DHIA Service Center, Orchard Road, Univenity Park, PA 16802
Question; What is the
correct moisture level for our
TMR? Will moisture levels
affect sorting? How can we tell
if sorting is going on?
If a person had to pick one
fault in TMR feeding, it would
have to do with feed particle
sorting. The fact that we need to
process grains so that our cows
can maximize their usage leads to
enormous differences in particle
sizes in a TMR. Add the concept
of maintaining forage length to
enhance rumen health and we
expand these differences. The key
is to reach for some compromise.
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As for the first question, 1 see
growing concern about proper
moisture levels in TMRs. Sorting
is not the only problem we face
when a TMR is too dry.
Palatability also appears to
diminish when the feed is dry. As
a rule of thumb, I have often seen
improvement m cow performance
when moisture levels were at a
minimum of 52%. There are a lot
of variables that could be
considered but these might lead to
some confusion Allow your cows
to tell you what they prefer
simply by making a moisture
change and measuring the change
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in intake. Make sure your
calculations are in dry matter or
else increases that are only in the
water portion of the feed might
fool you. For example: cows
consuming 48# dry matter at a
ration moisture level of 50% are
eating 96# total feed [4B / (100-
50)] x 100 = 96 # fed. Change the
diet to 52% moisture [4B / (100-
52)] x 100 =loo# fed. We would
need to add four pounds water to
each portion that we are mixing to
increase the moisture from 50%
to 52%. You should also keep in
mind that, although seemingly
simple, moisture changes are feed
changes and should be done
gradually to minimize stress.
Will moisture levels affect
sorting? Cows are very capable at
getting to what they prefer even in
a TMR 1 watch in amazement at
their ability to sort and wonder
how they do it with such large
muzzles They have all the
appearances of being made to eat
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quickly with no ability at
discretion I then look at the
beginning and end feeds of a
feeding period and see two
distinctly different TMRs. Particle
size measurement boxes can be
used if you do not trust your eyes,
but you will see the same result.
The balanced diet that we so
carefully prepared is not the same
diet that our cows are eating. Dry
diets seem to allow more sorting
than wetter ones. We are trying to
cause the finer particles of our
TMR to stick to the coarser ones
by adding moisture. Other feed
products such as molasses and
oils can also be used to create this
tackiness Water is certainly the
cheapest to add and may
accomplish the desired effect
We already talked about
physical observations and
measurements that can be used to
determine if we are experiencing
sorting Another way that I find
AvgMUN
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Farmer Boy Ag Systems
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410 East Lincoln Avenue, Myerstown, PA 17067
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 20, 2000-A33
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useful is to look at DHIA records
MUN typically is thought to
allow our cows to tell us if protein
to carbohydrate balance is correct.
MUN can also tell us about
feeding management In this case
1 would like to show how MUN
could be used to measure the
possibility that all cows are not
eating the same diet. From the Pa.
DHIA Nitrogen Management
Report I looked at the following
This is a herd that is fed a
single TMR to all cows m the
(Turn to Pago A 34)
HighMUN
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