Practical nutrition Flashcards
what are the four diets on a farm?
the diet required
the formulated diet
the diet mixed
the diet received/eaten
(should all be the same)
what is a hybrid diet?
feeding a partial TMR with concentrate feeding in/out the parlour
what is the traditional way to feed dairy cows?
fibre (silage) fed at feed barrier with cake in parlour
what is the risk of traditional methods of feeding dairy cows?
get a peak of acidosis after feeding concentrates (after milking) and hence worse fibre digestion
what are the two types of mixer wagon?
tub (food processor)
axial
what are the advantages of hybrid feeding?
accurate rationing
feed more to high yielding cattle
low yielders don’t get overfed
what are the cons of hybrid feeding?
can not eat as much fibre if fed in parlour (SARA)
why are DMIs lower at grazing?
higher levels of water in grass so less can be eaten
when should rye grass be grazed?
as the fourth leaf is emerging so all of the leaves are live and there are the highest levels of water soluble carbohydrates
how can nutrition be monitored?
BCS and observations
production
milk quality
biochemistry
why don’t we just feed cows loads of fibre?
takes longer to digest meaning they ruminate more and their DMI will decrease
how can a ration be assessed?
milk/individual milk composition tests
fatty acids in milk
cow-side beta-hydroxybutyrate testing
costings
how much feed barrier space should a milking dairy cow have?
at least 60cm
how much feed barrier space should a dry dairy cow have?
at least 90cm
