Cow Barns - Reduce feed wastage, improve efficiency...

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Keenan System Integration

Notes on Feed wastage

Feed scattered on a field

Feed is recognised as a significant daily cost of production in any livestock system. Maize and grass silage, hay, straw and by products are all expensive feeds costing over $250 per ton DM.

Presenting supplementary feed on pasture is increasingly becoming a costly exercise with wastage of as much as 40% being evaluated. With poor utilisation and feed costs being as much as 50% of daily gross income for a milking cow, feeding at pasture is proving to be a significant cost to the industry.

Where a tonne of supplementary dry matter per year is presented to cows on pasture, up to 400kgs DM or $100/ per cow ($40,000 for a 400 cow herd) can be paid for and wasted. If the cows had eaten this feed it would have resulted in an extra 30kgs of milk solids per cow ($180 per head at $6/kg MS).

Feeding supplementary feed on a well constructed feed pad or wintering barn will significantly reduce the wastage of feed to less than 10% with all feed being available to the cow for consumption on a concrete pad. Where feed is consumed on a feed pad/wintering barn pad, there will be less spoilage from weather, soil and animal faeces along with reduced sward losses associated with feeding on pasture. The ability to keep fresh supplementary feed on a feed pad/wintering barn feed rail and clean pastures lead to better overall feed utilisation and farm resource performance.

Better presentation of feed in a paddle mixer wagon such as the Keenan Mech-fiber machine will further improve this feed consumption and utilisation with a reduction of separation of different feeds in a ration mix on a feed pad.

Supplement feed that is not properly presented will lead to inconsistent consumption within
the herd and a significant loss in cow performance and business opportunity.

Keenan Mech-fiber feeding system notes

Keenan Mech-fiber™ in operation

The Mech-fiber feeding technology is a worldwide breakthrough in dairy & beef feeding. At the heart of the approach is the patent protected Keenan Mech-fiber™ mixing-processing design.

Based around the unique 'bird’s nest' physical ration form produced in Keenan feeders, Mech-fiber™ delivers improved digestibility in the rumen, allowing cattle to extract more nutrients from their feeds and produce more milk or beef from every kilo of feed intake.

Mech-fiber™ has been proven to reduce feed wastage, improve feed conversion efficiency and drive margin gain. The consistency of these gains across scientific research, field trials and on farms throughout the world is truly compelling, highlighting the very real opportunity for all dairy and beef farmers to significantly improve their efficiency and profits – rapidly.

With cows at pasture, feeding Keenan Mech-fiber™ grazing rations improves both rumen function and biological activity, allowing more nutrients and energy to be extracted from the grass and supplementary feeds.

In addition, consumed grass is retained longer in the rumen producing more milk and milk solids from every kg of dry matter consumed. Grass intakes are maintained, feed efficiency is improved and milk response to the Keenan ration is optimised.

Indeed, a recent field study of 1,100 herds in a housed environment has shown the approach to deliver a 10% increase in Feed Conversion Efficiency in just one year. Keenan’s target gain in milk solids production is 40kg per cow and that’s worth an extra $190/cow within 12 months in New Zealand.

There are major long-term gains too. In fact, Keenan’s top 25% of customers globally are achieving lifts of 30% in Feed Conversion Efficiency – equivalent to an extra 120kg of milk solids/cow/year worth a net gain of $570/cow in New Zealand.

In New Zealand, the top 25% of performing Keenan dairy customers are increasing Feed Conversion Efficiency (FCE) by 25% with an increase of 21 grams of milk solids per kg DM to 106 grams of milk solids for every kg of dry matter consumed. This is yielding an extra $2.19 cash flow per cow per day in milk over base performance.

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Wintering Barn © Rakaia Engineering Limited 2010.