Will Cordes, Ration Analyst

With today's low milk price, many customers have asked their consultants what they can do to save money and fine tune their dairy rations. At ANC, every time we rework a ration, we check to see if there is some way we can make it more cost effective and still continue to meet the producer's goals at the same time! This includes substituting in an ingredient that does the same thing as the current one, only more cost effectively. Each ingredient has a purpose in the diet, or it wouldn't be added. We do our best to keep up with changing prices, and it helps if you work closely with your feed mill and consultant to let us know what ingredients are available, and at what price.

For example, some customers have asked if we can eliminate roasted beans or Soy-Plus, and just feed soybean meal. Although soybean meal is less costly, roasted beans and Soy-Plus provide added fat for energy, along with a heat treated protein source that provides more bypass protein. We all know that early lactation cows are in a negative energy balance, and having additional fat sources in a protein blend will help combat this. Also of importance is making sure that cows reach their potential for peak milk production and hold it. Research shows that cows failing to reach peak potential have reduced production throughout their lactation. Cows that peak and do not hold can indicate an energy deficiency. We can achieve higher milk persistency by keeping a consistent feeding program and adding more energy to the diet, along with frequent ration balancing.

Many customers have, for example, added bi-carb to the diets to help with rumen buffering. We do not recommend removing bi-carb unless the diet is adequate in both particle length and moisture, and proper cud chewing is taking place. Saving money by removing this and other additives may be more costly due to lost production, decreased feed efficiency, acidosis, or laminitis. An exception may be an ingredient that was added to the diet for short-term reasons. We, in the ration department, try to do our best to communicate with consultants as to when such ingredients could be removed. You could help us by talking to your consultant on the necessity of such ingredients, and we may well remove them.

We have been asked if we can remove Opti-Boost, Micro NRG Plus, or Dairy HP-Bio. Removing these ingredients may save some money now, but herd health problems such as another mastitis case, sore feet, and lower conception rates will cost you far more to correct. We must always look at what we can do in the short-term to positively affect the long-term return. Long term may be 3 months from now or a year from now. If reproductive efficiency is compromised as a result of cutting costs to save money, we will pay for it a year from now! Remember, there are a lot of aspects to the dairy industry that we cannot control, one being the milk price. However, the producer can do a lot to control milk yield and the health of his herd. Don't make a quick decision that may save you money now, but that costs you in the long run!