Feed Costs

"I believe dairy farmers and forage harvesters are just like top-tier athletes. There is a strong competitive nature that contributes toward advancements in our industry."

Dr. Goeser   Director of nutritional research and innovation with Rock River Lab Inc., Watertown, Wis., Adjunct assistant professor, dairy science department, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

With livestock feed prices on the rise, many farmers will be looking for ways to reduce input costs. While there may be opportunities to trim unnecessary spending, University of Illinois’ Mike Hutjens cautioned farms against making cuts that will impact milk production.

“If we are feeding dairy cows, we only get to set the peak milk curve one time in each lactation,” he said during the November Hoard’s Dairyman webinar. “Don’t let high price feeds cut the lactation curve.”

We know TMR variability exists, and evaluating the true extent and impact of this can be a large task. But reducing variability leads to money saved.

Drilling down to the per-cow level can help keep a tighter handle on overall cost of production. Utilizing income over feed costs can balance all aspects of maintaining a productive and profitable herd.

Because feed costs can represent 50 percent of the total cost to produce milk, dairy farmers are trying to reduce feed costs. However, with the wrong feed choices, farmers could save 10 cents a day while losing 50 cents of income.

Outlined below are several factors to consider to help improve your ration economics while maintaining milk yield.

The average cost to produce milk has climbed substantially so far this year. While the Federal Reserve debates inflation, it’s clear it has already arrived at dairy farms.

With rising feed costs, ensure that proper nutrition is maintained for growing heifers and dry cows.

Markets always have a tendency to fall faster than they increase. That was very evident again recently as Class III futures plummeted over a three-day period. Another aspect of the market that has really moved to the forefront is the concern over high feed prices and what the impact will have on milk production. 

A lot of volatility has been occurring in the commodity markets during the last couple of months. The question is whether we can do something to put up a fight in this situation.