dcp ansc2500 prelim 1

Dairy industry

Dairy industry is the global production, processing, and distribution of milk and milk products (butter, yogurt, cheese)

US trends for dairy

the # of farms is decreasing, but milk prod. is up

Fluid milk consumption falling over past 5 decades until 2024

• Less children, more alternatives, consumer preferences are to blame

Cheese/butter consumption per capita increasing

• Cheese Up 13-21% from 2011-2021

• butter up 18% from 2011-2021

Overall, dairy consumption rose from 1981-2021, but Americans only having half of recommended daily dairy content

Whey ingredients/lactose: mostly to China

Nonfat/skim milk, cheese: mostly to Mexico

Average time for fluid milk to reach grocery stores

48 hours

Interstate milk shipper code lets us track products

How much milk does it take to make other dairy products

~10 lbs of fluid milk for 1 lb of cheese

21:1 for butter (skimmed milk made into another product)

1:1 plain yogurt

4:1 greek yogurt

5 top dairy states

1. Cali

2. Wisconsin

3. Idaho

4. Texas

5. NY

New frontiers of dairy

South Dakota: 117% increase in dairy cow prod in last decade

Kansas: 23.7% prod increase, 44k new cows in 2025

What breeds

80% Holsteins, 12% jersey, 6% crossbred

Holstein prod avgs 2022, pros/cons

28,416 lbs milk, 1,162 lbs fat, 911 lbs protein, 4.11% fat, 3.22% protein

Pros:

• Higher milk prod

• More proftable

• Laid back personality

Cons:

• Lower components prod

• Higher maintenance reqs (larger frame)

Jersey prod stat avgs, pros/cons

20,653 lbs milk, 1022 lbs fat, 778 protein, 4.91% fat 3.72% protein

Pros:

• Lower maintenance

• Higher components

• Higher cheese yield

• More heat tolerant

Cons:

• Lower milk production

• High incidence of milk fever

Global dairy statistics

global dairy consumption rising

Five most important animals:

1. Cows

2. Buffalo

3. Goats

4. Sheep

5. Camels

Water buffalo stats

Milk prod estimate 2000kg

2019 estimate from USDA: 49% of Indian milk is from water buffalo

beef prod also up, especially in Brazil

Goat (caprine) dairy stats

• Dairy goat inventory from 334,754 to 537,799 (2007-2017); 60.7% increase

• Global demand for goat milk powder in infant formula

Sheep (ovine) dairy stats

Rare: <200 sheep dairies in US

Limited in US by lack of US genetics and blockcades until 2017

Mostly Mediterranean countries:

1. Turkey

2. China

3. Greece

Camel dairy stats

Prod: 2.6 gallons avg, 5 gallons high

gestation length: 15 and 13, Dromedary and Bactrian respectively

• To maintain milk prod, camels need visual + physical contact with calf

Domestication

• First in ME, Europe, 10500 years ago

• Started with ~50 aurochs

• Second event: indian subcontinent, Bos indicus (characteristic hump)

  • More adapted to heat + parasites

Day at the farm for cows and humans

• Eating ~5hr

• Socializing ~2.5

• Milking ~2.5

• Walking/standing ~2

• Laying down ~12

Humans

• Provide feed

• Harvest milk

• Remove manure

• Utilize manure

• Provide bedding

• Manage health

• Manage reproduction

• Manage young stock

Life cycle- heifer calf to milking

Ideally, double birth weight by weaning (~50-75 days of age)]

Weaning to breeding - grow grow grow

Target: breed heifers at 55% of mature body weight

First calving: start of lactation

Calving = parturition = freshening

• Target: first lactation animals should be 82-85% of mature body weight

Lactation info

• Begins on day of calving

• 3 stages

  • “Fresh” or early lactation (day 0-21)

  • “Peak” or “high” ~20-200 days in milk (DIM)

  • “late” or “low” ~200-300 DIM

KNOW HOW TO DRAW THIS CURVE

Dry off period

Persistence: days 60-280

Dry off target around 10 months

• Last 45-60 days of gestation

  • Cows not milked, fed specialized diet

  • Transition period begins in last 3 weeks of gestation

Internal herd replacement

“Culling” is the term for the removal of an animal from the herd

“Replacements” a term for the young stock that will take the place of a culled animal

Every herd will have their own unique culling/replacement strategy (that changes) based on the goals of the herd

• Internal herd growth? Shrink? Increased beef sales?

