How much dry matter does a dairy cow eat?
A dairy cow should consume 4% of her body weight daily as total dry matter (forage + grain). Three pounds of silage or 2 to 2.5 lbs.
How do you calculate dry matter intake for dairy cows?
Dry Matter Intake is calculated in Table 1. Assuming a 1,300 pound cow with the equation of Cow Body Weight * . 011/NDF, percent. Another way to look at this is for every 100 pounds of body weight, a cow can consume 1.1 pounds of her body weight in NDF.
How much dry matter can a cow eat?
An efficient milking cow needs a daily dry matter intake equivalent to at least 3% of its body weight. Example: a 600 kg cow needs 600 kg × 3% = 18 kg DM/day. Higher producing cows will eat more than 4% of their body weight as dry matter.
How much dry matter does a cow need per day?
Cows will voluntarily consume 2 percent of body weight or 24 pounds per day. The 24 pounds is based on 100 percent dry matter. Grass hays will often be 7 percent to 10 percent moisture.
How is dry matter intake calculated?
The base equation is as follows: 120/NDF of the feed = % of body weight used to determine the dry matter intake of that feed.
How do you calculate dry matter?
1) Figure the dry matter percentage. Subtract the moisture content from 100%. In this example 100% – 75.9% = 24.1% dry matter. 2) Convert individual nutrients from “as fed” to “dry matter”.
How do you calculate dry matter intake?
To calculate the percent of dry matter from pasture, you divide the pounds of DM from pasture by the total dry matter demand, then multiply by 100. This formula establishes how much of the total dry matter required by the cow is coming from pasture.
What is dry matter percentage?
In contrast, feed and forage nutrient analyses expressed as “dry matter” represent the percentages of nutrients present excluding water content. Dry matter content of a feedstuff is important because it reveals the actual amounts of various nutrients available to the animal consuming the feed.
What is dry matter intake?
Dry matter intake is the amount of feed a cow consumes per day on a moisture-free basis. DMI is a factor that must be estimated before an animal’s diet can be properly calculated; it establishes the amount of nutrients available to an animal for health and production.
How do you calculate dry matter in a feed?
EXAMPLE: Lactating dairy cows weighing an average of 1200 lb will consume approximately 3.0% of their body weight in dry matter intake daily. Thus, the dry matter demand is approximately 36 lb of dry matter per day for that class of animal.
How is milk yield related to dry matter intake?
Milk yield is positively correlated to dry matter intake. For every pound of additional intake that a cow consumes, we can expect about two pounds of milk. There are several factors that affect intake, two of these being dependent upon the cow. Body weight of the cow, larger cows consume more feed.
How many kilos of dry matter per day?
The equation is dry matter intake, in kilos per day, equals 0.0968 times body weight to the three quarter power. That means cows that weigh more will consume more dry matter. The second component of the equation is .372 times kilograms of fat-corrected milk.
How to calculate reference cow for milk production?
To calculate reference cow, take the average peak milk of older cows and add the daily average of all cows and divide by 2. Two groups: Balance rations at 20 percent above average milk production of each group. Three or more groups: Balance rations at 10 to 15 percent above average milk production of each group.