Choose a nutritional strategy that improves margins

Posted on October 10, 2024 in Dairy Performance
By Brock Irwin, Vita Plus dairy specialist

A significant portion of the milk check depends on the amount of fat and protein in the milk. The obvious goal is to maximize income by boosting component yields while managing input costs.

When evaluating a nutritional strategy to improve profit margins, the first step is knowing milkfat and milk protein prices. Each of these prices moves independently, so it’s crucial to understand the current value of each one. Work with your nutritionist to evaluate ration ingredients and identify a strategy to capture greater margins.

Making more milkfat

What can be done nutritionally to improve milkfat yield? Milkfat contains fatty acids from two sources: de novo fatty acids and preformed fatty acids.  De novo fatty acids are influenced by rumen health. Dietary fiber content and digestibility, particle length, and passage rate can all influence milkfat yield.

If milkfat is lacking, one or more of these factors could be out of bounds, impacting the rumen environment:

  • Forage crops: High fiber digestibility, harvesting on a timely schedule, and achieving a proper chop length contribute to higher milkfat yield.
  • Stable rumen pH: Cows normally produce high amounts of saliva (nature’s buffer) each day. When readily available starch is fed, alkalizers and buffers (such as sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate) can help improve the rumen environment by managing pH and preventing excessive acid production.
  • Incomplete biohydrogenation of dietary oil containing unsaturated fatty acids (UFA): High levels of corn or soybean byproducts can bring in high amounts of readily available oils and UFAs. The risk of incomplete biohydrogenation of UFAs increases when more UFAs are fed, which research has shown to be directly related to milkfat depression. Certain feed products can aid rumen microbes in the biohydrogenation of UFAs.
  • Feeding dietary fat: Recent research has demonstrated how individual fatty acids can impact milk and milkfat yield, body condition, and even influence the digestibility of other fatty acids and dietary fiber.

Making high-quality forages will always be worth the effort, but extra nutritional factors described above should regularly be evaluated for their return on investment (ROI). When milkfat prices are high (as they’re projected to be throughout 2024), a change could easily be worth the investment.

For example, let’s assume adding palm fat to a ration cost $.34 per head per day, milkfat is worth $3.61 per pound, and the herd’s average daily milk production is 80 pounds per cow. If feeding palm fat elevates the average milkfat percentage by at least 0.12 percentage points, it is a profitable investment.

Improving milk protein

Milk protein yield is largely influenced by nutrition. Dietary protein can be divided into rumen degradable protein (RDP) and rumen undegradable protein (RUP). RDP feeds rumen microbes while RUP passes through the rumen and is metabolized and absorbed in the intestine. Low milk protein could be a sign that overall dietary protein – or one of these fractions – is inadequate.

Not all protein sources are created equal. Evaluating protein content of all homegrown forages is necessary to accurately estimate dietary protein intake. Byproduct feeds such as distillers grains, expeller soybean meal, and canola meal all have varying levels of RDP and RUP. Prices of these byproduct feeds change constantly, so evaluate ingredients frequently. Booking commodities when the price is right can help reduce risk.

In addition, watch protein efficiency by tracking milk urea nitrogen (MUN). If MUN rises above 14 to 16 milligrams per deciliter, cutting protein or adding fermentable carbohydrates could help your cows use protein more efficiently.

Just as RDP and RUP levels vary across different feedstuffs, so do amino acid profiles. Targeted bypass amino acid supplements may be added to a ration to meet cows’ amino acid needs. Properly providing rumen-protected amino acids, particularly lysine and methionine, has proven to be an effective short- and long-term strategy to maximize lactation and lifetime productivity.

Like fat supplementation, it’s good to regularly evaluate the value of supplemental amino acids amidst volatile markets. A simple ROI can be calculated by measuring the impact on milk protein yield.

Proper amino acid balancing benefits both milk protein and milkfat yields. Furthermore, the full benefit of supplemental amino acids is difficult to measure since they also impact overall health, reproduction, and cow longevity.

Cow comfort matters

Finally, it’s important to remember that environmental factors impact milkfat and milk protein. Calm and comfortable cows are more efficient, productive, and healthy.

Factors that can affect cow comfort:

  • Bedding type and frequency
  • Stall surface and dimensions
  • Neck rail height and placement
  • Floor surface and grooving
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Humidity
  • Bird and insect pressure

Factors that impact feeding behavior and the rumen development:

  • Stocking density
  • Feedbunk space
  • Timing of feed delivery
  • Feed availability

Exceptional cow comfort with excellent feed availability will set the foundation for strong milk components. Build on that foundation by evaluating feed additives for their ROI in current market conditions and developing a nutrition strategy to support farm profit margins.

This article was originally published in the September 25, 2024, issue of Hoard’s Dairyman

Category: Business and economics
Dairy Performance
Milk production and components