By Wyatt Smith, Vita Plus | With much of the Midwest facing limited rainfall and dry conditions, expected forage yield and forage inventories are an area of concern. Many producers have raised the question of how to best extend current forage inventories with the goal of minimal impact to milk output and feed costs.
By Kassidy Buse, University of Nebraska | The quality and characteristics of forages can have direct impact on milk production and profits. We typically focus on characteristics such as starch content, protein content and NDF digestibility as we include forages in rations. But as the attributes of fiber and its fractions have continued to be explored, forage fragility has emerged as an area of interest.
By Dr. Zach Sawall | We often focus on growing crops to maximize tonnage, and we figure out how to deal with that feed once it’s in the bunk. A more economical approach is to look at what the cow needs and focus on growing forage to meet those needs.
Posted on September 26, 2018 in Forage Foundations
By Dr. Darin Bremmer, Vita Plus regional sales manager
Parts of our market area have experienced extreme flooding, while others have seen drought. In many of these situations, producers will have to work through their unique challenges to harvest and feed low-moisture corn silage.
Posted on September 25, 2017 in Forage Foundations
By Pat Hoffman, Vita Plus dairy technical specialist
This past summer at Vita Plus, we evaluated a new ration formulation sub-model that accounts for the rumen unsaturated fatty acid load (RUFAL) in the ration. Research has demonstrated that feeding dairy cows excessive levels of RUFALs has a negative effect on milk fat test. In fact, in our summer project, more than 50 percent of the variance in milk fat percent across herds could be explained by accessible RUFAL concentrations in the diet.
With Barry Visser and Dr. Darin Bremmer, Vita Plus dairy technical service specialists, Dr. Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Larry Chase, Cornell University When it comes to forages, custom harvesters and dairy producers always have questions to ask and topics to discuss. In a panel discussion at the recent Vita Plus Custom Harvester
Click here to download Shaver's PowerPoint presentation. Click here to download Chase's PowerPoint presentation. With Dr. Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Larry Chase, Cornell University Shredlage® is becoming popular, yet many questions still surround the logistics of this harvesting strategy. Dr. Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dairy Science Department, shared results of his