With the current economic climate, more and more dairy farmers are often advised that the best remedy is to increase the efficiency with which they use their feeds, but is higher feed efficiency always a good thing?

In dairy cows, feed efficiency refers to the pounds of milk produced per pound of dry matter consumed, or in simpler terms, how efficiently dairy cows can convert consumed nutrients into products such as milk, muscle, fat and calves. Following the old adage “more is better,” many producers have just focused on maximizing their cows’ DMI (dry matter intake) and hoped for the best in terms of efficiency.

Today, it is financial efficiency that really counts, and that means as concentrate (corn and soy) prices increase, we should be trying to make the most of cheaper high-fiber feeds, especially forages. Therefore, feed efficiency should not be a goal in its own right but in a given situation and feeding strategy. Then increased feed efficiency can be looked at with beneficial impact on production. The efficient use of feeds should always be the goal. This means looking at forage quality and nutritional applications.

Forage quality
Plan for and make the highest quality forage possible. High-quality forage will be more digestible, and you will be able to feed more of it. Rumen health and productivity will be improved with the use of high-quality forages. This will minimize the importation of nutrients onto the farm in the form of feed. By using high-quality forage, you can get the most protein, energy and other nutrients out of your forages to reduce the need for commodities such as corn and soybean meal. This can also maximize the use of the nutrients brought onto the farm in the form of fertilizer.

Nutrient excretion
Have forages analyzed and ask the feed company how often they test nutrient specs on their ingredients. Feed ingredients can vary widely, and that variation should be accounted for. Make sure you feed accurately. Use feeding management software, which can measure the amount of error in feeding for each ingredient. If there is an error in feeding, cows can get an inconsistent diet from day to day, and DMI and production will be quite variable.

Tailored ration formulation
Precision feeding describes the mathematical approach to ration formulations that reduces nutrient excretion and feed costs. Through a custom feeding approach, dairy operations are able to utilize nitrogen, meet amino acid requirements, sustain consistent microbial growth and balance intestinal digestibility. Nutritionists should keep an open mind to new technologies that allow them to more closely tailor the diet to the cows’ requirements.

Nutritional applications
Urea is so rapidly available in the rumen that it’s all gone within 15 to 45 minutes. One option to alleviate this problem is non-protein nitrogen products. These products are specifically coated to ensure the non-protein nitrogen are available well after initial feeding. With these products, the nutritionist can actually pull some other protein source, such as soybean meal or corn gluten meal, out of the diet. Nutritionists have also found that they can lower the total crude protein of the diet since the increased microbial protein is more highly digestible.

In a recent literary review, Normand St.-Pierre and Mike Van de Haar described the rumen’s utilization of dietary protein as only 30 percent efficient. That means that only 30 percent of the nitrogen fed to cows ends up as tissue or in milk protein. The remainder is excreted.

Microbial protein is best suited to meet the cow’s amino acid requirements, allowing her to make milk, develop a fetus and build milk protein more efficiently. Studies have shown that rumen bugs’ nitrogen requirements can be met more consistently when fed a proper form of controlled-release nitrogen, thus the cow can be fed better and more precisely to meet her amino acid requirements. This can also assist with nitrogen utilization, converting more of the feed she eats into microbial protein and allowing the cow to transfer more of that into the growth of tissue or fetus or to make milk protein, instead of excreting the nitrogen on the ground.

With the current economy, dairy producers need to examine their feed management and nutritional applications to sustain profitability. By using good quality forage, limiting nutrient excretion and using a tailored ration formulation, producers can cut back on losses and keep their production running more efficiently.

Dairy operations should also work with their nutritionist to formulate alternative feed ingredients that can be used as a tool in dairy diets, allowing choice and flexibility during formulation, impacting rumen efficiency and health and thus resulting in potential cost savings. This organizational agility is of paramount importance to success. PD

Sylvie Andrieu
Alltech European
Technical Ruminant
Manager
sandrieu@alltech.com