Module 13 | Feeding Management and Ration Formulation Dairy
FRIDAY 7 JUNE
High yielding dairy cows require optimal management and ration composition. Animal appearance and behavior tells a lot about feeding management on a farm. Feeding management has a clear impact on feed intake and production, health, fertility and longevity. To further optimize ration composition nutritionists formulate rations for the lowest costs possible while meeting all nutrient requirements and feedstuff restrictions at the actual market prices of feedstuffs. However, diet optimization is not that simple. You always need to consider your specific situation including variation in forage quality and performance of the animals.
Learning objectives
- To learn about the impact of feeding management on feed intake and milk production.
- To understand CowSignals® as tool for improvement of feeding management and increase production fertility health and longevity.
- To be able to optimise nutrient composition of diets and meet animal recommendations using ration calculation software.
Remarks
- Please be aware that SFR recommendations will not be presented during this module.
- Since this module will use information from previous modules it is advised to follow module 11 Advanced dairy nutrition and/or module 12 Applied dairy nutrition as preparation.
Feeding management and CowSignals®
In this presentation the importance of understanding cows and their signals will be explained by showing practical examples. Understanding the cow and her interaction with the farmer and the impact of the housing and feeding conditions will help improve production, reduce diseases and increase fertility and longevity. The motto of this presentation is: “happy cow, happy farmer, happy planet”.
Feeding intake regulation
In this theme the factors that affect feed intake regulation will be presented. First feed intake models are discussed and then the influence of animal parameters, feeding management and environmental factor will be described and quantified.
Optimizing ration composition
A short introduction of the principles of ration optimisation will be presented in this section. What information is required to further use in ration calculation software and which steps need to be taken to come to a ration composition that is optimised to increase milk yield, improve milk components or health and fertility?
Introduction to ration optimization software
For the afternoon session we will use the software of the Rovecom company. In this presentation a short introduction on ration optimisation and least cost solutions in the FeedExpert program is provided.
Ration optimization: case studies
In this workshop the participants will work in couples on different case studies to optimise dairy cow rations using the Feed Expert program and the SFR dairy feed evaluation parameters. The importance of forage quality and compound feed (ingredients) will be demonstrated.
Meet the trainers
Wilfried van Straalen
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CowSignals®
