While nutritionists use precision software with the latest information on ration balancing to maximize farm milk component production, a lot can happen to that ration from the time the computer software formulates it until the cow eats it. This includes improper inclusion rates, mixer wagon problems and feed storage issues.
Feed cost is the most significant single expense associated with producing a hundredweight of milk. When determining your actual ration cost, pricing forages is often a topic of discussion, as it can be evaluated in three ways. Each approach has its benefits when considering and evaluating your operation.
The first method is to utilize your actual cost of production from planting through harvest, which should be the lowest cost. If not, you may want to reconsider how you grow and harvest that forage.
The second method is the market value of the forage. This method, for haylage and small grain silage, utilizes dry alfalfa or grass auction prices, while for corn silage, it uses corn grain price and low-quality hay prices to determine a value. Ideally, this will be the second-highest way to evaluate feed cost, but it best represents the realistic market value of the feedstuff if you were to sell it or have to purchase it elsewhere.
The final way to price a feed is based on the nutrients contained in the forage. These nutrients used to price feeds this way are the Net Energy of lactation, Metabolizable protein, effective NDF, and Non-effective NDF.
When feed is priced by its nutrient components and the value is higher than the market value, the feed is considered a bargain, which is often the case with corn silage and very high-quality haylage.
The operation of a mixer wagon and how the feeds are loaded can make or break a well-formulated ration. One study from a few years ago found that a vertical TMR mixer ran at 67% of its rated speed, compared to 100% was costing the farm seven pounds of milk per cow per day when the mixer wagon was run for the same amount of time. Due to the way a vertical mixer wagon works, lifting the feed and throwing it, mixing for a longer time may not resolve this problem.
Low mixing speed is just one thing that can go wrong. When kicker plates and augers become worn, mixing efficiency declines. If the feed needs to be resized and the knives are worn out, this no longer occurs. If a mixer wagon is not parked in a level location or the hitch height is wrong, heavy ingredients will move downhill and will not be uniformly distributed in the bunk.
Loading position can even affect mix quality. Ingredients should be loaded in the center of the mixer wagon from front to back. With vertical mixer wagons, be careful not to dump concentrates on the augers, especially when the mixer wagon is not full.
However, when it comes to full mixer wagons, many operate most effectively at approximately 70% of their full capacity and do not operate well at less than 50% of capacity. When they are underfilled or overfilled, auditing the delivered feed for consistency and adjusting mix times and orders can help with consistency.
Conducting TMR audits and checking silage dry matter are crucial steps in maximizing your feed investments and milk production. A TMR audit of delivered feed can indicate if something is wrong, but it does not pinpoint exactly what is wrong.
An lab analysis of delivered feed can help but is not the only best tool for identifying many errors. An audit of delivered feed involves taking at least five, but ideally 10, samples of silage from the freshly delivered feed and using a Penn State shaker box to evaluate the particle size from each location.
The goal is to ensure that the coefficient of variation in the amount of feed on each pan between locations is less than 5%. If the variation exceeds 5%, your mixer or mixing stand operating procedures need to be reevaluated. Other parts of a TMR audit include evaluating refusals for sorting and feed push-up schedules.
If learning more about maximizing your feed mixing might benefit your operation, OSU will be holding a Buckeye Dairy Feeder school Aug. 8 in Wooster. To register, go to go.osu.edu/bdnfeederschool2025 or call 330-264-8722.
Through good forage and TMR management, the investment of over $1,000 per cow per year in just corn silage and haylage can be maximized.