Without replacements, herd either shrinks or cattle must be purchased

Dairy culling

The average permanent removal rate in 2013 was 28.4% of cows were culled and 4.8% deaths in adult dairy cattle (NAHMS, 2014)

• “Cull Rate” has many definitions

• Most common used: Cull Rate = # animals that left the herd / average # of animals in herd

Culled dairy is 6% of beef in America

• Fed dairy animals

  • Males and culled heifers ~16% of US beef

    This was a 60% increase from 2011-2016

Why is nutrition important

35-50% of milk prod cost is in feed

Opportunities to improve efficiencies, decrease environmental costs of dairies

Correlation with disease and disorders

4 rumen stomach components

• Rumen

  • Fermentation vat, has papillae for surface area

• Reticulum

  • Regurgitation, traps foreign objects

• Omasum

  • Water absorption

• Absomasum

  • “true stomach”

Rumen qualities

Fermentation chamber

• Bacteria, Archea, Protozoa, Fungi, Mycoplasma, bacteriophages

• Anaerobic or facultative anaerobic

>1 quadrillion rumen bugs per cow

most important cow nutrient

WATER

• 30-50 gallons a day

• 4.5-5 lbs of water per lb of milk

• Should be screened for nitrates, salinity, toxic minerals

Affected by temps

Other cow nutrients: energy

Body maintenance, milk production, growth, pregnancy

• Carbs

  • Structural: forages, hay

  • Nonstructural: starch sugars

• Fats

Rumen bacteria and energy source

Cellulolytic and Hemicellulolytic bacteria (SCB)

• Digest cellulose and hemicellulose

• Thrive at a pH of 6.0-7.0

Amylolytic bacteria (NSCB)

• Digest starch and sugars

• Thrive in pH 5.0-6.0

End product of this type of fermentation: VFA’s

VFAs (volatile fatty acids)

Acetate: Contributes to overall energy, liked with milk fat

• Increases in forage diets

Propionate: converted to glucose in the liver

• Increases in grain diets

Butyrate: linked with gut health and rumen papillae development

Other cow nutrients: protein

• Supplies bacteria with nitrogen, which they use to make their own protein (MCP)

• Supplies cattle w/ amino acids

  • Sources: forages (alfalfa), concentrates (soybean, canola meal), supplements (amino acids)

Other cow nutrients: minerals and vitamins

Macrominerals:

◦ Bone growth, muscle function, and metabolism. Ca, P, Mg, K, Na, S.

Microminerals:

◦ Immunity, reproduction, and enzyme function. Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Co, I, Fe.

Vitamins:

◦ Vitamin A: vision, immunity, epithelial integrity.

◦ Vitamin D: calcium & phosphorus metabolism.

◦ Vitamin E: antioxidant protection and immune support.

Characteristics of good rumen function

• High rates of fiber fermentation

• Efficient production of MCP

• Low methane production (lowering gas production)

• Optimal ratios of VFA’s

• Low lactate production

Different nutrient requirements across different categories of animals

• Pre-weaned calves

• Post-weaned calves/prebreeding heifers

• Bred heifers

• Dry cows (“far-off” and “close-up”)

• Fresh cows

• High cows

• First calf heifers

• Low cows

WHAT is desired for cows, WHAT does that drive

• Maintenance —> body weight

• Growth —> rate of gain, composition of gain

• Pregnancy —> expected birth weight of calf, DCC (differential cell count)

