FORAGE QUALITY IS KEY TO ADVANCES IN MILK PRODUCTION

MADISON, Wisconsin (October 5, 2006) --- Despite remarkable advances in milk production, declining stored forage quality may be a barrier to continuing this upward trend, according to Dr. Greg Anderson, Dairy Nutritionist for Engineered Storage Product Company’s Harvestore brand.
            Anderson spoke at the World Dairy Expo during a breakfast for media and industry experts.
            “While dairy feeding technology has moved forward, silage storage technology has moved backward,” Anderson told the crowd. “Dairies just cannot get the same high quality forages from silage storage bags and concrete bunkers as they can with an oxygen-limiting structure like a Harvestore, and research proves it.
            “While it is often called ‘haylage,’ the only ‘true’ haylage is that which is stored in an oxygen-limiting structure,” he added.
            Dairies are producing more milk than ever before thanks to total mixed ration (TMR) feeding, better feed and forage lab analysis, better ration balancing and accuracy and commodity product availability and pricing, he said.
            “The net result is that we’ve been able to optimize the conditions in the rumen of the high producing dairy cow,” Anderson said. Rations are typically balanced for UIP (bypass), SIP (soluble), amino acids and monitored with milk MUN.
            In spite of the fact that forage is the most important part of the dairy ration, occupying the base of the “dairy nutrition pyramid,” it is the root cause of many problems on dairies.
            Lab analysis is showing that today’s forages often contain high levels of ash, which leads to reduced energy value for milk production. High forage ash appears due to fermentation-spoilage losses, soil contamination on a standing crop or windrow, or soil-manure contamination at filling and feed-out. Spoilage losses are far higher in a bag or bunker than in an oxygen-limiting structure, he added, while contamination occurs when alfalfa silage is loaded under muddy conditions.
            “Forage can become contaminated with Clostridium bacteria, which can then cause problems such as hemorrhagic bowel syndrome and botulism. This contamination also leads to production of high levels of butyric acid in the forage. Anderson cited Dr. Garrett Oetzel, DVM, MS, of the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose research into butyric acid has shown that an intake of 50 grams can lead to subclinical ketosis, while 200 grams causes full-blown ketosis.
            Anderson also discussed a recent Cornell University study on nutrient variation in bunker silos, which showed as much as a 21.6 percent variation in NDF (neutral detergent fiber) content of alfalfa silage stored in bunkers. Typical mixing and weighing equipment on well-managed dairies is capable of producing a TMR with only 5 percent variation. “The level of nutrient variation observed in this study is unacceptable,” he concluded.
            “The net effect of not feeding the highest quality haylage is reduced rumen efficiency, reduced metabolic efficiency for milk production and reduced actual net energy for lactation,” Anderson continued.
            The first phase of a study released in 2005 by the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center showed that cows fed haylage from an oxygen-limiting structure produced 5.7 pounds more fat-corrected milk per head per day than cows fed forage stored in a plastic bag or covered concrete storage bunker, he added. Results from the second phase of the study will be available later this year.
            “Modern feeding technology helps cows average 85 to 90 pounds of milk per day. Advanced laboratory analyses help us understand the differences between forage storage methods,” he said. “All factors considered, dairy producers are better off feeding a higher quality haylage with minimum contamination. Forage quality can stand in the way of achieving even higher milk production.”

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