Winter Feed Efficiency – USA Lessons

Through a travel fellowship provided by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, I have recently had the opportunity to travel to North America to learn more about dairy farming systems in the USA and Canada. The general expectation I had before making the trip was to see high cost, total confinement systems based on high levels of concentrate feeding.  

However, the lasting impression I gained from visiting farms and universities in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, New York and Pennsylvania is that the principles of efficient winter feeding in N. Ireland are similar to those in the USA. Many of the messages on feed efficiency from internationally recognized Professors of Extension such as Dr Randy Shaver of the University of Wisconsin and Dr Larry Chase of Cornell University in New York State are similar to those being given locally in N. Ireland by Cafre Advisers. These include:

The work of Dr Larry Chase at Cornell University in New York State has shown that high yielding dairy herds can maintain average daily herd milk yields of over 40 litres of milk on diets containing 63 percent forage. This level of forage in the diet is similar to the Greenmount Future Herd fed a combination of high quality grass silage and forage maize to achieve daily milk from forage of 10 litres. High quality silage leads to profitable milk production both in the US and N. Ireland!

While there are many very large herds in the US with thousands of cows, the average herd size in the Eastern States of the US are similar to those in N. Ireland. In New York State, the average herd size is 112 cows, in Wisconsin State; the average size is 96 cows according to the latest USDA data.

The message to farmers in Wisconsin feeding cows using TMR systems is similar to the Cafre message – where there is a large spread in calving dates and thus milk yields, cows need to be batched into at least two groups to achieve acceptable levels of winter feed efficiency.

For optimum winter feed efficiency, the level of feed in the feeder wagon should be aimed at the lowest yielding cows in the group. The spread of milk yields in the group should be determined by the maximum level of meal feeding possible in the milking parlour. At a feed rate per litre of 0.45 kg above the TMR ration production level, and with a maximum feed rate in the parlour of 10 kg per cow per day, the milk yield spread in a group should not be more than 22 litres.

On the 2500 cow Kinnaird farm in the Green Bay area of Eastern Wisconsin, samples of the forages to be fed the next day are analyzed for dry matter content every day to adjust the ration specifications for feeding the following day. Data is transferred from the farms ration formulation computer package to the diet feeder weigh cell controller using a memory stick. The loading shovel operator then follows the instructions on the weigh cell controller screen to load the quantity required of each ingredient in turn for each of the several different cow diets.

This level of daily precision is probably not appropriate for 100 cow herds in N. Ireland. However, farmers here should regularly monitor dietary intakes at least monthly, or ideally weekly, to ensure that cows are fed efficiently.

The recent welcome rise in milk prices will probably encourage dairy farmers to increase feeding to push out some extra milk this winter. The response to extra feeding will depend on the current feed levels and herd genetics. Where extra concentrate is added to the ration, milk yield responses should be closely monitored to ensure that an adequate financial return is achieved. If and when the milk price falls however, it is crucial that this extra feed is removed to maintain future profitability!

Many N. Ireland dairy farmers have invested in computerized milking parlour feeding systems in recent years. Such systems provide real savings in operator time and effort during milking and should also provide consistent control of individual cow concentrate feeding. However, the experience of Cafre Development Advisers is that many farmers installing such systems have not received adequate training in the use of the computer software. It is a critically important that appropriate feeding parameters are set according to stage of lactation, yield and forage for profitable and efficient winter feeding.

Cafre Dairying Development Advisers will be providing farmer training programmes in conjunction with the main milking parlour and computer herd management software providers this winter. Contact you local Development Adviser for more details.

I would like to thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for funding my trip and Cafre for providing the time for my travel.