High-forage dairy diets have become very popular in the last few years. That’s because many dairy producers feared too much grain was being fed to their high-producing cows, causing digestive upsets and lameness. I have reviewed many of these former high-concentrate diets and agree that many were clearly unacceptable to feed. Yet I have also […] Read more
Vitti: A common-sense high-forage diet for dairy cows
It's about finding the proper balance between grain and forage components of the ration
Don’t let cattle performance get stuck in the mud
Letting cattle stand in muddy conditions is just asking for health problems
In early May a few years ago, I left the safety of the highway and turned onto a muddy summer road. There was a farm on the south side that had about 50 beef cows with little calves living in knee-deep mud. While there was lots of green hay in a bale feeder, the cows […] Read more
Don’t overlook zinc in a well-balanced dairy cattle diet
It’s a mineral that plays an important role in so many aspects of livestock production and growth
Zinc is one of about a dozen trace minerals essential to the good life and productivity of dairy cattle. Yet unlike some of the other essential trace minerals, zinc is not easily forgotten in a well-balanced dairy diet because it performs so many different functions in dairy cows, and in so many different ways. Much […] Read more
Keeping calved cows in top condition
Four producers describe their cow-feeding program once calves hit the ground
I took this photo of a beef cow that had just calved in a drylot holding area. She is in good shape and health so I would expect that once her newborn calf is up on wobbly legs, it will get its first taste of colostrum. Within the next few hours, this new mom will […] Read more
Producers share ration tips for breeding bulls
It’s important to prepare bulls for the demands of breeding season
Beef bulls make up only a small portion of the average beef herd, yet contribute to nearly all its genetic progress. Such responsibility dictates that we want to give bulls the best possible chance to be fertile and healthy, just before being released onto breeding pastures. This means that certain nutritional goals must be met […] Read more
Adjusting diet in dairy cows to prevent fatty liver syndrome
One important clue/cause is over-conditioned dry cows
All dairy cows go through a state of negative energy balance (NEB) right after calving. When a cow breaks down too much of her body fat to cover this energy gap in such a short period, accumulation of fat in the liver or fatty liver syndrome results and is detrimental to her health and milk […] Read more
Tips to prevent dairy cow lameness
Proper nutrition is the key to keeping cattle walking with comfort
Top-performing dairy cows must have healthy hooves. Walking and standing on four good hooves is the foundation of eating lots of well-balanced feed and then producing lots of milk. It is also a prerequisite for good standing heats, which leads to successful pregnancy. On the other hand, lame cows have a painful time getting out […] Read more
Cold-weather feeding strategies help overwinter beef cows
Cattle acclimatize themselves by eating more to increase their metabolic rate
After New Year’s, I was driving just south of the Trans-Canada Highway in southern Manitoba and noticed a 100-cow beef herd swath-grazing just along the fence line. Most of these cows were in good body shape, despite it being -25 C and a 25 kph wind (-40 C windchill) on open prairie. I could only […] Read more
Save your best nutrition for late-gestation cows
Producers share winter rations that work for their cow-calf operations
Preparing for the calving season used to be simple. The best green hay was saved for the gestating cows about two months before they calved, and most people started to feed a bit of loose cattle mineral. The funny thing is that this simple program worked at the time. As a beef nutritionist, it’s not […] Read more
Cystic ovaries — a crime against good reproduction for dairy cows
Proper nutrition plays a key role in reducing the risk
Cystic ovaries are much like a case of an unsolved bank robbery — its clues have been extensively studied, but there are no direct causes found for the 10 to 25 per cent of incidences in lactating dairy cows. As a dairy nutritionist, I suspect that there are a number of animal and dietary abnormalities […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
