Consumption trends are driving the milk industry like never before. Weight loss drugs, body building supplements, diets for the elderly and the need to maintain muscle mass in an aging population. A proactively engaged consumer (Prosumer) is demanding a diversity of food options to match environmental concerns, animal welfare, ethnic diets, etc. The influence of social media on consumption is pervasive on the food shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores. Visiting a grocery store in a large city is more like a safari — a mixture of entertainment and storytelling — than about the actual nutritional needs of the consumer.
Milk processors have struggled to keep up, and the milk shelves have never been fuller of a more diverse range of options. The range of cheese, yogurt and ice-cream labels would challenge the average recent graduate of the food science programs of our best Universities.
What can dairy producers do?
1. Genetics: The recent and dramatic advances in reported milk components in the U.S. dairy herd has been nothing short of extraordinary. Cobank reports the 2024 U.S. butterfat levels reached 4.23%, and proteins are now at 3.29% — a record by historical standards. This has been driven by better genetic selection, particularly in Holsteins, and feeding and managing those genetics for optimal performance. It is reasonable to expect further improvements in bovine genetics will continue these trends over the coming decade.
2. Feeding for milk components: Traditionally, nutritionists have used least-cost feed formulation software in order to achieve the most cost-effective milk production. Often decisions were taken based on single ingredient digestibility and not on how a diet affects rumen fermentation, ruminal biomass or the absorption of those nutrients in the lower gastrointestinal tract. The use of bypass proteins and anionic salts have shown what is possible when ingredients can avoid degradation by rumen micro-organisms. The use of yeast cultures is another approach, enhancing rumen fermentation of fibers and acidity (pH) to produce more microbial protein, and eventually increased milk components.
3. Precision feeding for milk components: The last 10 years have seen an explosion in the use of encapsulated ingredients to bypass the rumen, allowing this concept to go from niche to mainstream. The most obvious example of this has been Adisseo’s Smartamine & Meta-Smart, and protected forms of methionine are now said to be used in over 70% of the top-producing dairy herds. As one New York dairy farmer said to me, “When my nutritionist forgets to put it in the feed, I see the changes in the milk tanks within days.”
Globally, another dozen companies have entered the fray. The new leaders are all looking beyond methionine to a range of nutrients that both increase milk production, milk components and intestinal health. Balchem (Lysine, Choline), Jefo (B-Vitamins, essential oils), ADM, Kemin, Alltech (nonprotein nitrogen) are just some of those leading in this field. The excitement of using microencapsulation is that it allows these feed ingredients to bypass rumen degradation, effectively turning the ruminant into a monogastric. In other words, feeding a cow as though she was a pig.
A demonstration of the scale of excitement around how encapsulation is seen as a game changer is that Jefo recently opened a new $100 million factory in Canada just to meet the needs of their North American customers — focused on delivering combinations of ingredients (Matrix technology) to improve cow health, productivity and fertility.
What’s next?
Artificial intelligence will most likely increase the pace of change in our cow’s nutrition. Understanding how to influence the ruminal microbiota through nutrition, more precisely and in real time, will move science forward. Traditional rumen models such as the artificial rumen simulation systems (e.g. Rusitec), predictive models such as the Cornell CPCPS Model and INRA Systali (PDI) in Europe, are being supplanted by AI-based systems. Equally using sensors in the rumen (digital boluses, Smaxtec) and in-line and individual cow milk sensors (Labby, SomaDetect), will give farmers the ability to see the benefits of delivering nutrition in real time. Feeding precisely means in the right place, in the right form, at the right time. Already Canadian farmers have reported dramatic benefits of encapsulating all of the micronutrients fed to their cows in a single delivery, on milk components, somatic cells and fertility. This will undoubtedly be the future: reimagining all aspects of feeding cows.
When it comes to nutrition, it’s like Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz: “We aren’t in Kansas, anymore!”
