scholarly journals Feeding Models to Optimize Dairy Feed Rations in View of Feed Availability, Feed Prices and Milk Production Scenarios

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Othman Alqaisi ◽  
Eva Schlecht

In the global dairy production sector, feed ingredient price and availability are highly volatile; they may shape the composition of the feed ration and, in consequence, impact feed cost and enteric methane (CH4) emissions. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of changes in feed ingredients’ prices and feed ingredients’ availability on dairy ration composition, feed cost and predicted methane yield under different levels of milk production. To meet the research aim, a series of multi-period linear programming models were developed. The models were then used to simulate 14 feed rations formulations, each covering 162 months and three dairy production levels of 10, 25 and 35 kg milk/d, representing a total of 6804 feed rations altogether. Across milk production levels, the inclusion of alfalfa hay into the feed rations declined from 55% to 38% when daily milk production increased from 10 to 35 kg, reflecting the cows’ increased energy requirements. At a daily milk production level of 35 kg, CH4 production (per kg milk) was 21% and 53% lower than in average and low milk producing cows, respectively, whereas at 10 kg of milk production the potential to reduce CH4 production varied between 0.6% and 5.5% (average = 3.9%). At all production levels, a reduction in CH4 output was associated with an increase in feed costs. Overall, and considering feeding scenarios in low milk producing cows, feed cost per kg milk was 30% and 37% higher compared to that of average and high milk production, respectively. The feed ration modeling approach allows us to account for the interaction between feed ingredients over time, taking into consideration volatile global feed prices. Overall, the model provides a decision-making tool to improve the use of feed resources in the dairy sector.

Author(s):  
Ching Tat Lai ◽  
Alethea Rea ◽  
Leon R Mitoulas ◽  
Jacqueline C Kent ◽  
Karen Simmer ◽  
...  

AimTo determine the impact of the pumping regimes of women with preterm infants on the daily milk production, and on the short-term rate of milk synthesis during early lactation to support evidence-based recommendations for optimising milk production.MethodsMothers of preterm infants (n=25) recorded start time, finish time and expression volumes from every breast expression on days 10, 15–20 postpartum.ResultsExpressing more often than five times per day did not result in a significant increase in daily milk production. Milk volume per expression per breast increased for intervals between expressions of between 2and6 hours then reached a plateau when the interval between expression was 7 hours or longer. The short-term rate of milk synthesis decreased as the interval between expressions increased until about 7.5 hours at which point it begun to increase (p value associated with interval between expressions^2<0.001).ConclusionThe strong inverse association between the short-term rate of milk synthesis and the interval between expressions for intervals up to 7 hours suggest that the maximum interval between expressions should be 7 hours. Data suggest that, on average, the mothers should express at least five times a day to maximise daily milk production. Considering inter-individual variation, determination of an individual mother’s maximum interval between expressions that does not compromise the short-term rate of milk synthesis will help to optimise daily milk production while minimising the demands on the mother’s time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. e363101421880
Author(s):  
Bruno Alexander Nunes Silva ◽  
Leonardo David Tuffi Santos ◽  
Dante Pazzanese Duarte Lanna ◽  
Carlos Junior Kippert ◽  
Paulo Henrique Reis Furtado Campos ◽  
...  

Feed additives can be used as potential strategies to enhance the efficiency of nutrient utilization by the sow can impact on the reduction of feed costs and in addition improve sow and litter health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the supplementation of virginiamycin (VM) in diets for gestating and lactating sows over two consecutive productive cycles on the animals productive and reproductive performance. Sows that received VM showed a lower BW, body protein and energy losses during both lactations when compared to control sows (P = 0.001). VM treatment increased (+6%; P = 0.001) piglet weaning weight. The litter daily gain was also influenced (P = 0.001) by the treatments were litters from VM fed sows showed an improved daily gain when compared to control sows (2.61 vs. 2.24 kg d-1 respectively). Average daily milk production improved by 17% (P = 0.001) in the VM sows when compared with the control. Also, an improvement in milk fatty acid profiles were found in sows fed VM. As a conclusion, we can infer that the constant use of VM in the diets of sows during gestation and lactation improves both sow and litter performance.


Dairy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Zelin Li ◽  
Long Cheng ◽  
Brendan Cullen

Precision livestock farming (PLF) supports the development of sustainable dairy production. The sensors used in PLF provide valuable information for farm management, but they must be validated to ensure the accuracy. The goal of this study was to validate and use the RumiWatch sensor (RWS; Itin+Hoch GmbH, Liestal, Switzerland) to differentiate prehension bites, eating chews, mastication chews and rumination chews in pressure-based system. Twenty cows were used for 14 days to provide a validation dataset. The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) was adopted to test the concordance between the RumiWatch sensor and video observation. The RumiWatch sensor performed well in counting prehension bites (CCC = 0.98), eating chews (CCC = 0.95) and rumination chews (CCC = 0.96), while it showed an acceptable concordance in counting mastication chews with video observation (CCC = 0.77). Moderate correlations were found between eating chews and daily milk production: daily milk production (kg/day) = 0.001151 × eating chews (chews/day) − 11.73 (R2 = 0.31; standard error (SE) = 8.88; p = 0.011), and between mastication chews and daily milk production: daily milk production (kg/day) = 0.001935 × mastication chews (chews/day) + 2.103 (R2 = 0.34; SE = 8.70; p = 0.007). Overall, the results indicated that the RumiWatch sensor can be confidently used to quantify and differentiate prehension bites, eating chews and rumination chews; in addition, ingestive behaviours explained up to 34% of the variation in milk production.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
RATNESH K CHOUDHARY ◽  
A Saran ROY ◽  
N K SINGH3 ◽  
SANJAY KUMAR ◽  
RAUSHAN K SINGH

