Gaining from Improved Dairy Cow Nutrition: Economic, environmental and animal health benefits

A majority of UK dairy herds have the potential to increase profitability by improving the ration of their cows. This paper reports that gains averaging around£100 per cow have been made within one year of adopting the Keenan Hi-Fibre ration by 239 UK herds in 2006 and 2007. Larger gains have been m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Colman, David R, Beever, David E
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.04.2009
Subjects
animal health
cattle nutrition
Feed conversion efficiency
greenhouse gas emissions
Livestock Production/Industries
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:A majority of UK dairy herds have the potential to increase profitability by improving the ration of their cows. This paper reports that gains averaging around£100 per cow have been made within one year of adopting the Keenan Hi-Fibre ration by 239 UK herds in 2006 and 2007. Larger gains have been made by herds in France. The key performance indicator underlying thesegains is Feed Conversion Efficiency, whereby the same, or even a smaller amount of Dry Matter Intake generates higher yields per cow. Importantly, the gains are associated with large improvements in animal health andreductions in greenhouse gases per litre of milk produced.
Bibliography:http://purl.umn.edu/51424