ACE Expo '99

The importance of good nutrition in order to get top production is hard to dispute. With feed as the biggest expense on most dairies the financial implications of nutrition are large. Where things get tricky is that feeding dairy cows is part science and part art. The more information that we can collect in order to better understand our cows the more we can shift the nutrition and feeding to the science side.

Daily data collection, storage, and evaluation can be made simple with feed scales and computers. At Jones Family Farm daily data is collected and stored for milk production, feed intake, and the cost of that feed for each pen of cows on the farm. All feed is weighed as it is delivered and refuse is measured each day. A spread sheet program is used for recording the information and making the calculations for dry matter intake. Milk weights and cow numbers are loaded into the program directly form our herd management software (Dairy Comp 305). With this information calculations for feed cost per cwt and feed efficiencies can be made.

Individual milking pen component information is collected weekly for use in evaluating the herd nutrition and feeding. Weekly monitors evaluate production of fresh and peak cows by lactation and also review fresh cow disease incidences.

Information that is collected is shared using e-mail on a weekly basis with the herd nutritionist and veterinarian for early detection of problems and better communication about changes. Computers have allowed us better insight into the needs of the cows because of the ability to review larger amounts of data more readily.