• Employ livestock specialists who visit our customers on their farms to balance their dairy, beef, and swine rations.
• Work closely with area veterinarians and other industry partners to identify issues and concerns in livestock production and to provide solutions. 

Importance of Proper Feeder Adjustment

-          Feed is about 60% of cost to get a pig to market

-          This increases feed cost and decreases feed efficiency

-          This also adds more solids to pits – decreasing available manure storage and increasing manure hauling costs.

-          Depending upon how far out of adjustment feeders are and the price of your inputs you can easily add 3-5 dollars feed cost per head.

Keep Cows Eating Through Heat Stress
By: Amanda Koehler

As we approach another summer, it is time to refresh what we know about feeding cows under heat stress.

Feed intake is reduced during heat stress. However, instead of mobilizing body reserves to compensate like an early lactation cow would, heat-stressed cows limit the mobilization of fat. With less energy from mobilized fat available, total energy availability is reduced. This leaves glucose, a primary driver of milk production, to be used for more maintenance processes, so less is left for milk production and reproduction. Knowing this, we can try to formulate a strategy to minimize milk loss and lost reproductive performance. Remember our first and best choice is to minimize heat stress by cooling the cows.

The biggest thing we can do is try to maintain feed intake. This means keeping the cow cool and managing the feed as well as we can. Good management of the bunk, feed storage, and multiple feedings/day are all good techniques. After that, try to keep the ration energy as high as is practical and healthy.

Water is the number one ingredient in the cow’s diet, and often overlooked when considering the ration. Water availability and quality are extremely important for animal health and productivity, especially during times of heat stress. The recommendation for trough length is 2 inches per cow and at least one watering device for every 15 to 20 cows. Waterers should be located at milking parlor exit and within 50 feet of the feed bunk or at every crossover in freestall barns. Allow for good cow traffic around water troughs and it may be necessary to add additional troughs during the summer months.

Dissolved minerals in the water can affect the ration by providing excess minerals as well as binding supplemental minerals in the feed. Water testing is available through numerous public and private laboratories. The five properties most often considered in assessing water quality for both humans and livestock are odor and taste, pH, total dissolved solids, total dissolved oxygen and hardness, heavy metals, toxic minerals, excess minerals or compounds (nitrates, sodium sulfates and iron) and bacteria and algae.

The warm temperatures will be here soon, so remember the keys – keep the cows cool to avoid / minimize heat stress. If you have heat stress, maximize feed intake, keep the energy up, provide enough water trough space, and get your water tested to best manage your ration.