Goals
Meet the rumen’s minimum need for effective fiber
Supply a significant amount of the cow’s daily nutne-r needs
Preserve as many of the nutrients in forages as possible
Enhance forage digestibility and the effectiveness of the fiber
Protect forages from spoilage organisms and toxic compounds
I Good quality forages are important for a number of reasons
- They provide the fiber that is essential for keeping the rumen functioning well Forages are
a major source of energy in the ration -- a fact which we sometimes forget
You simply can not sustain high levels of efficient milk production and good health without
good quality forages' When forage quality and forage intake drop milk production can drop,
and the production that is lost can never be made up fully by feeding more concentrates In
tact, feeding more concentrates could make the problem worse
Forages form n floating fibrous mat in the rumen This mat harbors and feeds the microbes
and stimulates cud chewing activity, and cud chewing activity stimulates the production til
saliva which is used to help buffer the rumen against acid overload This fibrous mat also traps
some of the finer particle feeds, keeping them in suspension longer so they can be more fully
digested and utilized All of this greatly improves the utilization of the entire ration The result
is, cows eat more, they milk more, they maintain better flesh, they are healthier and breed back
sooner, and fewer feed nutrients end up in the gutter.
2 Forage quality is affected by maturity, moisture, length of chop, weathering and spoilage
- Nutrient values of forages drop off rapidly when legumes reach the early bloom stage of
maturity, and when grasses and small grains leave the boot stage'and start to head
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- High moisture feeds need to have sufficient moisture levels to aid good packing and good
fermentation Other feeds need to be dry enough to prevent spoilage in storage
- Weathenng, curing and spoilage also affect quality The most soluble and the most
digestible nutrients in forages are the ones most useful to the rumen microbes and to the cow
These also are the same nutnents that are leached out first by weathering losses They also arc
the first to be used by bacteria in the fermentation process and they arc consumed first by
spoilage organisms The rumen and the cow get what's left over' So, your goal should be to
preserve as much of these highly soluble and highly digestible nutnents in harvested forages as
possible That is one of the beauties of grazing, the nutnents are consumed before they have a
chance to become lost
- Dangerous molds and mycotoxms can develop in feeds that are not properly preserved In
some cases, molds and mycotoxms develop on the crop m the field poor to harvest and show
up in the stored feed m spite of your best preservation techniques
Fiber has to be "effective" to be useful to cattle Not all fiber is equal To be effective in forming a
rumen mat and stimulating cud chewing activity, forages need to be long enough and digestible
- Larger particles make the fiber more effective That is one reason why grains can never
replace forages, and why a large portion of the fiber in the ration should come from forages
Tlje particle size that really counts is the length of the fibci which cows actually cal The
length of fiber she eats may be considerably shorter than the length of cut at harvest lime
due to all the mechanical actions of unloading, mixing and the conveying of feeds
A good average length of chop at harvest time is about 3/8 inch However, the
desired length of chop will be influenced by a number of factors
Dner forages need to be chopped finer for better packing
A coarser chop may be desirable if more long fiber is needed in the ration
Kernel-processed silage require about a 3/4 inch chop
- Fiber needs to be digestible, but not too digestible
Young, succulent, finely chopped, ensiled forages are easily digested and may pass
through the digestive tract 100 rapidly to have had lime to be fully utilized More of the
nutnents end up in the gutter
Old, weathered forages contain fewer nutrients, are less digestible and move out of the
rumen more slowly and hamper feed intake Thus DMI and production suffer
3 One way (o determine if cows are getting the right amount of fiber and the right kind of fiber is to
- Monitor their forage neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake
- An approximate guideline is to keep it around 09to I 0% of the cow's body weight With
i iiiclul inunngcincnl, these limits cun be exceeded Consult your nutritionist for specific
recommendations
The forage NDF levels for cows in peak milk can be less in order to include more higher
energy feed ingredients m the ration, but this has to be controlled very carefully, and
preferably by feeding a TMR It should only be done for a short period of lime, and only
with cows that have come off of a good dry cow program and have a healthy, functional
rumen In these cases, it may be possible to work with NDF intakes as low as 0 75% of
body weight, but monitor cows closely and work closely with a good nutritionist
Forage NDF levels need to be higher when forages are young and succulent and when
they are ensiled and finely chopped They can also be higher for cattle that are on lower
density rations, such as low producing and non-lactatmg cattle In these cases, levels
may be increased to about 0 95 to 1 1% of body weight
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