Complete a forage analysis first; then adjust rations, calculate income over feed cost
This growing season didn’t start out or end as anyone hoped. Now is the time to make the most of the crop and adjust rations and feeding approaches to capture as much nutritional value as possible, as we look forward to 2020.
Prior to feeding new crop corn silage, a forage analysis — including dry matter, Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility (NDFD), starch, seven-hour starch digestibility and a fermentation analysis — should be performed. If nutritionists are faced with low-starch, high-fiber, low-NDFD corn silage, some changes in the ration must be made to maximize nutrition, digestibility and milk production. Dairy cattle need nutrients, not ingredients, to maintain overall health and sustain profitable milk production. When faced with reduced starch content in ensiled corn silage, the nutritional goal is to enhance the ration to create adequate energy content and make it as digestible as possible. Undigestible feedstuffs need to be removed from the diet and replaced with those that maintain dry matter intake, milk production and components.
Although corn grain is often the most economical ration additive, dairy cows have no starch requirement and can use other carbohydrates for microbial protein production in the rumen. Sugars, digestible fiber and non-forage fiber sources (NFFS) are effective in supporting microbial production and milk production.
Researchers at the Miner Institute1 measured the milk production of cows fed diets containing 18% to 25% starch. Beet pulp and wheat middlings were substituted for corn grain. The research shows that reducing dietary starch does not affect ruminal pH, microbial protein supply or milk production. Milk production for all the cows, regardless of the percentage of starch content, was around 90 pounds per cow per day. Comparing the current cost of ingredients, including these NFFS, can be an effective way to design rations if the price of corn escalates.
Considerations to maximize feed value
Since starch digestibility increases with the time corn silage is ensiled, enough carryover is even more important than usual to maximize feed value. This year is not the year to waste energy in the form of corn grain passing through the cows. If your cow numbers do not change, you only need to build your carryover silage once. If possible, plan to establish three months of silage in next year’s growing season to provide a consistent foundational feedstuff for your herd.
As cows progress through lactation, their dietary needs change as does milk production responses to ration starch concentration and fermentability. Producers can group cows by stage of lactation and use those changing needs as an advantage. Fresh cows need more forage to maintain adequate rumen fill, to increase salivary buffering and to provide a substrate for the growth of rumen microbes.
Researchers at Michigan State University found that starch sources for fresh cows are best if not extremely fermentable, such as dry corn. Highly fermentable starch sources like that of high-moisture corn can depress intake in fresh cows and are more effective in cows that have reached peak production.
Once fresh cows are eating well and are healthy, they can move to the high-production pen, where carbohydrates can be increased, and forage levels can be reduced. A maintenance group is where high-production cows transition to maintain body condition and milk production at lower starch, lower protein and higher NDF levels to enter the dry period with a body condition score that will set them up for success in the next lactation.
“Bulk tank milk, components and cow health are great places to start when evaluating proper nutrition and digestibility of rations,” Follendorf says. “Beyond that, it is best to get behind the cow and see what is making its way through via manure by screening and sending samples to a lab for starch content.”
In addition to the feed ration as recommended by a nutritionist, critical to the success of a feeding program are the management, cow comfort and the environment cows experience. High-quality forage, comfortable beds, low stocking density and a good repro program should be established to achieve maximum milk production performance.
Monitoring income over feed cost
Extreme volatility in milk and feed prices have made the knowledge of individual farm breakeven income over feed cost (IOFC) a critical monitor on a monthly basis for dairies. Knowing this metric will help to evaluate how decisions will impact cash flow. To be most useful, producers should calculate breakeven IOFC on an annual basis in order to have a drone view of the farm’s finances. A whole farm annual cash flow includes all income from milk, animal sales, culling, as well as any other farm income such as from custom work. Included in cash outflows are planting inputs, breeding and veterinary costs and supplies, purchased feed costs, as well as costs associated with milk hauling, utilities, bedding, labor, repairs, land rent, taxes, insurance, family living expenses and all loan payments. After calculating this cash flow, breakeven IOFC can be determined that is necessary to keep the farming operation in the black.
Assessing the value of grown forages can be difficult for dairies. Costs of seed, fertilizer, land rent, chopping, hauling, fuel, labor, machinery, and storage should be included. If a farm does not have these numbers, the local market value of forages, published on many sites, can be used. Alternatively, ISU Extension publishes an annual cost of production for various forages which can serve as a starting point at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a1-20.pdf.
A breakeven IOFC will be different for every dairy, but once it is known, monitoring IOFC on a monthly basis allows a producer to drill down to look at feed management, performance of transition cows, and dry matter intake efficiency to see if there are bottlenecks that can be corrected in these areas, when the dairy falls short of this metric. Using the milk check and the feed expenditures during the month, a producer can quickly identify when interventions to management are required as well as opportunities for forward contracting to lock in acceptable prices.
Information producers will need to calculate IOFC include:
- Milk income (per month)
- Total milk produced per day over the period of a month
- Subtract feed cost from milk income
- Divide total income by the number of cows contributing to production that month
- Divide total income over feed cost by number of days of the month to get IOFC per cow per day
In addition to the feed ration as recommended by a nutritionist, critical to the success of a feeding program are the management, cow comfort and the environment cows experience.
High-quality forage, comfortable beds, low stocking density and a good repro program should be established to achieve maximum milk production performance.
What about next year?
No matter what the growing year brings, researchers have clearly shown the advantages of feeding high-forage diets for lactating cows. These include better components, reduced health issues and higher income over feed costs (IOFCs). Feeding high-forage diets require forages of excellent quality — corn silage should have excellent fiber and starch digestibility. NDFD impacts not only the energy value of the corn silage but also the intake it can support.
“My advice to dairy silage producers is to assess the silage varieties that have worked well in the past specific to the region and individual farm, growing season and the overall goals of the operation,” Follendorf says. “My preference is BMR silage corn, harvested at the proper moisture, chopped at the correct length, processed well and put away properly. I feel the increased digestibility over standard corn silage is well worth the investment.”
While the growing environment affects yield and digestibility, hybrid selection definitely has an impact on profitability, I encourage producers to visit the Miner Institute website at http://www.whminer.org/dairy/ and insert their own numbers for yield, quality, forage production, and feeding into the Corn Silage Hybrid Fiber and Starch Yield Calculator. Swings of $.20 to $.50 per cow per day are common when choosing one hybrid over another.”
Bred for maximum fiber digestibility, BMR hybrids allow for increased dry matter intake in high-producing cows, as well as the opportunity to feed less grain. This results in higher energy-corrected milk (ECM) and IOFCs compared with standard silage hybrid varieties.
Another hybrid consideration is Mycogen® brand Unified™ corn silage with SilaSoft™ technology, which delivers a soft floury kernel combined with low-lignin fiber that results in the highest fiber and starch digestibility available on the market today. Research has shown that this combination results in the highest feed efficiency when compared with BMR hybrids and standard silage hybrids.
A year like this, as hard as it was, provides an opportunity to evaluate hybrid options and feeding practices to ensure maximum nutritional value and success on the farm.
Talk with your local seed seller, agronomist and nutrition team to evaluate hybrid options for your farm. And visit Mycogen.com/Silage for additional income over feed cost calculators.
1Dann, H. M., et al. 2014. Evaluation of lower-starch diets for lactating Holstein dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 97(11): 7151–7161.
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Kathleen Emery is the Wisconsin Dairy Nutritionist for Mycogen Seeds and has been assisting customers with corn silage feeding in this role since 2006. Previously, she was a practicing dairy veterinarian in southwest Wisconsin for 11 years. She completed a Residency in Production Medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002. She lives in Verona, Wis.
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