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Dairy cows need a tremendous amount of energy; a dairy cow weighing 1,400 lb and producing 70 lb/day of milk with 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein needs about 33 Mcal/day of net energy for lactation (NEL). Although the units are somewhat different, this is about 26 times more energy than for a person …
This article is part of our series of original articles on emerging featured topics. Please check here to see other articles in this series.
This article is part of our series of original articles on emerging featured topics. Please check here to see other articles in this series.
Forage sorghum is a warm-season annual that is used for silage production and fed to dairy cattle in many regions of the United States. Compared with corn plants, it uses water more efficiently and is more heat- and drought-tolerant, which is important in areas where irrigation is limited or there is a greater chance of drought. …
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The dairy calf begins its life as a simple stomached animal, yet spends most of its life as a ruminant whose digestion depends largely on fermentation. The change from one digestive method to another is a process that is called rumen development. A dairy cow has a four-part stomach system consisting of the reticulum, rumen, …
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The majority of the health problems and associated veterinary costs for dairy cattle occur within the first 30 days of lactation. Management and feeding of the dry cow can have major implications on disease risk for dairy cows at calving. Adequate intakes of energy, fiber, protein, and certain minerals, especially calcium and those that affect calcium …
en Español: Evaluación de forrajes: Vadeando a través de un Mar de Números
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Forage analysis reports from a commercial feed testing laboratory often can contain more than 70 potential lab analyses. All those numbers have value in specific situations, but rarely, if ever, would one want or need all 70 results for a single sample. Some …
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The dairy cow has a great ability to achieve high levels of feed intake relative to body size while maintaining a rumen fermentation environment within certain physiological limits. These limits facilitate a favorable symbiotic relationship between the ruminant host and rumen microorganisms. The ruminant host should provide the microorganisms an environment of limited oxygen, relatively neutral …
En Español: Minimizando el Riesgo de Cetosis en el Ganado Lechero
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Although most cases of ketosis occur in fresh dairy cows, feeding practices and cow health prepartum can predispose cows to experiencing ketosis after calving. Most cases of primary ketosis occur within the first 2 weeks of calving, and even most secondary ketosis (occurring after …
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Most software used to formulate diets requires inputs for a specific dairy cow. For example, a diet might be formulated for a third-lactation, 1,450-lb cow producing 80 lb/day of milk with 3.8% fat and 3.1% protein, but most cows in the United States are housed and fed in groups. The nutrient specification goals, such as the …
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Dairy heifers represent a large expense of resources including feed, buildings, and labor, yet they return no money to the dairy farm until they calve. Our overall management of these heifers must be handled in a manner that yields the best quality heifer, with the highest potential to be productive and profitable, with a minimal cost …
