FEEDING
THE DAIRY HERD
In order for the cows to do their
best, they need lots of a high
quality, balanced ration. Let’s
consider what this statement
means in three separate parts.
“Lots or means the cows al
ways have feed in front of them,
whether it is on pasture or in the
bam. If the pasture has nothing but
nubble left, and we decide they
have to clean that up before we
move them to another paddock,
then they do not have “lota of
feed. When it got so dry this sum
mer, our six acres of pasture
weren’t growing much, so unless
we took feed out to the cows, they
spent much of the time without
“lots of feed. The same is true if
the cows are in die bam. and we
don’t want to clean troughs out
that still have feed in them.
As a rule of thumb, we like to
have between 5% and 10% feed
left over. In other words, we feed
40 lbs. silage, IS lbs. haylage, 7
lbs. hay, and 30 lbs. grain or a total
of 92 lbs. for 10 cows, or an aver
age of 9.2 lbs. (between 5 and 10
lbs.) per cow. That may seem like
a lot of work and feed, but if there
is less than that, there are times
when some of the cows have al
most nothing in front of than, so
they don’t eat as much as they
need for maximum production.
Have you ever walked into a dairy
that is averaging over 20,000 lbs.
of milk (6S lbs. a day) and seen a
lot of empty feed troughs?
When we talk about “high
quality” feed, does that mean pas
ture stubble? Does it mean hay
that was mowed late? Does it
mean rained-on or moldy hay?
Definitely not “High quality”
feed is feed that tastes good to die
cows, such as lush pasture, early
cut hay, or good com silage. It
also doesn’t just filfup the cow’s
rumen without providing any nu
trients the cows need in their diets.
“Balanced ration” means hav
ing enough protein, energy, fiber,
vitamins and minends in the right
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proportion to meet the cows’ basic
needs. Having too much or too lit
tle of any of these ingredients in
the ration'will keep the cows from
producing as much milk as they
could and will sometimes cause
health problems.
For example, simply giving a
high producing cow more grain to
get her production up even higher
will backfire if it throws the ration
out of balance. Often what hap
pens when farmers feed too much
grain is the energy level goes up,
and if it’s not in die right propor
tion with the protein and fiber lev
els. the cow will get acidosis or
ketosis and ha production goes
down. Also some of the grain just
passes through the cow undigest
ed. So not only is the fanner
spending money for feed, be
is also losing money on shipping
less milk!
Thus, giving the dairy herd lots
of a highquality, balanced ration
means having nutritious, tasty,
and correctly proportioned feed in
front of the cows at all times. It
may seem like more work and ex
pense, but it will mean more profit
in the long run.
We invite readers to send their
comments and questions to us
through the Lancaster Farming of
fice. We are writing this column in
the hope that we all can learn from
each other by exchanging ideas
and experiences openly.
Here is a letter we received, fol
lowed by our response;
*T would suggest to the editor to
get morel information in your pa
per about grazing. I have been
down both roads, grazing and con
ventional dairying, and I can’t un
derstand how people can be so
blind. Many still think this grazing
is a joke! It’s by a long shot no
joke. Five years of grazing, and I
can easily see that grass is better
for the cows and the pocketbook.
But what do you feed in the
winter, people say. Hay, grain and
com silage is hard on the cows’
health. (The column writer] men
tioned forage planning for the
coming year and that his feed man
said it’s cheaper to feed com sil
age than hay at $llO per ton and
soybean mod at $220. I’m afraid
this feed man wants to sell his
feed. I think if Carmen would not
ask their feed man so much, many
would be better off. If a farmer
feeds no com silage, just hay and
grain, he needs very little protein,
which makes the feed people
frown. When cows are on grass
and clover, they need no protein,
and you can still maintain a
17-18,000 lb. herd average, which
is highly profitable. An average
herd of 40 cows could be fed for
$l,OOO per month cheaper than
most people do. A lot of people
don’t believe it, but it’s true. An
other thing about the difference
between picking com or making
silage you didn’t mention is that
an ag bagger will take a big chunk
of that $l,OOO plus [cause] mote
health problems to me no gain.
A Satisfied Grazier”
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) —For the 19th consecutive
year the Women’s Activities
Department of the Pennsylvania
State Grange is sponsoring its
stuffed toys contest.
But this just isn’t any contest.
