Would you be surprised if I told you it was possible to increase milk production by stretching your corn supplies by re-evaluating how fine your corn is ground?

There is a possibility that your herd is losing milk performance potential due to corn not grounded properly. It is essential to ensure that the corn is grounded sufficiently in order to fully utilise the corn.

Studies showed that there is up to a 6.1 pound milk production advantage by feeding finely ground corn versus cracked corn. The response on the farm will very much depend on how coarse the current corn is being fed.

Regardless if you are purchasing corn from a vendor or storing it in the farm, ensure that it is ground fine enough prior to feeding to cows.

When evaluating corn, the goal is to aim for an average particle size of 750 - 850 microns. Microns or particle size of the corn can be easily measured on farm.

In order to evaluate whether the corn is ground enough, purchase a hand-crank flour sifter. Firstly, weigh 10 ounces of ground corn. Next, sift out the sample until all the particles that can get through have done so. Weigh the remaining particles on the screen. Now, compare the weight of the material that remains on the screen with the information below to see if your corn is grounded sufficiently:

• 1 ounce = 750 microns = excellent

• 2 ounces = 800 microns = excellent

• 3 ounces = 900 microns = good

• 4 ounces = 1,000 microns = fair

• 5 ounces = 1,200 microns = very poor

• >5 ounces = >1,200 microns = disaster

For a more precise evaluation, it is encouraged to send the samples of ground corn to laboratory.