PEAK MILK PRODUCTION INCREASES 15 POUNDS AFTER FEEDING CLOSE-UP PELLET
Indian Trail Farrns, a 350-cow dairy farm in Michigan with a Rolling Herd Average of approximately 23,000 lbs., was looking for help with their close-up feeding program. Fresh cows did not have an overwhelming number of metabolic diseases, but many cows were sluggish after calving.
Cows were being fed in two pre-fresh groups. The first group included cows 10 to 30 days before expected calving. These cows were fed a medium protein/energy total mixed ration (TMR), including a commercial anionic salt product. The second group of cows were 10 to 14 days from freshening, and were fed 60% of their dry matter intake from the herd's high-cow ration, with the balance of their intake from free-choice hay. This second group was experiencing poor feed intake. The anionic salt product was top-dressed over the high-group TMR, resulting in reduced intake of the entire ration.
The farm's manager was interested in trying CLOSE-UP PELLET in his second pre-fresh group, hoping our product's better palatability would improve both intakes in this group, and fresh-cow health. He got both from CLOSE-UP PELLET ... and much more.
We suggested few additional changes in this close-up ration, other than to include a small amount of limestone to reach recommended calcium levels for cows fed CLOSE-UP PELLET. This herd showed an almost immediate positive response in feed intake when cows were fed CLOSEUP PELLET, top-dressed over the TMR. Retained placenta, ketosis, and milk fever were reduced. But the strongest benefit was seen weeks after calving: There was dramatically more milkfrom cowsfed CLOSE-UP PELLET!
Following is a table showing peak milk production from tested cows in 1996 and 1997. Peak milk in 1997, when cows received CLOSE-UP PELLET, was 26.6 lbs. greater than in 1996, when they were fed a competitor's anionic salt product. Using Management Level Milk (ULM) to adjust for differences in lactation number and days in milk, the improvement is still 16.7 lbs. of peak milk production. Since each pound of peak milk results in approximately 200 lbs. of total milk production, these cows should produce over 3300 lbs. more milk per cow!
| Cow No. | 1996 Peak Milk | 1997 Peak Milk | Difference Peak Milk | 1996 MLM | 1997 MLM | Difference in MLM |
| 2285 2204 6328 6241 5231 5210 3218 5220 6260 5140 5211 3275 6279 6219 Average |
69 75 67 89 67 63 79 60 71 70 87 90 92 90 76.4 |
107 86 103 101 95 94 101 98 104 104 107 95 127 120 103.0 |
38 11 36 12 28 31 22 38 33 34 20 5 35 30 26.6 |
66.8 64.4 64.9 76.4 64.9 61.0 62.4 57.5 68.8 55.3 84.3 77.3 72.7 72.8 67.8 |
89.9 68.0 86.5 79.8 81.6 80.7 79.8 82.3 87.4 82.2 89.9 75.1 102.7 97.1 84.5 |
23.1 3.6 21.6 3.4 16.7 19.7 17.4 24.8 18.6 26.9 5.6 -2.2 30.0 24.3 16.7 |
We would not claim all the credit for this dramatic improvement in milk production. Other changes did occur in 1997, including the switch from an auger-type mixer wagon to a reel mixer, and the removal of by-pass fats from the ration. However, ration changes were few, and nutrient content was relatively constant from 1996 to 1997.
But in all likelihood, the greater milk production can be traced back largely to the improved palatability of the close-up TMR. Because it was more palatable, the cows consumed more of the close-up ration. Therefore they received more of the necessary anionic salts. At the same time, the higher intakes before calving resulted in higher intakes after calving, which naturally produced more milk sooner.
"I expect there will be some changes in our feeding program coming up," said Dave Flach, the herdsman at Indian Trail Farms. 'But one thing I won't do is take CLOSE-UP PELLET out of our close-up ration. The cows' health and milk production is much better than when we were using [the competitor's anionic salt product]."
CLOSE-UP PELLET is now used in all pre-fresh rations at Indian Trail Farms, and at a cost lower than the competitor's anionic salt product.
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