DHIA Service Center, Orchard Road, University
Question: At harvest time
we had the opportunity to buy
wheat at an unheard of low
price. My vet and feed person
both said wheat would be a
good way to stretch my high
moisture corn that usually runs
out before next year’s harvest.
We made the transition over a
two-week period and yet our
cows dropped in production
immediately and have yet to
come back to where they were
before the change. My milk
drop resulted in almost
$4000.00 less milk sold over the
wheat-feeding period. This
cheap wheat doesn’t seem so
cheap to me now.
Wheat used in dairy cattle
should be a very available source
of energy mostly as a starch
carbohydrate. What took place at
this farm can lead to a lot of
frustration to not only the
dairyman who has lost the chance
to make some cheaper milk due to
smart purchasing of a very good
feed, but also to his feed advisors
that feel a little bit responsible for
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the lack of success in attaining the
goal of cutting cost without
sacrificing production. Assigning
or assuming blame in most cases
accomplishes nothing but the
chance to avoid such failures in
the future can be of real benefit
Lucky for us, trying to solve
this mystery of less than desirable
performance, we have some very
good tools to work with both on a
chemical and physical level
Looking at some physical
properties of the cow we can shed
some light on what has probably
happened here At some point in
problem solving we need to stand
back and look at what is too easy,
too simple, too absurd to even
consider Manure is the answer 1
You have to make light a little
about a subject like manure
Seriously, the knowledge that we
can gain by making'a habit of
studying the manure of our cows
can go a long way m avoiding
problems such as milk production
loses when we make feeding
changes The first clue that
something was going wrong when
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the wheat was fed was bits and
pieces of wheat gram coming
through in the manure This
unused portion of the feed that the
cow was supposed to perform on
was only fertilizing the fields that
is was spread on Grains used for
carbohydrates in a cow’s diet
must be made available to her
Accomplish this by processing all
grains physically, chemically, or a
combination of the two. Seed
grams like wheat and corn have a
protective shell around them that
can inhibit microbial breakdown
in the rumen and pass undigested
out into manure. Grind these
types of grams fine to get the
most from them In the high
producing cow we must allow her
every opportunity to digest her
diet quickly because of the large
amount of feed that moves in and
out of her digestive system at a
very rapid rate daily Chemically
altered grain like high moisture,
steamed flaked, and soda treated
has already made these grams one
step or two closer to being
digested and therefore need less
physical preparation
The next tool that this farm
had at its disposal is a little more
sophisticated than scoring manure
and when used extensively can
provide monthly feedback data
about how we can best balance
and deliver diets to our cows
Milk component analysis
provides us with vital information
concerning the nutrient needs ot
the dairy cow MUN, which is
used on about 33% of PA DHIA
member’s farms, is the one
component that has the best
potential in solving the type of
problem in today’s question
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Research and data base studies
have coupled MUN output with
protein utilization m the diet of
the dairy cow The diet m this
particular herd maintained the
same %QP, '/rUIP, %DIP, ftNSC,
and %DM even though wheat was
now being utilized m replacement
of some high moisture corn The
herd remained reasonably
constant at 13 7 MUN from the
first of the year on with a slight
climb m May to 15.1. Within
three weeks of making the change
to include wheat m the diet the
herd MUN raised t 018.4. Protein
totals and portions remained the
same but the NSC portion
available to the cow dropped. The
diet was balanced for the same
level of the cow could actually
use was altered With MUN
analysis done on a monthly basis
we can quickly make changes to
the diet makeup, diet delivery, or
a combination of the two The
cows tell us what is going on by
component evaluation We can
then better predict the outcome of
feeding management changes
What we can measure we can
manage, and what we manage we
hope to control
This is a very typical way in
which we can combine good tools
Average Farm Feed
Costs for Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state to
have handy reference of commodity
input costs in their feeding operations
for DHIA record sheets or to develop
livestock feed cost data, here’s last
week’s average costs of various ingred
ients as compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Remember, these are averages, so you
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that wc have at our disposal. The
best tool is the good “cow sense”
that many dairyman use on a day
to-day basis Developing
techniques such as manure
scoring goes along with what is
already known to encourage
looking from a different
perspective MUN testing and
analysis is a perfect fit to take that
“cow sense” and knowledge to
the next level This is what
today's dairying is all about
regardless of size or scale
The last thing I asked this
dairyman, which also happens to
be a tnend of mine, was why they
didn't ask someone about the big
MUN change sooner They didn't
want to sound stupid That's the
only part of the whole situation
that seems near stupid to me
Looking forward to questions
from you
will need to adjust your figures up or
down according to your location and the
quality of your crop.
Corn, No.2y 2.27 bu., 4.06 cwt.
Wheat, N 0.2 2.15 bu , 3.59 cwt.
Barley, N 0.3 —1.40 bu., 2.99 cwt.
Oats, N 0.2 1.42 bu., 4.44 cwt.
Soybeans, No. 1 4.32 bu., 7.22 cwt.
Ear Corn 71.39 ton, 3.57 cwt.
Alfalfa Hay 128.50 ton, 6.43 cwt.
Mixed Hay— 103.75 ton, 5.19 cwt.
Timothy Hay 98.75 ton, 4.94 cwt.
Let Your Crops
Dine On Alpine
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