In fact, the stuffed toy contest
has evolved into something more
than just another competition. It
isn’t about winning awards or
accolades from peers. Or even
being the best.
The only winners in this “Labor
of Love” are the children who
receive these toys. When nearly
1,000 Grangers from around the
state descend upon Mercer County
for the 123rd annual Pa. State
Grange convention, they’ll bring
with them nearly 10,000 toys to be
judged and then distributed to
Ronald McDonald Houses, ambu
lance services, children’s hospi
tals and other needy charities.
Most of the toys will be distri
buted to sevices located in the reg
ion of the host counties—Beaver,
f
"I' 1
k\ I
John C. Simms, VMD, MS
Grange Toy Contest Displays
Efforts To Improve Lives
Milk Urea Nitrogen
Investing in Yourself
“Offering Milk Urea Nitrogen Testing (MUN) to
Pennsylvania producers gives them a valuable tool to
monitor two of the most important aspects of their dairy
operation-nutrition balance and reproduction. Using an
inexpensive technology like this can save dairymen
thousands of dollars in feed costs and help reduce days
open. This is as good a return on investment as SCC -
Probably better!”
To learn more, ask your
Technician or contact PA DHIA
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 21, 1995-A23
Response: Although we pre
sently are not “graziers,” we ate
interested in learning mote about
it We are a young family with
quite a bit of debt yet and because
of that we like to make sure we
understand as much as possible
before making a major change.
Our neighbors and friends who
are grazing their dairy herd tell us
several things;
(1) It takes mote management
than conventional feeding does
because the quality changes al
most daily, and the amount of feed
per paddock varies greatly. Al
though there may be less physical
work involved, it takes other man
agement skills that most of us
weren’t taught, and the result may
be disappointing unless we can
find someone who is willing to
teach us.
(2) There is.nothing magic
about grazing. Those who did well
managing a conventional feeding
system appear to be doing well
with grazing. At certain times of
Lawrence and Mercer. The stuffed
toys program is sponsored by
Fairfield Processing.
“These Grangers are more
interested in toys for loving than
toys for judging,” Becky Michal
ka. Women’s Activities director
of the state Grange, said. “There
were 8,975 toys made last year
and according to the reports I’ve
been receiving there is going to be
a substantial increase this year."
The toys, however, won’t be the
only labor of love on display in the
Radisson Hotel's Ballroom in
West Middlesex. Over 1,000 baby
quilts for HIV-positive and crack
addicted babies will be stacked to
the ceiling.
“The ABC Quilts for AIDS
babies is designed to make their
lives a little more comfortable,”
Michalka said, “because many of
these babies won’t live to see their
second birthday.”
In addition to the toys and
quilts, Grangers make clothing
times for nursing homes, prepare
food that is donated to food banks,
the year, you may have a high pro
tein, low fiber ration, and at other
times you may have a low protein,
high fiber radon, so you need to
adjust for that
(3) Costs usually are lower. We
wonder how much lower the costs
really are, as it seems that most of
my neighbors who switched to
grazing had been using high cost
feed programs including lots of
“super minerals.” Of course, graz
ing was much cheaper than these
programs. How does grazing com
pare to other feed programs in
which feed costs are lower than
$4.25 per cwL of milk with a
70-lb. year round average?
We find the grazing concept in
teresting, but we have a lot of
questions yet. Some of them are:
(1) With 90 acres of land how
many cows and heifers could I
feed?
(2) My brother and I share
equipment coats. If we would go
with all hay and no com equq>-
ment, would that be a profitable
way to gradually get into grazing?
cut soup labels for charitable
groups and develop kits contain
ing personal care products that are
distributed to abused women shel
ters, to name a few.
Michalka said being involved in
these projects raises awareness
among Grange members. “We
have whole families that partici
pate in these projects together,”
Michalka said. “By participating
together as a family, it makes
them aware of the problems in
their communities and that fami
lies, by working together, can do
something about these problems
and make their communities a bet
ter place to live.”
The Pennsylvania State Grange
is an agricultural, rural and com
munity service organization that is
dedicated to making Pennsylvania
a better place to live. There are
over 33,000 members in the
largest and oldest farm family
organization in the state that is the
legislative voice on agricultural
and rural issues in Harrisburg.
1-800-DHI-TEST
(1-800-344-8378)