How to Make Your Own Dairy Feed: A Comprehensive Guide for Profitable and Efficient Milk Production

How to Make Your Own Dairy Feed: A Comprehensive Guide for Profitable and Efficient Milk Production

One of the largest cost items in dairy cattle farming is feed expenses. While ready-made dairy feeds offer a practical solution, formulating and preparing your own dairy feed is the most effective way to significantly reduce costs, gain full control over feed quality, and provide nutrition tailored to your cows' specific needs. So, how do you prepare your own dairy feed on your farm? Here's a step-by-step guide.

Advantages of Making Your Own Dairy Feed

• Cost Savings: You are less affected by fluctuations in raw material prices and can reduce feed costs significantly through bulk purchasing and direct sourcing.
• Quality Control: You can control the content and quality of the feed from start to finish. You minimize the risk of mold, toxins, or low-quality raw materials.
• Ration Flexibility: You can instantly adjust the ration for cows with different production levels, lactation stages, or physiological conditions (dry period, post-calving, etc.) within the herd.
• Animal Health and Performance: A ration tailored to your cows' actual needs supports rumen health, reduces the risk of metabolic diseases, and optimizes milk yield and milk quality (fat, protein).
• Traceability: If a feed-related problem occurs, you can more easily identify the source of the problem because you know the content.

Steps to Prepare Your Own Dairy Feed

Creating your own dairy feed is a comprehensive process that combines scientific knowledge, careful planning, and practical application.

1. Step: Determine the Nutrient Needs of Your Dairy Cows

At the core of ration formulation is knowing what your animals need. Dairy cow nutrient requirements vary based on many factors:

• Milk Yield: How many liters of milk are produced daily (one of the most important factors).
• Lactation Stage: Early lactation (peak yield, negative energy balance), mid-lactation, and late lactation (dry period).
• Body Weight and Condition: The cow's live weight and body condition score (BCS) affect the energy content of the ration.
• Age and Breed: The needs of young heifers versus mature cows or different breeds may vary.
• Gestation Status: Cows in the late gestation period (dry period) especially have specific nutritional needs.

Based on this information, determine the daily amounts of **dry matter (DM)**, **net energy (NE)**, **crude protein (CP)**, **digestible fiber (NDF, ADF)**, and **minerals/vitamins** your cows need. At this stage, getting support from an **expert agricultural engineer (animal scientist) or veterinarian** is critically important. Professional software and experience make a big difference in creating an optimal ration.

2. Step: Identify Your Feed Raw Materials and Determine Their Quality

Knowing the nutrient value of each raw material you will use in your ration is vital for accurate formulation. When selecting raw materials, consider their nutritional values, digestibility, palatability, market availability, and cost-effectiveness.

• Forages (The Backbone of the Ration):
  • Corn Silage: Forms the basis of dairy cattle rations with its high energy and digestible fiber content. It is important that it is high-quality and well-fermented.
  • Alfalfa Hay/Silage: A high protein and digestible fiber source. Especially valuable for high-yielding cows.
  • Pasture Hay/Silage: Provides fiber and a moderate level of energy.
  • Straw: Although it has low nutritional value, it provides structural fiber necessary for rumen health and gives a feeling of fullness.
• Energy Sources (Starch and Sugar):
  • Grains: **Rolled barley**, **cracked corn**, and wheat provide high energy. Barley and corn differ in their digestion rates and effects on the rumen.
  • Molasses: A palatable and fast energy source that can increase feed intake.
  • Beet Pulp: Provides high digestible fiber and energy, beneficial for rumen health.
• Protein Sources:
  • Oilseed Meals: Products like **soybean meal** (most common and high quality), sunflower meal, and cottonseed meal are used to cover the protein deficit in the ration. Bypass protein content is also important.
  • Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS): By-products containing both energy and protein.
• Mineral and Vitamin Sources:
  • Macro (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur) and micro (zinc, copper, selenium, manganese, iodine, cobalt) minerals, as well as vitamins A, D, E, that cows need should be added to the ration with **specially prepared premixes**. These premixes vary according to the lactation stage and production level.
• Additives (Optional):
  • Yeast (Live Yeast): Improves rumen fermentation, increases feed utilization, and reduces the risk of acidosis.
  • Toxin Binders: Reduces the harmful effects of mycotoxins (mold toxins) in feed.
  • Bicarbonate: Used as a pH buffer to prevent ruminal acidosis.

