Milk components are worth money to dairymen.
“Regardless of whose program you are on, quality premiums are a way to build your milk check by adding 80 to 85 cents,” said Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois Extension dairy specialist emeritus. “You are going to sell milk protein because the world is going to buy animal protein.”
Hutjens encouraged dairymen to build their milk check during the Illinois Dairy Summit, sponsored by the Illinois Milk Producers’ Association and the University of Illinois Extension.
“You’ve got to have five pounds of milk fat and protein,” he said. “A herd at yesterday’s summit had over six pounds.”
If Holstein cows are producing below 3 percent protein during the first 100 days in milk, Hutjens said, that’s a challenge because protein has value.
“If you add two- to three-tenths of butterfat, you’ve just made some money,” he said.
The marginal dry matter intake is the last mouthful of feed a cow consumes.
“That will cost you 10 cents and the cow will give you two pounds more milk,” Hutjens said. “That means 20 cents of profit because she ate another pound of dry matter and converted it to milk production.”
Hutjens identified several reasons why cows stop eating, including feed perception or not having feed in front of the cow.
Another cause is not including the correct nutrients in the diet.
“If there is over 7 percent fat, your cows will stop eating,” Hutjens said. “There is also physical fill, when the cow can’t eat any more and Holsteins usually eat from 52 to 54 pounds of dry matter.”
The cell walls of plants consist of hemicellulose, lignin and cellulose.
“The digestibility of lignin is zero,” Hutjens said.
Neutral detergent fiber digestibility indicates how fast a cow can break down fiber.
“If I get a 1 percent improvement in forage digestibility, that cow can eat an extra quarter-pound of dry matter which leads to half a pound of milk,” Hutjens said.
Some dairymen add straw to the ration.
“If you add too much straw, now the cow is filled up before you get enough dry matter into her,” Hutjens said. “I would suggest for Jerseys four pounds of uNDF coming from forages and for Holsteins, 5.5 pounds of uNDF.”
Every dairyman should calculate the amount of uNDF in the ration.
“Sometime in March or April, you’re going to go to a new bag or a different silo and it might change,” Hutjens said. “If your uNDF changes, the cows may eat more or less and they may give you more milk.”
During the 2018 growing season, dairymen in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana saw tar spot on their corn plants.
“Some saw as high as 30 percent infection rates and it appears some hybrids are more resistant than others,” Hutjens said.
Tar spot is a fungus infection that appears on the corn plant leaves. Last year, it appeared in fields that received heavy or frequent rains.
The disease appears late in the season during August, and it causes bumps on the leaves with small necrotic fisheye symptoms.
In a research trial comparing BMR corn and conventional corn.
“For milk per ton, the BMR varieties win and for milk per acre, the BMR varieties loose,” Hutjens said.
Researchers at Penn State evaluated four varieties of BMR corn and 44 conventional corn varieties.
“They report a 10 percent yield drag for the BMR corn,” Hutjens said. “You can afford an 8 percent yield drag to breakeven because your cows should produce more milk with BMR corn.”
For 2019, Hutjens said, dairymen should strive for feed costs at 9 cents per pound of dry matter.
“Your income over feed cost per hundredweight with $16 milk is $10,” he said. “And your feed efficiency or the pound of milk per pound of dry matter should be at 1.6.”
Dairy cows have a digital cushion on the bottom of their hooves.
“When a cow loses body weight, the fat pad gets thinner,” Hutjens said. “That can mean a reproduction risk, a risk of lameness and a risk of metabolic disorders, as well.”