An On-Farm Trial was conducted on 24 lactating crossbred cows for assessment of feeding formaldehyde treated mustard cake (bypass protein) on milk production and economic analysis of lactating cow. Cows were divided into three groups having 8 cows each, treatments were farmers’ practice (FP); (Control): The lactating animals under this group were fedas per the feeding schedule of the farmers (5 kg. dry roughage as rice straw + 6 hrs grazing as local grass and 4 kg. commercial concentrates), T1: The lactating animals under this group were fed as per farmers practicewith 12% mustard cake of total diet was provided to the cow by replacing the same amount of commercial concentrates andT2: The lactating animals under this group were fed as per farmers practicewith 12% formaldehyde treated mustard cake of total diet was provided to the cow by replacing same amount of commercial concentrates. The average daily milk yield of lactating cows under FP, T1 and T2 was 8.58, 8.82 and 9.85 kg per cow, respectively. Differences between FP and T2 were significant. The daily increase in milk yield was 1.27 kg and 1.03 kg in cows fed T2diet over the cows fed FP and T1diet, respectively. The B: C ratios for FP, T1 and T2 groups were 2.6, 3.0 and 3.3, respectively. The feed cost reduced in T2 group by Rs. 8.64 and increased milk production by 1.27 kg in respect to FP group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 20-20
Author(s):  
Micheal J Brouk

Abstract Dairy farm margin has continued to be a challenge for the dairy industry. Several years of challenging milk prices with limited relief from high feed costs and increasing production cost have continued to erode the net margin of US dairy farms. As dairy producers continue to operate in a challenging economic environment, discoveries are being made in various farm efficiencies to improve farm margin. Increased management intensity on all aspects of the dairy farm is resulting in the discover of and improvement of many individual efficiency factors. Key areas of economic efficiency include feed, animal reproduction, replacement animals, labor and resource allocation. Often the answer to improved efficiency involves more than just reduced production cost, but also in the improvement of production to reduce the cost per unit of milk produced. Identifying and focusing on the important factors that can improve overall farm efficiency will enable producers to weather the economic challenges. For dairy producers, one of the complications is the biology of the dairy cow and understanding how to utilize the biology correctly for improved efficiency of milk production. Improved efficiency of milk production requires attention to details in many areas of the dairy. Identifying the correct areas of deficiencies, establishing corrective plans of action and then careful evaluation of the impact of changes are all key to the overall success of improving dairy farm margins and efficiencies.


Author(s):  
M. Khomyn ◽  
I. Kovalchuk ◽  
S. Kropyvka ◽  
M. Tsap

The aim of research was to study the effect of different amounts of cobalt citrate produced by nanotechnology on biochemical processes in cows, their productivity and biological value of milk in the first two months of lactation. To achieve this goal the subsequent problems have been solved. We investigated the effect of different amounts of cobalt citrate on biochemical parameters of blood and milk of cows and controlled their average daily yield. The experiment has been conducted in 3 groups of cows (5 cows each) of Ukrainian black and white dairy cattle, analogue by body weight (590–620 kg), performance (6,5–6,8 thousand kg of milk per past lactation) and lactation (3–4 lactation). Unlike the control cows, animals experimental (ІІ) group for two months were fed by mineral supplements in the form of cobalt citrate in an amount of 19 mg Co/kg of dry matter of diet and research (ІІІ) – cobalt citrate in an amount of 34 mg Co/kg of dry matter of diet. Duration of cobalt citrate feeding of cows of research groups was 2 months. In all groups of cows the samples of venous blood were taken in preparation for feeding additives period and during 60 day of additives feeding period in order to determine the concentration of total protein, ceruloplasmin, sialic acids, hexoses bound to proteins and activity of amino transferases. The milk production has been controlled in days of sampling with the definition of daily milk yield per cow and taking an average sample for the determination of milk fat, protein, lactose, inorganic phosphorus and calcium. It has been established that the inclusion in the diet of cows of experimental (ІІ) group of mineral supplements contributed to an increase in animal blood total protein content by 11.9% (P < 0.05), inorganic phosphorus by 15.3% (P < 0.05) and hexoses bound protein by 8.8% (P < 0.05). Under these conditions milk content of inorganic phosphorus increased by 5.6% (P < 0.05) and average daily milk production increased by 4.5%. The use of mineral additives in third experimental group of animals within two months contributed to an increase in blood ceruloplasmin content by 5.1% (P < 0.05) and hexoses bound protein by 11.5% (P < 0.01). Mineral supplements promote 5.4% raise of average daily milk production and increase it to the lactose content by 0.10% (in absolute).


