Dairy Nutrition
Milk prices may be finding stability, but rising feed costs and plentiful global milk supplies could put more pressure on dairy margins heading into 2027.
Harvest moves fast, but slowing down to focus on packing can pay off by protecting feed quality and reducing losses throughout the year.
New thinking on forage particle size suggests the goal isn’t simply getting cows to chew more. It’s helping them spend more time where rumen health may benefit most: lying down.
At Bomaz Farms, higher corn silage chop heights are turning heads in the field. But for the Zwald family, it’s a carefully managed forage strategy built around balancing tonnage with high-quality feed.
Kernel processing isn’t a “set it and forget it” type of step. It’s a moving target that can determine how well corn silage performs in the bunk all year long.
The best corn silage starts with the right harvest call. A closer look at moisture, maturity and management decisions can help protect feed quality.
Higher dietary starch reduced methane emissions, but individual cows remained consistently high or low emitters, suggesting biology may play a larger role than previously thought.
Not all fat supplements work the same way, and understanding the role of individual fatty acids can help nutritionists fine-tune fat supplementation for each herd
Hot, humid weather can change how mineral ingredients behave, creating challenges for feed mills and nutritionists managing summer rations.
Lower corn and soybean meal prices are giving dairy producers a chance to lock in feed costs and protect margins, even as milk markets face continued pressure.
High-oleic soybeans are helping this Wisconsin dairy turn homegrown feed into lower costs, higher butterfat and greater control over its operation.
Nutrition is playing a bigger role in heat stress management, with yeast, chromium and betaine stepping up as three tools to help ease the impact.
Before adding another product to a nutrition program, you should first define the problem you are trying to solve, understand how the additive works, review the supporting evidence and determine whether the economics make sense.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a powerful tool for organizing and analyzing dairy data, but nutritionists say it still is not ready to take over one of the most important decisions on the farm.
Nutritionists are taking a closer look at high-oleic soybeans as farms look for ways to manage milk fat, feed costs and more homegrown ingredients in the ration.
A late first cutting can reduce forage quality across the entire season, making timing one of the most important calls in spring alfalfa management.
Corn silage performance comes down to a handful of decisions in the field and at the bunk that ultimately show up in how cows eat and how much they produce.
While global production climbed in 2025, the latest Alltech survey highlights a diverging landscape of North American contraction and rapid commercialization in Africa and Asia.
Feed shrink is taking a bite out of profits between storage and the bunk.
Energy balance is only half the battle. Rumen-protected choline provides the essential “shipping crates” needed to clear the liver and prevent post-calving crashes.
Taking time to inspect bunkers, silos and bags now can help catch small issues early.
From close-up diet setup to on-farm treatment decisions, these expert-backed steps help reduce both clinical and subclinical milk fever.
For producers striving to deliver consistent, high-quality colostrum to newborn calves, the most important management window may begin much earlier than previously thought.
A newer pre-fresh strategy is gaining traction across U.S. dairies, offering a way to manage hypocalcemia without relying on acidification.
Emerging research suggests milk fever may be less about calcium deficiency and more about how inflammation and metabolism interact during the transition period.
In Brazil’s driest regions, sorghum silage offers a lower-cost, drought-tolerant alternative.
Boot stage or soft-dough? The timing of triticale harvest can change what your cows get from the feed.