Dairy cows: easy tips on what and how to feed them

A dairy farm will produce plentiful and healthy milk if you know what and how to feed it. These tips will help you perform the tasks necessary for producing top-quality milk for you and your family.

Cows, like sheep and goats, are ruminants. This means they can absorb nutrients from pasture grasses and leaves. To look after the source of food for ruminants, do the following:

• You should also plant their pasture with legumes, such as clover or alfalfa, since grasses and leaves alone do not provide adequate protein and high-energy sugars for prolonged milk production.
• To get maximum food value from any plant, the cow must eat it when it is tender and green.
• Most dairy farmers turn their cows onto a pasture when the grass is about 15 centimetres tall. After the cows eat the plants but before the land is overgrazed, move the cows to a new pasture so that the first area can rejuvenate itself.
• By rotating pastures, the cows are assured a steady supply of nutritious roughage.

• During winter months, you may need to feed cows hay. Like fresh pasturage, hay should be tender and green.
• It is best if you cut it just as it blooms.
• From 2.5 to 3 kilograms of top-quality hay per 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of body weight will meet a cow's daily nutritional needs.
• When you feed your cows excellent hay or pasturage alone, most will produce 12 to 15 litres of milk per day during peak production months. This amount, which represents 60 to 70 percent of maximum capacity, should be more than enough for the average family.

• To boost productivity or to supplement average-quality hay or pasturage, provide a mixture of grain and high-protein meal. Ground corn, oats, barley and wheat bran are the most popular grains.
• Produce stores or stock feed suppliers sell these supplements already mixed in proper proportion for lactating cows. They also sell high-protein mixtures specially designed to be diluted with your own grain.
• Provide the high-protein mixture twice daily. It is usually given during milking. Provide in measured amounts, and make any changes in diet very gradually. Otherwise the cow may develop bloat, a dangerous stomach disorder.
• Besides good feed, the other essential requirements for top-quality milk production are free access to salt and plenty of clean water. For best results provide a salt lick and water in the pasture as well as in the cow's stall. Change the water at least twice a day, or install a self-watering device.

If you follow these tips and take good care of your cow's source of food and water, you can guarantee a good supply of quality milk for you and your family.