Dairy/Forage Nutrition Archive
GPS Collars Track Cattle On Range
In 1981, Doug Johnson began studying the way grazing animals move around their pastures. Twenty years later, he added a new twist. We started using GPS...
Diet Corn Silage
Boosting corn silage levels in rations has proved to be a great strategy for pushing dairy heifer weights at calving to 1,300 lbs or more and age at first...
Dry Distillers Grains Raise Digestibility, Feed Intake
Feeding a dry distillers grains supplement with smooth bromegrass increased total dry matter digestibility and feed intake, according to Iowa State University researchers...
Nitrogen Helps Make Bermudagrass More Digestible
Nitrogen fertilizer can increase bermudagrass digestibility, according to a study by researchers at the USDA-ARS Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, GA...
Friendlier Fiber
More than a few dairy producers have experimented with cutting corn silage hybrids higher than normal in an effort to improve digestibility...
Blending Bagged Haylage
Bill Deetz doesn't have enough bunker storage for the 2,500 tons of haylage he annually harvests for his 425-cow dairy near Sugar Creek, OH. So after filling a 1,000-ton bunker silo with first-cutting haylage...
Late-Day Alfalfa Makes More Milk
Alfalfa is higher in total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC) when cut in the afternoon vs. the morning, and produces more milk when fed to dairy cows....
Carbo-Loaded
High-sugar perennial ryegrasses are said to supply more energy to the rumen, converting more of the grass protein to meat and milk. High-sugar grasses...
Slow-Cooked Silage
Corn-silage quality is optimized if the crop remains in storage for three to four months before it's fed, say dairy nutritionists. Corn silage goes through four phases...
Superior Silage
Dairy producers need to do a number of things just right to put the best feed into, and take the best feed out of, their bunker silos. Two Wisconsin dairy families work hard to do just that...
