• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Podcast
  • Coffee Talks
  • Lely.com

dairy-farm, data, lely-vector, robotic-milker, robotic-milking, farm-tour, smart-feeding, finance

Listen Now

Feeding Well = A Full and Healthy Rumen

Posted by Team Lely on Mar 23, 2016
Team Lely
  • Tweet

By Jan Hulsen 

It’s important to check feeding every day in all groups of cows and young stock. Ask yourself: Are the cows eating well? Are they milking well? Is the rumination and manure ok?

Lely Juno automatic feeder

At the same time, at least once a week, carry out a thorough check on the feed, the feeding process, feed intake and digestion. Use a checklist and as an absolute minimum keep an eye on:

  • Feed storage: Make sure there aren't any heat issues, mold or other loss of quality.
  • Feed quality: Assess the feed quality. Is the dry matter content still the same? Are you still feeding the same material on which the ration calculation is based or has something changed?
  • Feeding: Is the sequence right? Are you loading the right quantities? Is the ration being mixed properly? Make sure you mix long enough but not too long. Is the right feed reaching the right animals?
  • Feed intake and digestion: Are the cows eating happily? Are they selecting or not? Is the pen clean? How much dry matter are they eating? Are they ruminating properly? Is the manure well digested and is it appropriate to the ration? Are the cows producing well? Does this apply to at-risk animals too? Are there minimal differences between animals in a group?
In addition to this, check the results against your goals at fixed times and draw up a plan for achieving your goals over the coming period. How often you do this will depend mainly on how often you change feedstuffs and hence the ration. Do it at least once a month.

For more information visit www.lelyna.com/us

(This is an excerpt of a longer article)

Tags: Animal Care, Cow Health, Smart Feeding

Submit your email to subscribe to Lely North America Blog Notifications!

1948 Lely Parkway
Pella, Iowa 50219
641-621-2700

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on instagram Share on youtube Share on bloglink