The Cutting Edge - Article 25 - Techniques to Improve Efficiency of Milk Production and Client Profitability

Operators To OWNERS

Symposium review: Decomposing efficiency of milk production and maximizing profit

Find the Big 3 Infographic at otovets.com/cuttingedge

Link: https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(19)31086-0/fulltext

Big Take Away #1: Once maintenance requirements are met by a lactating animal all energy consumed above that maintenance value DOESN’T return a 1 to 1 ratio of additional milk.

This is due to an increase in the metabolic machinery, and therefore calories, partitioned off to supply that increased milk supply.

Big Take Away #2: While current genetic indices allow us to select for feed efficiency (FE) via our mating’s; our current understanding suggests we CANNOT select only for FE because it would result in an INCREASED negative energy balance in early lactation and subsequent negative impacts.

This relationship between phenotype and feed efficiency was just proven in 2018 by Hurley.

Big Take Away #3 The authors showed that the while feeding at a herd level for more milk was possible and would improve feed efficiency overall it would not improve income over feed cost (IOFC).

This was due to the large number of marginal/average cows that would turn that extra feed into weight or growth vs milk reducing overall IOFC.

Ultimate Message: When attempting to maximize the efficiency of milk production (EMP) many factors must be considered. While feed quality, cost and volume play a large role in this there are many other marginal factors that can incrementally improve EMP and result in increased profits for any operation. The advisement of and counseling in these areas can prove rewarding for the ambulatory practitioner and the dairies consultant team.

Symposium review: Decomposing efficiency of milk production and maximizing profit

Objective: In this symposium review the authors wanted to review each of the factors that can play into milking efficiency and profit maximization. The goal was to lay bare the cause of improved milking efficiency, known as efficiency of milk production, and the areas that cause marginal milk to result in maximum profit.

Location: This is a little different article review than we normally do. It is a review of current literature and understanding and thus was not conducted in the field but was rather compiled by the authors who were based in Catalonia, Spain

Methods: The dairy industry has focused on maximizing milk yield, as it is believed that this maximizes profit mainly through dilution of maintenance costs. Efficiency of milk production has received, until recently, considerably less attention. The most common method to determine biological efficiency of milk production is feed efficiency (FE), which is defined as the amount of milk produced relative to the amount of nutrients consumed. Economic efficiency is best measured as income over feed cost or gross margin obtained from feed investments. Feed efficiency is affected by a myriad of factors, but overall they could be clustered as follows: (1) physiological status of the cow (e.g., age, state of lactation, health, level of production, environmental conditions), (2) digestive function (e.g., feeding behavior, passage rate, rumen fermentation, rumen and hindgut microbiome), (3) metabolic partitioning (e.g., homeorhesis, insulin sensitivity, hormonal profile), (4) genetics (ultimately dictating the 2 previous aspects), and (5) nutrition (e.g., ration formulation, nutrient balance).