Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Match grain intake to milk production – be careful not to waste feed and over-condition cows
• Dry period (Far-Off)
• 21 – 60d prepartum
• High forage content
• Maintain body condition – don’t lose weight, maybe slight weight gain
• Enough grain and supplement to support CP, energy, and min/vit requirements
• Drop Ca supplementation levels

Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Dry Period (Pre-fresh)
• 0 – 21d prepartum
• Increase ration energy & protein content
• Make ration more energy dense
• DMI’s reduced greatly prior to calving
• Manipulate ration min/vit concentrations to help with post-calving problems – what are the target problems
• DCAD
• Increase feed palatability
• Decrease stocking rate
• Maintain pen cleanliness

Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Things to Remember
• Feed young growing cows for growth, as well as, milk production
• What about a separate first calf heifer group?
• More cows are usually underfed on energy than protein
• Balancing for amino acid content can help minimize overfeeding of protein
• Limit finely ground feedstuffs (except for grain) to prevent drop in milk fat test
• Inclusion of hay is recommended

Unit 9: Dairy Cattle Feeding

• Have water available at all times
• 3-5 lbs of water/lb milk/d
• Adding fat
• Adding fat helps in early lactation to improve energy density
• Avoid excessive fat levels due to unpalatability and feed freshness problems
• bST use
• Begin at 9th week of lactation
• Increases milk production by 8-10lbs/d
• Does increase DMI