When it comes to hunting, using the right tool for the job is very important. In some regions of dense vegetation and close-range, a shotgun without a scope can be practical, but imprecise and less effective. If you are looking for more precision, a rifle with a scope may work better. Being a better hunter depends on patience and practice, just like dairy farming.
So, what does this have to do with feeding cows? When it comes to nutrients in the diet, be a scoped rifle not a shotgun. Overfeeding nutrients might match the cow’s requirements for her milk potential but will do so using much more than what she needs, and, consequently, spending much more money. A few years ago, the best practice was to feed expensive diets at or above 18% protein to make sure cows could produce enough milk and not be deficient. But recent research has shown that overfeeding protein can be detrimental not only to your pocket, but in other ways too, such as low reproductive performance due to a “toxic” high nitrogen environment for the early embryos. Feeding fat used to also be another shotgun approach. Years ago, feeding liquid fat or tallow was a strategy to give cows more energy and a nice shining coat. Cows were shiny, but feeding low-quality fats with unknown origin could cause milk fat depression and lower fiber digestibility in the rumen. Remember when 3.5% milk fat used to be good? Those times are gone.
But what about the scoped rifle? Can we be more precise when feeding cows? One approach is to feed lower protein diets supplemented with the correct levels of amino acids. These amino acids can come either from feeds like blood meal, heat treated soybeans or other treated protein feeds, or from synthetic sources of purified amino acids that can bypass the rumen bacteria, being precisely released in the intestine where it is absorbed. Feeding lower protein results in less wasted nitrogen in the body, and a lower potential to harm embryos with that toxic environment. Less protein with amino acid balancing is also more cost efficient as bringing a diet from 18% protein to 16% with treated or synthetic amino acids usually has little or no cost difference.
When feeding fat in diets, the same approach applies. The old idea of feeding some liquid fat, tallow or grease has now switched to the much more precise feeding of specific levels of palm, stearic and rumen protected oleic fats, which have less impact on fiber digestibility, minimal effects on milk fat depression and may even improve reproductive performance. In the current milk economy, where 1lb of milk fat is worth more than $3.00, feeding the correct sources and levels of fat can be an impactful decision.
So, when it comes to feeding cows, be precise like a scoped rifle. Avoid wasting money overfeeding nutrients and be mindful when working towards your profitability and animal health goals.
Andre Pereira is an independent consultant with GPS Dairy Consulting, LLC. He uses innovative technology to help improve management practices and workflow to create high efficiency of production with a focus on integrity, transparency, collaboration, and respect. He has extensive knowledge and experience with amino acid balancing and optimizing rations.
