The 2013 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Sympsoium will be held February 5-6 in Gainesville, Florida. Progressive Dairyman recently reached out to several presenters and asked them to provide a sneak peek of their upcoming presentations. Michael Ballou, Texas Tech University Topic: Enhancing calf immunity through nutrition Q. Why is this topic important?
Q. What do you hope attendees will take away from your presentation?
BALLOU: Plane of milk nutrition, specific fat sources, probiotics, prebiotics and hyper-immune egg proteins can all influence disease resistance of calves. The attendees will be presented with nutritional applications that reduce the incidences of infectious diseases.
Luis Rodriguez, Zinpro Co.
Topic: The economics of profit in California dairies
Q. Why is this topic important?
RODRIGUEZ: We will review real economic trends of California dairies. We look at the data from different angles and analyze which dairies are the most profitable.
Q. What do you hope attendees will take away from your presentation?
RODRIGUEZ: Attendees can learn which trends are important and which ones are not. They can use this information to look ahead and make the changes necessary to stay profitable over time.
Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin
Topic: Alternatives to corn for dairy rations
Q. Why is this topic important?
SHAVER: Because of very high corn prices these days, dairy nutritionists are looking for alternative carbohydrate energy sources to include in rations to feed their clients' dairy cows.
Q. What do you hope attendees will take away from your presentation?
SHAVER: While alternative energy sources to corn do exist, depending upon carbohydrate composition, i.e. starch versus digestible fiber versus sugar, lactation performance and feed efficiency can be influenced by partial replacement of corn in dairy cattle diets.
Monitoring feed cost per unit ration dry matter, dry matter intake, total feed cost per cow, milk yield, composition and component yields, feed efficiency and income over feed costs are all important variables to monitor when altering corn feeding amounts because of the high starch content of corn.
Bill Weiss, Ohio State University
Topic: Feeding dairy cows in today's economy
Q. Why is this topic important?
WEISS: Feed costs comprise the largest single expense on a dairy farm and often exceeds 50 percent of the cost of producing milk. Controlling feed costs has always been important for dairy farm profitability but because feedstuffs are at or near historic high prices, it is more important than ever.
The goal of feed cost control is not to minimize feed costs but to maximize income over feed costs. A cheap diet that reduces milk yield or milk components usually ends up costing more than a good diet.
Herd structure, ingredient selection, diet formulation goals or objectives, and feed wastage or shrink directly impact income over feed costs and all these should be monitored, evaluated and altered when necessary.
Q. What do you hope attendees will take away from your presentation?
WEISS: Minimize the number of ‘non-productive’ animals in your herd by keeping dry periods at less than 60 days and growing heifers so that they calve at 22 to 24 months old.
Use computer programs to follow ingredient prices and purchase feeds that are "bargains" (i.e., feeds that provide a package of nutrients at lower than market-average prices). Group cows so that diets can be formulated more precisely with lower safety factors.
Avoid excessive overformulation (feeding too much mineral or protein just to make sure you are not deficient). Make silage correctly and protect it because it is really expensive now. Protect all your feeds from weather damage and other environmental insults that reduce its nutritional value.
The feed you waste or lose costs exactly the same as the feed actually consumed by your cows. PD
Emily Caldwell
Editor
Progressive Dairyman