Regular **analysis of each raw material** (dry matter, crude protein, starch, fiber fractions, mineral content, etc.) is critical for the accuracy and effectiveness of the ration.

3. Step: Formulate the Ration

You should formulate the ration using scientific methods based on the determined nutrient needs and the analysis results of your available raw materials.

• Calculation Methods: **Computer-based ration formulation programs** are generally used for this process. These programs create a mixture that meets all of the animal's nutrient needs at the most optimal cost, under specific constraints (minimum/maximum usage rates, cost, etc.).
• Expert Consultation: This stage requires **collaboration with an animal nutrition specialist** rather than doing it yourself. The specialist will help you formulate the most accurate ration based on your farm's conditions, the raw materials you use, and your cows' production level. An incorrect ration can lead to serious health problems and production losses.

4. Step: Prepare and Mix the Feeds

Properly preparing and presenting the formulated ration on the farm ensures that the ration is as effective as it is on paper.

• Weighing: It is very important to **accurately weigh** each raw material in the amounts specified in the formulation. Electronic scales on feed mixers greatly facilitate this. More precise weighing devices should be used for small amounts of premixes.
• Mixing: Homogeneously mixing all prepared feed raw materials prevents selective eating by animals and ensures balanced nutrient intake with every bite.
  • Feed Mixer (TMR Mixer): Indispensable for large and medium-sized dairy farms. These machines create a "Total Mixed Ration (TMR)" by chopping forages and evenly distributing all components.
  • Loading Order: Generally, long-fibered forages (hay, straw) are added first, then silages (corn silage, alfalfa silage), followed by concentrates (grains, meals), and finally liquid ingredients (molasses) and mineral/vitamin premixes. This order is important for obtaining a homogeneous mixture.
  • Mixing Time: Mixing should be done for a sufficient period (generally 5-15 minutes) depending on the type of machine and the content of the ration. Over-mixing can break down fiber particles and harm rumen health.
• Water Supply: Ensure that cows always have free access to clean and fresh water. Water is vital for milk production.
• Feeder Management: Cleaning feeders and regularly pushing up feed encourages feed intake.

5. Step: Apply Feeding and Observe Continuously

After presenting the ration to your animals, it is important to continuously monitor their responses and performance to evaluate the ration's effectiveness and make adjustments when necessary.

• Feed Consumption: Are the cows consuming the feed with appetite? Is there excessive residue left in the feeders? Is the daily dry matter intake at the targeted level?
• Milk Yield and Quality: Regularly record daily milk yield, milk fat, and protein percentages and compare them with your targets.
• Body Condition: Regularly check the cows' body condition score. Excessive weight loss or gain can indicate metabolic problems.
• Manure Check: The consistency, color, and content of manure (undigested feed particles) provide important information about digestive health. If there are signs of diarrhea, constipation, or acidosis, the ration needs to be reviewed urgently.
• Health Status: Observe the animals' general vitality, rumination activity, and any signs of illness.
• Record Keeping: Detailed recording of ration changes, animal performance data, health status, and feed costs creates a valuable database for future decisions.

Important Points to Consider When Making Your Own Dairy Feed

• Hygiene and Storage: Store all feed raw materials and prepared feed in cool, dry places, away from moisture, mold, and pests. Hygienic conditions preserve feed quality.
• Gradual Transition: When making significant changes to the ration (adding new raw materials, changing proportions), do so **gradually, with a transition period of 7-10 days**, to allow the cows' digestive system to adapt. Sudden changes can lead to digestive problems.
• Water Quality: Water is very important for milk production. Ensure that cows always have access to clean, fresh, and good quality water.
• Expert Support is Essential: Formulating your own dairy feed is a complex task that requires knowledge and experience. Consulting an animal nutrition specialist initially and periodically is the most accurate and safest approach for both animal health and economic efficiency.

Preparing your own dairy feed will give you great power in managing feed costs, ensuring feed quality, and enabling your cows to reach their highest performance on your farm. Although this process requires diligence and continuous learning, the benefits it brings will be worth your effort.