Precision Feeding: "What Goes In, Often Comes Out" - Fine Tuning Dairy Herd Feed

Maryland Media Liaison:

Carol Hollingsworth, 443-482-2902

Dairy farming in Maryland extends well back to the War of Independence when Maryland was known as the “Bread Basket of the Revolution.” It is truly part of the state’s rich agricultural history.

Unfortunately, our dairy farmers are experiencing the same set of problems facing all sectors of Maryland’s agricultural community -- pressures of development and the high costs of fuel, feed, labor and transportation not to mention manure management. A new partnership is trying to help improve ways to manage some of those costs and even increase production. The goal is to help farmers take notice and make the best use of all of the assistance that’s available.

The University of Maryland (UMD) Cooperative Extension, its Center for Environmental Science, and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Maryland have joined forces to promote improved methods of feed management that can reduce the farmer’s costs, protect reproductive health and milk production, as well as reduce the nutrient content of manure for field application.

Dr. Rick Kohn, animal sciences professor at UMD, says that only about 25 percent of the amount of nitrogen and 30 percent of phosphorus found in feed is used by the cow to produce milk and meat. The remainder is excreted in her urine and manure. What’s more, feeding excess nitrogen, alone, above the needs of individual dairy herds, has cost the Chesapeake Bay dairy industry $18 million annually.

As pointed out by Stan Fultz, Frederick County Extension, many don’t recognize that feeding just one pound less of soybean meal (at $250 ton) can save $0.12 a day per cow!

In addition to improving the bottom line, this also would reduce excess nitrogen and phosphorus found in the manure, making it easier to use on nearby fields and limiting the amount finding its way into local streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay.

So, how do you best determine what’s needed in the feed for any particular herd/cow? asks Connie Musgrove, Senior Research Coordinator for UMD‘s Center for Environmental Science. You can: 1) Track your Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN) to measure excess nitrogen, 2) Reduce phosphorus supplements, 3) Analyze the feed ration for an animal’s specific crude protein needs, and 4) Move toward more highly digestible feeds. This is called “precision feeding.”

A new UMD program funded by NRCS is offering free MUN testing and assistance with a feed management plan that involves working with your nutritionist. Working with a nutritionist is key. According to Fultz, studies show that farmers working with a nutritionist had a 20 percent increase in milk production and a 10 percent decrease in manure nutrient content compared to farmers balancing rations on their own.

Three Frederick County dairy producers have successfully implemented feed management on their farms. Jim Stup, President of the Maryland Dairy Industry Association and President of the 1000-cow Teabow, Inc. dairy regularly tracks his MUN results. Over the past several years, he’s seen decreased levels of phosphorus as well as the percentage of protein lowered in the diets with no negative effects from either. His nutritionists have monitored nutrients regularly by forage analyses.

Gary Grossnickle of Grossnickle Farms and Matt Toms of Retreat Farms monitor their MUNs from the milk cooperative for each of their herds. Both lowered their supplemental feeding of phosphorus several years ago. Grossnickle also feeds a one-group total mixed ration with lower protein saving money on protein input costs.

Toms monitors his forage for all nutrients and digestibility. This past year, he has been lowering protein and raising the forage in the diets. He believes that if he can increase digestible forages for the cows, the lower protein supplement and higher forage will result in lower input costs and more output in milk.

NRCS is promoting “precision feeding” as one of the eligible conservation practices offered through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS Maryland is the first in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to implement cost-share for this national feed management standard, according to NRCS State Agronomist Tim Pilkowski. He is working with UMD, agriculture advisors, Cooperative Extension, producers and policy experts to put together an innovative feeding strategy in the EQIP Program. This strategy should provide dairy farmers with a more uniform and balanced ration for cows. Milk production and economic returns will be improved by increasing the efficiency of animal nutrients in grains and forage. This will result in a reduction of nutrients in manure, reducing the potential for over-application of manure nutrients (especially in phosphorus-based nutrient applications), and decreasing manure nitrogen and phosphorus loads to the Chesapeake Bay.

The Feed Management Pilot Program began in the Monocacy Watershed in Western Maryland in 2006 and is expected to expand Statewide this fall. Farmers applying to participate in the program can get free testing from UMD, and may be eligible to receive cost-share through EQIP for the development of a feed management plan by a professional nutritionist and to implement that plan. In addition, depending on eligibility, farmers may be able to receive a per cow incentive for reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus in their feed under the NRCS EQIP Program.

Finding expert technical assistance can be difficult for farm producers. Through a series of government and non-profit grants (including the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Pioneer Grant), the UMD Cooperative Extension and UMD Center for Environmental Science are developing a voluntary program for dairy feed nutritionists that will give them the training they need to develop feed management plans for producers who are enrolled in the NRCS EQIP Program. This voluntary “certification” process will be developed in association with the National Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS). Certified nutritionists will also be able to help producers develop EQIP cost-share applications to improve feed management on their farms.

These activities to improve feed management - including MUN analysis, offering education and training to both the farmer and their nutritionist, and working with USDA on a workable cost-share program for the state - is a new partnership of efforts aimed at supporting Maryland’s dairy industry and its stewardship of the State’s waters.

Interested in learning more about these programs? For more information on the EQIP Feed Management Program, visit your local NRCS office or visit the Maryland NRCS website at www.md.nrcs.usda.gov. For more information on the voluntary nutritionist “certification process,” contact Connie Musgrove at musgrove@umces.edu.