• Lactation —> milk yield, components (fat, protein, lact)

Nutrient reqs vs feeding a diet

TMR ingredients

• Forage

• Corn (forage and grain)

• Byproducts

  • Soybean meal

  • Canola meal

  • Distillers grains

  • Almond hulls

  • Other food “waste”

• Supplements

• Minerals

Profitability calculations IOFC, variance in IOFC

Income over food cost

Milk income MINUS feed cost = IOFC

85% of variance comes from:

• 50%: saleable milk, fat, protein? (components)

• 25%: how much milk from amt of feed? (efficiency)

• 10%: how much does each lb of diet cost? (TMR dry matter cost)

Transition period

3 weeks before and after calving

Transition = periparturient

“Far-off dry cow” = dry off to abt 21d before calving

“Close-up dry cow” / “Prefresh” = 21d before calving, up until calving

Fresh cow = first 14-21 days in milk

Changes between before and after calving

Before:

• Pregnant

• no milk

• Relatively low nutrient demand

  • Lower demands, changes to prepare for calving

After:

• Supporting herself

• Producing milk

• Recovering from calving

• Preparing for reproduction

  • Higher demands, multiple priorities to sustain health and support productivity

Demands in transition period

• nutrients

• Immune challenges

• Feed intake

• Reproductive priorities

• Metabolic stress

Transition period goals

• high milk production

• Maintain/minimize losses in body condition score (BCS)

• Low incidence of metabolic disorders

• Minimize loss of immunocompetence/immune related disorders

• Control/decrease days to first ovulation and maintain/enhance fertility

• Low stillborn rate and healthy calves

Best dairies can do all these by focusing on continuous improvement in all areas of transition cow management

More narrow key focus areas for maanging metabolism of transition cows

• Facilitate cow’s adaptations in energy and protein metabolism

  • Avoid “maladaptation to negative energy balance”

• Manage calcium status/prevent hypocalcemia

• Support immune function and avoid chronic inflammation

• Minimize management-related stressors and potential negative interactions with metabolism

Facilitate cow’s adaptations in energy and protein metabolism - expanded

Some BCS loss is normal

Excessively high BCS indicates excessive adipose tissue, risk factor for transition disease

Manage calcium status/prevent hypocalcemia

Needs 2-4g of Ca in plasma pool

• Plasma pool must turnover 10+ times for colostrum development

• Adaptation requires coordination of several hormones and tissues

Prepartum dietary management is most effective way of preventing postpartum hypocalcemia

• Manipulate dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD)

  • Minimize/avoid high potassium forages (legumes)

  • Cations – Potassium (K) and Sodium (Na) – want to control/minimize

  • Focus diet formulation on using low potassium forages/feeds

  • Anions – Chloride (Cl) and Sulfur (S) – supplement

OR

• Actualize a low calcium/phosphorus diet through use of a binder in the diet to decrease absorption

• Synthetic Zeolite A

Shift in mindset regarding transition cows

Shift from a disease opportunity to a production/reproduction opportunity

Key components of transition cow nutrient management

Nutritional management

• Tight control of macrominerals in prerefresh

• Controlling energy intakes in both far-off and close-up

• Ensure cows consume diet as formulated

  • Feeding management is critical

  • Minimize sorting

• Focus on ration fermentability during the fresh period

Nonnutritional management

• Minimize stressors and potential impact on physiology and variation in DMI

Put cow and herd level monitoring systems in place to help identify need for management changes

Other micromineral feeding considerations

• DCAD approach reminder vs zeolite approach

• Mg, Ca - supplement

• P - likely not supplement

Controlling energy intake in dry cows

• Too little energy:

  • negative energy balance during dry period

  • Greater risk for postcalving disorders

  • Associated with lower milk yield and poorer reproductive perforamnce

• Too much energy

  • Cows have greater decrease in DMI before calving

  • Sluggish increase in DMI postcalving