
• 4 sizes to choose from
• Truck-mounted models available
Cattle Research and Education
Center include:
• Using suiplus dairy products
such as whey and outdated baby
formula in calf milk replacers. If
our calves grow well on these, you
may one day feed them to your
calves. If they don’t, better our
calves than yours.
• Evaluating new forage variet
ies and pasture mixes that may
supply higher levels of nutrients to
grazing lactating cows than pre
sent varieties, and investigating
whether protein level and type
requirements differ between graz
ing cows and those fed hay or
silage.
If these new varieties work out,
your cows may graze new varieties
of legumes and grasses in various
mixes and be fed a different type of
concentrate when grazing. If they
don’t woik out better our cows
than yours.
Walker McNeill
1 800 843 8731
STOLTZFUS
Morgan Way, P.O. Box 527, Morgantown, PA 19543
What ideas and recommenda
tions will be challenged by future
dairy scientists at Penn State? No
one knows for sure, because the
only constant in today’s industry is
change. The problems you need
answers to today won’t be the ones
for which you need answers
tomorrow.
Scientists may investigate
genetically designed fungi or bac
teria that either ferment feedstuffs
or populate the rumen, enabling
cows to digest materials that are
now simply by-products. They
may look at using cow’s milk as a
source of proteins, medicines, or
hormones for humans.
If these futuristic ideas become
reality, you may feed straw or saw
dust and watch your cows digest it
as efficiently as they do the finest
alfalfa hay. In the future, you may
not be selling your milk to a pro
cessor, but to a drug company—at
a premium price.
The potential financial rewards
of feeding sawdust as digestible as
Long considered
i-of-the-line” ag
i, many Stoltzfus
Spreaders are still in use after 20 years.
That makes a Stoltzfus Spreader preferred not only for
quality and performance, but also for terrific economy
in the long run.
Sure you can settle for buying on initial price alone.
But with a Stoltzfus Spreader you won’t be shopping
for another spreader just a couple years down the line
Call today for free information
alfalfa or opening up new markets
for milk are great. But the risks are
great, too.
Would you volunteer to feed
your cows treated sawdust to see if
they will eat it and give milk on it?
Would you be willing to dump
milk from 10 or 15 of your cows
for a year while FDA approval is
obtained? The answer is obvious
better our cows than yours.
This then is why Penn State has
a Dairy Cattle Research and Edu
cation Center. The most important
product that leaves our dairy isn’t
the milk in the bulk tank. It’s the
research findings and resulting
extension recommendations that
become part of your accepted
practices.
Findings and recommendations
help you to become more efficient,
to improve your bottom line.
These findings and recommenda
tions ultimately will benefit all
Pennsylvanians by helping ensure
a milk supply that is wholesome,
safe, and readily available at the
least possible cost