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northland college farm 5
March 20, 2025

Managing Fodder Beet Feeding in Autumn for Dairy Cows

Managing Fodder Beet feeding in Autumn for optimal production and animal health. It is well known that the gradual introduction of Fodder Beet (FB) into the diet of lactating dairy cows in Autumn is critical to maintaining milk production and preventing rumen acidosis. But, even in experienced and motivated operations, some cows may still experience […]

Dairy
August 1, 2015

Nutrition & Feeding Strategies at Low Milk Prices

Farmers are faced with some difficult financial and management decisions during low milk price cycles; one option being to cut costs, particularly inputs.  This may help achieve a short term goal of balancing cash flow, but may adversely affect production and profitability later on. One needs to be careful with cutting inputs that directly affect [...]
Dairy, Publications
July 1, 2015

ME Best Predictor of Feed Value?

Feeds for dairy cows are often valued according to their price per megajoule (MJ) of Metabolisable Energy (ME), as energy intake is usually limiting with cows during early lactation.  ME is a measure of the energy available to cows, after losses from undigested feed, urine and methane are accounted for. ME has some limitations as [...]
Dairy, Publications
April 1, 2015

100 Years Progress in Dairy Cow Production and Feeding

There has been considerable change and progress in cow production and feeding over the last 100 years from 1915, which was also when The Danish Mineral Company formed (now Nutritech International Ltd).  There were about 1.1 million people, 634,000 milking or dry dairy cows, 270 butter and 355 cheese factories, producing 31,330 t butter and [...]
Dairy, Publications
March 1, 2015

Mineral Types and Availability

There appears to be some confusion regarding the types of minerals, their availability and factors affecting it.  Minerals are usually referred to as being in the inorganic or organic forms, which refers to whether they are bound to inorganic (e.g. chlorides, oxides, sulphates) or organic (contain carbon e.g. amino acids, peptides) elements or compounds. The [...]
Forage, Publications
October 1, 2014

Strategies for a Lower Payout

Financial cycles are a normal part of agriculture, subject to international factors beyond farmers’ control.  Farmers need sound business strategies to deal with these fluctuations, to ensure their long term future. Large companies used to such cycles, tend to build up equity during positive cycles, and reduce it during negative ones.  Released equity is used [...]
Dairy, Publications
May 1, 2014

Feeding Fodder Beet

Fodder beet is becoming a major wintering crop for dairy cows, particularly in southern regions of the country.  This seems to have been driven by the potentially high yields achievable (20-30 t DM/ha) and its high energy content (bulbs 12 -13 MJ/kg DM; leaves 10-11 MJ/kg DM). However, some farmers have had issues when grazing [...]
Forage, Publications