Livestock - Dairy Cattle Nutrition

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Diet Management

  • will effect:
    • milk yield
    • milk quality
    • meat yield
    • meat quality
  • all effect the income farmers receive
  • an animal's daily requirements (except voluntary intake) are usually subdivided into the different activities in which the animal may be involved. These are:
    • Maintenance: the nutrients required to keep the body functioning with no productive output
    • Activity: movement such as standing up and walking requires energy. In practice, the energy required for activity is a small proportion of total requirements and doesn't vary considerably between different animals.
    • Lactation: the nutrients required to achieve a given level of milk production of a given composition.
    • Growth: important in meat-producing animals
    • Pregnancy: nutrient requirements related to pregnancy, only become significant in the last third of pregnancy 
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Dairy - Annual Calendar

  • Mainly based on summer and winter.
  • Ration Sheets (not set in stone)
    • October – March Indoors
      • Mainly grass silage or maize silage
      • Concentrates
    • April – September outdoors
      • Main diet grass
      • Some supplementary hay/straw + concentrates
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Feeding Concentrates in the Parlour

  • We can monitor:
    • Milk yield
    • Body condition score
  • Advantages of feeding concentrate in the milking parlour:
    • Less stressed as they are focused on food.
    • Can quantify how much food they are eating.
    • Can ratio the food properly.
    • If they are more relaxed, they could produce more milk.
    • Keeps energy up whilst they are being milked.
    • Make sure they get the right minerals.
    • Faster milking.
    • Cows come in more easily.
  • Disadvantages of feeding concentrate in the milking parlour:
    • Milk could be contaminated.
    • Can cost more.
    • Cause weight gain.
    • Concentrates can be fed as many times as the cow is being milked (up to twice per day)
    • Number of concentrates limited.
    • Restless cows during milking as they are competitive eaters.
    • Poor while they eat.
    • Risk of faeces and urine in the pit where the farmers are standing.
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Calf Milk Replacer (bucket feeding – Volac guideli

  • Mix rate = 125g of powder to 1L of water
  • Twice daily feeding rates
  • Water no hotter than 40 degrees Celsius
  • Needs to be warmed so they drink the milk as it is comforting for them, they are also more likely to drink more if it warmed.
  • 0-3 days
    • Fed colostrum AM and PM.
  • 4-7 days
    • AM = 2L
    • PM = 2L
  • 8 days to start of weaning.
    • 2.5L AM.
    • 2.5L PM
  • Weaning period (7 days)
    • AM 2.5L
    • PM = 0L
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Beef Cattle Rations

  • Feeds
    • Chopped Herbage (hay)
      • 6.2kg bulling/in calf heifers
      • 8.75kg beef stores (boys)
    • Rapid Cattle Grower
      • 3.75 bulling/in calf heifers
      • 0.75kg beef stores (boys)
  • Rates of rapid cattle grower for heifers when not in calf or with the bull should drop
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