Cattle have a requirement and desire for salt, but many producers have been misled to believe that salt blocks, especially trace mineral salt blocks, provide adequate trace mineral.

Marcus Hollmann, a consultant based in Wisconsin; and Steve Mayo, a consultant assistant based in Idaho, both with Standard Dairy Consultants, use drones to help their dairy clients with feed management and completing TMR audits. 

I recently got a phone call from a nearby dairyman, “Joe,” inquiring if I would give him a second opinion on his rations.

A typical dairy operation manages different animal types (from young heifers to lactating cows), intakes and rations characteristics, resulting in a wide range of feed load sizes.

The use of feed additives in livestock diets is part of many nutritional strategies to help optimize performance, health and the well-being of animals.

Last fall, when cottonseed prices kept shooting higher, dairy producers were pulling the ingredient out of their rations or reducing their inclusion rates. However, prices have since come back down to the same price as seen last spring in 2022.

Heat stress occurs when an animal generates and absorbs more heat than it can dissipate through respiration, sweating or active cooling. Rumination generates large amounts of heat, so when a cow is hot, her first response is typically to eat less feed.