One more meal, one more trip to the feed bunk, one more mouthful of feed – all of these mean more milk – especially for high producing cows at peak production or peak dry matter intake. In a robot barn, one more trip to the bunk means one more opportunity to be milked so the return is even bigger. While I was looking for something else, I ran across a paper by Gustavo Schueneman, with this take-home message, “Assuming diet formulation meets nutrient requirements, dry matter intake (DMI) is clearly the most important factor affecting health, survival, reproduction, and milk yield. The interaction of feed availability at the bunk, space available to rest, social hierarchy (competition for feed and water), and environment determines feeding behavior and DMI.”* In the live presentation, he summed it up, “How can we get one more meal?”
Dry matter intake is a result of the number of meals a cow eats in a day, the duration of each meal, how fast she can consume the feed, and how much gut fill she has at each meal. Feed availability, fiber digestibility, and cow comfort affect each of those variables..
Feed Availability
Feed availability may be the most obvious part of this equation. Feed availability includes the total feed, feeding frequency, and pushing up feed.
Feeding for 6% refusal results in 50 minutes more eating time per day than feeding for 3% refusal.* More refused feed in a robot barn also means that feed delivery has less impact on cow traffic. Consistent feed availability will result in smaller meals, and smaller meals result in higher dry matter intake.
Delivering feed twice daily results in 10 minutes more eating time per cow per day as compared to feeding once a day.*
Pushing up feed 4 times per day results in 25 minutes more eating time per day as compared to pushing once daily.* Remember that the purpose of pushing up feed is to make sure that a cow can get a full meal, as quickly as possible, when she comes to the bunk. The last feed pushed up before refusals are discarded should be similar to the first feed delivered from the mixer. Consider consolidating refusals in part of the bunk at the last pushup so cows can get a full mouth and a full meal without reaching.
Try to keep total mixed ration within reach of cows for at least 22 hours per day. Within reach means she can stick her nose into a pile of feed. Stretching her neck to lick pieces of corn cob from the floor is not within reach.
Fiber Digestibility
Quality forage is the key, especially in robot barns. To some extent, and for a price, it is possible to replace nutrients that are missing in lower quality forages. But there is no way to compensate for reduced dry matter intake associated with higher fiber forages. And, in a robot barn, there is no way to compensate for slower passage of higher fiber forages. Quality forages, which pass through the cow quickly, stimulate appetite to make her want to get out of her stall and go back to the bunk, and back to the robot.
Cow Comfort
For some herds, improving cow comfort is the greatest opportunity to improve dry matter intake. A cow will sacrifice eating time before she will sacrifice lying time. If the supply of comfortable, well bedded stalls is limited, a cow may walk away from the bunk to make sure she gets a chance to lie down. Be aware of areas where stalls are not used due to lack of shade, lack of bedding, or lack of space. Consider how dominant cows might keep timid cows from getting a full meal. Think about seasonal fly control and air movement around feeding and resting areas. 3 minutes of lost resting time results in 1 minute of lost eating time.*
Managing dry matter intake is a key to frequent milking visits and top production in your robot barn. Each member of your team has an important role in maximizing dry matter intake. Cow Corner can help you find ways to remove barriers which prevent higher dry matter intake, more frequent meals, and more frequent milking.
*TRANSITION COW MANAGEMENT: SOLUTIONS FOR DRY MATTER INTAKE TO ENHANCE HEALTH, CYCLICITY AND REPRODUCTION Gustavo M. Schuenemann1 , Bernardo T. Menichetti2 , and Juan M. Piñeiro3 schuenemann.5@osu.edu 1Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 43210 2 Inter-Ag Nutrition Services, South Solon, Ohio 43153 3Department of Animal Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Amarillo, Texas 79106
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