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adalberto Rosendo Ponce ◽  
Adrián Sánchez Gómez ◽  
Ángel Ríos Ortíz ◽  
Glafiro Torres Hernández ◽  
Carlos Miguel Becerril Pérez

Milk production under grazing conditions is carried out in the intertropical region of hot climates due to its low production cost. The Tropical Milking criollo breed (LT) is characterized by its hardiness in this region, and its high milk quality and cheese yield. Grazing supplementation can increase milk production; however, it can also change its chemical composition. The effect of supplementation with commercial feed in LT cows was evaluated concerning the quantity and physicochemical traits of their milk by lactation. The treatments used were feeding based only on grazing para grass (Brachiaria mutica) and grazing plus 1 kg supplementation with 20 % protein commercial feed for every 5 kg of milk produced daily. The daily milk production per cow increased from 5.82 ± 0.18 to 7.10 ± 0.18 kg due to supplementation. Dry matter intake was similar in both treatments. The concentration of fat, protein, lactose, non-fat, and total solids did not suffer modifications (p > 0.05), but the daily production of each component per cow increased in animals supplemented due to the multiplicative effect of the amount of milk. The number of calvings affected milk production, fat, and ureic nitrogen in milk, and somatic cell count (p ≤ 0.05). It can be concluded that the supplementation used in this study was enough to increase milk production by 22 %, without modifying its chemical composition.


1973 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
Richard W. Rundell

Dairy farmers, as profit maximizers, are constantly striving to expand the income producing ability of their dairy herds. As managers of their business, their direct concern is to attain high production per cow and enhance the average quality of their herd by removal of the unprofitable producers. They are also striving to earn a large income above feed costs, since feed costs comprise 50 percent or more of the costs of production. This value must be high enough to pay for the other costs of production, including a return to capital and operators labor, to return a profit. Proper culling or the identification and subsequent removal of the lower producing cows from a herd is important because of the increased average milk production and the resulting increased income above feed costs.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Ludwiczak ◽  
Joanna Składanowska-Baryza ◽  
Beata Kuczyńska ◽  
Marek Stanisz

The level of production and the physiochemical traits of rabbit milk affect the growth and the mortality of bunnies during lactation. The goal of the study was to analyze the effect of litter size and day of lactation on the quality traits of rabbit milk, milk production, and associative traits. The study was conducted on 32 Hycole does and their litters. The rabbit milk pH ranged from 6.61 to 7.46. The colostrum was characterized by the highest content of total solids (31.54 and 31.80 g kg−1) and fat content (15.73 and 15.9 g kg−1). The milk from the beginning of the lactation was characterized by the highest level of somatic cell count (SCC) (523.67 and 536.57 103 mL−1), which gradually decreased to reach the lowest level on days 17 and 21 of lactation. The daily milk production was greater for does nursing 10 kits per litter compared to those nursing eight kits per litter (p < 0.001). The peak of milk production occurred on day 17 postpartum. To conclude, the litter size has a clear effect on milk production as well as litter weight and litter weight gains. It is also important to note that the day of lactation affected the physiochemical traits of rabbit milk.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
D. N. Makau ◽  
J. A. VanLeeuwen ◽  
G. K. Gitau ◽  
S. L. McKenna ◽  
C. Walton ◽  
...  

There is a growing interest in protein supplementation of dairy-cow diets using leguminous shrubs. The study objective was to ascertain the association between diet supplementation with Calliandra calothyrsus and Sesbania sesban and milk production in dairy cattle on commercial smallholder farms. This trial involved 235 cows from 80 smallholder dairy farms in Kenya randomly allocated to 4 intervention groups: (1) receiving Calliandra and Sesbania and nutritional advice; (2) receiving reproductive medicines and advice; (3) receiving both group 1 and 2 interventions; and (4) receiving neither intervention. Farm nutritional practices and management data were collected in a questionnaire, and subsequent physical examinations, mastitis tests, and milk production of cows on the farm were monitored approximately monthly for 16 months. Descriptive and univariable statistical analyses were conducted, and multivariable mixed-model regression was used for identification of factors associated (P<0.05) with daily milk production. The mean milk production was 6.39 liters/cow/day (SD = 3.5). Feeding Calliandra/Sesbania to cows was associated (P<0.0005) with an increase in milk produced by at least 1 liter/cow/day with each kg fed. Other variables positively associated with ln daily milk production in the final model included feeding of Napier grass, amount of silage and dairy meal fed, body condition score, and appetite of the cow. Other variables negatively associated with ln daily milk production in the final model included amount of maize germ fed, days in milk, sudden feed changes, pregnancy, and subclinical mastitis. In conclusion, our field trial data suggest that use of Calliandra/Sesbania through agroforestry can improve milk production in commercial smallholder dairy farms in Kenya. Agroforestry land use systems can be adopted as a way for dairy farmers to cope with feed shortages and low crude protein in farm-available feeds for their cows.


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