Feed Management for Dairy Herds
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If you are seeing this message, you made need to upgrade your Flash plugin, or turn on Java Script in your browser, or upgrade your browser itself (Internet Explorer, Firefox) so you can view our videos.Over the last two decades, the average volume of milk produced per cow, has increased from around two and half thousand litres a year to more than 5000 litres. The increase in the milk production can be attributed to three main reasons.
- Genetic breeding - Australia is breeding better cows; they are healthier and produce milk for longer periods of time.
- Better pasture management practises - which has lead to enhanced pastures for cattle.
- Supplementary feeding regimes - this has allowed farmers to quickly and easily optimise milk production.
Dairy cows need a balanced diet to reach their full milk production potential. This can include a combination of forage and supplementation. The correct balance can result in improved health and resilience, as well as increased milk production.
A diet needs to be more than just pastures and needs to be nutritionally
balanced, cost effective and palatable. Achieving this mix may seem complicated
but getting a nutritional advisor to help plan the diet can result in greater
milk production. Cows fed to achieve high daily milk production use
proportionally less feed to maintain themselves and more to produce milk.Pastures are the cheapest source of good quality feed. The only problem is dairy cows cannot consume enough pastures to meet their bodies needs. Feed supplements provide energy, protein, fibres and micronutrients (like vitamins and minerals). These are all important for the cow's fertility and milk production. Using grain diets alone may limit milk production, as too much grain can increase your dairy cow's acidosis risk and too much fibre may reduce your cow's intake. When used in combination with supplementary feeds, good quality hay and grain can be the base of a very high milk production diet.
Developing your cow's appetite should begin before calving. This will help ensure that your herd maintains a healthy feed intake and produces more milk over the whole lactation period. Feeding concentrates pre-calving prepares the rumen for sudden changes in feed quantity and quality after calving. As a result the cow will avoid experiencing appetite-suppressing metabolic problems i.e. milk fever, grass tetany, ketosis, displaced abomasum, acidosis and mastitis.
Ridley's range of supplementary feed for dairy herds has a match for any diet. They provide feeds to match any seasonal conditions, lactation stages and feeding systems. There are 6 different concentrates to choose from DairySure 250, DairySure Total, Dairy Mineral 100, Dairy Macro Protein 25, DairySure Transition, and Performance Plus Pellet. It is important to choose the feed that is best suited to your herd's needs. Providing the right diet will improve your cow's body condition and increase its conception rate. Ridley's nutritionists can visit your property to directly assess your herd's situation, in this way they can draw up a cost effective feeding plan that is suited to your herd's needs.
To learn more about Ridley's feed supplements visit Ridley AgriProducts.
To contact a member of the Ridley's Nutritionist Service team call 1300 66 66 57.
