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Dairy producers will pay more for feedstuffs Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Agri News staff writer
EYOTA, Minn. -- Expect to pay more to feed dairy cows because of the rising demand of corn in the ethanol industry.
"This shows that the competition with the ethanol industry for grain is not going to be short term," said Mary Raeth-Knight of the University of Minnesota's Department of Animal Sciences and Extension.
Raeth-Knight spoke at the recent University of Minnesota's Dairy Days in Eyota.
She said there is a potential alternative to feeding corn grain.
"Cows don't need corn grain if they have good corn silage," Raeth-Knight said.
Current dairy ration recommendation include 40 percent forages for fiber, 40 percent concentrates, such as corn, protein and minerals, and 20 percent forages, grains or byproducts depending on cows' nutrient needs and the cost.
"We want to think of that as flexible space in the diet," she said of that 20 percent. That 20 percent often is grains if the cows are being fed low-quality forages and they're high-producing milk cows.
Raeth-Knight noted a U of M study about production response to corn silage in early lactation.
The cows were placed on the diet immediately after calving and additional fat was added to diets as corn grain in the diet was decreased to achieve an equal energy level as the high corn diet, she said. The cows on corn silage were able to maintain high levels of milk production -- a rate of about 90 pounds of milk per day per cow.
Raeth-Knight also spoke about the increased availability of co-products from ethanol and biodiesel production and the food industry. She said some co-products can replace part of the forage or concentrate in the diet because of the high fiber and high crude protein.
The rule of thumb is to have 25 percent of the diet in starch for milk production in dairy cows, Raeth-Knight said. That's a problem in feeding co-products because starch is used in the ethanol and food industries.
"Most of our co-products have about two to four times the crude protein of corn," she said.
It's an environmental concern because the rations will have a higher level of protein than the animals really need. Phosphorus levels also are an environmental concern, Raeth-Knight said. Most co-products contain two to three times the amount of phosphorus as corn and animals could have increased phosphorus excretion in manure.
Many producers are feeding distiller's grains.
Raeth-Knight said distiller's grains can safely be fed as up to 20 percent of the ration. Dry distiller's grains can be fed at a higher rate than wet distiller's grains. |
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