Mr Alex Gathii
By Alex Gathii
There are three ratios that you need to understand when want turn your dairy enterprise into profitability;
- Forage : Concentrate Ratio
- Protein : Energy Ratio
- Feed to Gain Ratio
Most dairy farmers work with nutritionists to create a feed ration (recipe) that is best suited for their cows.
This ration is dependent on where the farm is located and what feed types are most commonly available.
High quality feed is important for a cow’s health and milk production.
Dairy farmers and herd nutritionists aim for 50-60% of the diet as forage. Forage is simply plants that are consumed mainly by grazing livestock, maize silage, lucerne, Kikuyu grass or hay.
There are two groups of forages; wet and dry. An example of wet forage is silage (fermented forage).
Commonly, silage on a dairy farm would consist of barley, maize and lucerne.
Dry forages are pasture (fresh forage) or high-quality lucerne hay, lucerne-grass mix hay, grass hay or straw.
Some dairy farmers will feed a mix of both silage and hay, while others might only feed silage or only feed hay, depending on the farm.
The other half of the diet is called the concentrate. The concentrate comprised of carbohydrate.
Quantities of protein and carbohydrates within the forage and concentrate and their respective bioavailability would largely determine your milk production, reproduction cycles and the general heath of your dairy herd.
Alex Gathii, the Managing Director, Tanolope Consultancy Limited is contesting the Tetu Parliamentary seat
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