Target 10 - Feeding Dairy Cows 

The major profit driver for Victorian dairy farming is the direct conversion of high-quality pastures to milk.

Target 10 has conducted many programs with the aim of increasing pasture consumption on dairy farms. Many of you would have been involved in these pasture programs, where grazing management (in particular, maintaining a pasture wedge) is the main issue.

Good grazing management will help to grow more pasture and to make better use of what is grown. To use their pasture more efficiently, many Victorian farmers have increased stocking rates. As well, the strategic use of bought-in feed supplements the pasture grown on the farm.

Fodder crops and irrigation can also play a part in the drive to increase profitability through better utilisation of pasture.

The increasing use of supplementary feeds has led to greater interest in cow nutrition and questions about what cows require and how best to meet their requirements.

Advice on feeding strategies and products may often seem confusing and contradictory. Unfortunately, no simple answer, or single recipe, for feeding cows will suit everyone.

Cow nutrition might seem complex. But the basic aim is to ascertain what cows require and how best to meet their needs in a cost-effective and practical way.

All feeds come under consideration: pasture, silage, hay, fodder crops, grains, pellets and by-products, as well as trace elements and mineral premixes.

The challenge of nutrition in a pasture-based system is that the major component of the diet, the pasture, varies from day to day, from paddock to paddock and even within paddocks. As well, cows graze selectively from the pasture they are offered.

Pasture generally makes up 70 percent or more of cows diet, so the challenge is to understand and manage this variation in pasture and to be able to balance the cows diet with other suitable feeds.