What's your feed shrink?

How much harvested forage or purchased grains and commodities are wasted?  A trailer load of corn grain costs in excess of $8,000, says Bob James, extension dairy scientist at Virginia Tech. Reducing shrink from 10 percent to 5 percent is worth over $400.  Examine the following areas and correct problems that can increase shrink:

• Dry storage.
• Insect and animal damage.
• Spillage during loading of mixer wagons.
• Overloading the mixer wagon.

For more details about this topic and other aspects of feeding management, check out the full article in the November-December 2011 issue of the Virginia Tech Dairy Pipeline.

Also, see “Feed shrink may be robbing you blind.”

Source: Virginia Tech Dairy Pipeline

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