There will be periods where milk prices are low or feed prices are high. During these difficult times, dairy farmers need to seek out opportunities to improve the efficiency of nutrient delivery to their cows.
Consistency Is Key For Optimal Performance
Consistency is one area where cows will respond positively regardless if you are harvesting for ingredients or formulating diets.
Rumen bacteria will respond positively with improved efficiency to a consistent, high quality diet.
One of the main jobs of farmers is to ensure that the "pools" of nutrient required by bacteria are kept full.
If one of the pool gets low, the bacterial will not operate at maximum efficiency, hence affecting the delivery of nutrients to the cows.
Prices of feed are getting higher these days especially protein feeds. Moreover, they are not well utilised by the cow.
Hence, it is crucial to balance protein fractions to make sure that is enough ammonia and amino acids available in the rumen at all times for the bacteria to use as well as sufficient amino acids (bypass protein) that flows directly into the intestine for the cows to absorb.
Rumen Ammonia
Usually, farmers will struggle with fiber digesters.
Rumen ammonia levels fluctuates widely even in well balanced diets fed to the cows.
Using controlled-release urea product will help to reduce variance in the rumen ammonia curve.
Fiber-digesting bacteria will benefit from the consistent supply of ammonia, allowing them to break down fiber and grow microbial protein more efficiently.
Due to controlled-release urea being such a concentrated protein source, a quarter pound of it can replace about 1.3 pounds of soybean meal.
The extra space created in the diet can be filled with forages such as cereal crops, hay or silage.
Conclusion
In conclusion, farmers should try their best to provide consistently high quality nutrients as well as delivered consistently to the rumen bacteria.