How to Maximize Dairy Nutrition
How to Maximize Dairy Nutrition
Getting the nutrition right for your dairy is arguably the most important job on a dairy farm. It’s the one thing that touches everything from the cow’s health to the size of your milk check. Our dairy cattle are doing a massive amount of internal work at once. They have to maintain their own body, grow a calf, and produce a huge volume of milk, all while keeping their internal chemistry perfectly balanced.
Here’s why getting the nutrition right is arguably the most important job: it’s the secret to milk quality. You don’t just get class I butterfat and protein by luck; those components are built directly from the nutrients the cow eats. If the diet is off, your milk test will show it immediately, and you’ll be leaving money on the table.
If you’re wondering where to start, there are a few easy places that can really pay off in the long run. We will take a look at some of those options.
Small Grain Silage
Most milk cooperatives now include Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN) on every pick-up report, right alongside your butterfat, protein, and somatic cell counts. This number acts as a check for your herd’s nitrogen status.
The MUN is starting to spark some interest towards small grain silages rather than corn silages. The reason is that small grains are generally cheaper to grow, and when chopped at the optimum time, they have both high protein and energy to be used to balance the diet. Some of these include: cereal rye, triticale, and when they can help bridge the gap between high-energy corn silage and high-protein alfalfa.
Nitrogen efficiency is all about timing. Small grains generally have a moderate protein content (typically 12–16%) and a good amount of fermentable sugar. This can be more beneficial because, unlike alfalfa, which can sometimes have too much “soluble” protein that just washes out as waste, the protein in small grains breaks down at a rate that more closely matches the energy release of the carbohydrates. This promotes healthy rumen microbes, allowing them to capture more nitrogen and turn it into milk protein.
This can mean you’re growing a cheaper crop (when compared with corn and alfalfa) and getting more feed efficiency.
With the inclusion of more corn silage and small-grain silage in lactating cow diets, there has been a trend for an improved balance between carbohydrates and protein, allowing for improved nitrogen efficiency.
Analyze your Feed to Milk Ratio
Cornell University has some information for analyzing your milk quality and feed ratio. According to Cornell University, Basic Nutrition for Dairy Cattle Sjaunja et al. (1990), there is an equation that accounts for your milk quality and feed ratio, often called Energy Corrected Milk” or “ECM”.
Not every pound of milk is worth the same. A cow giving 80 pounds of “watery” class IV milk might actually be less profitable than a cow giving 70 pounds of class I milk loaded with butterfat and protein. It’s a matter of figuring out quantity versus quality.
ECM is a formula that adjusts your total milk volume based on your fat and protein tests. It creates a “corrected” number so you can compare cows or herds fairly, regardless of their breed or components. The Milk to Feed Ratio is the final “grade” for your management. To find this value, you must first calculate your daily yields for fat and protein. You determine your milk fat yield by multiplying your average daily milk pounds by your milk fat percentage, and you calculate your milk protein yield by multiplying those same daily pounds by your protein percentage.
Once you have these yields, you can calculate the ECM by multiplying your milk yield by 0.325, your fat yield by 12.86, and your protein yield by 7.04, then adding those three totals together.
You take your ECM and divide it by your DMI.
To find your DMI, you take the total weight of the feed you put out, subtract whatever was left over in the bunk (the “refusals”), and then remove the water weight based on your latest forage moisture test. Dividing that by the number of cows tells you exactly how many pounds of actual nutrition each cow consumed.
You want a score of 1.50 or higher. This means for every 1 pound of dry feed the cow eats, she is producing 1.5 pounds of high-quality milk. If that number drops below 1.50, your cows are becoming inefficient, and you’re likely losing money.
The study goes on to make three recommendations to improve low scores. First, check your forage quality. Secondly, look at your feed management: Are the cows sorting the feed? Make sure the mixer is working correctly, the knives are sharp, and the bunk is being cleaned regularly so the cows aren’t eating yesterday’s leftovers. Lastly, take a look at the overall diet and nutrition. It might be time to send a new sample of your silage to the lab to see if the nutrition has shifted since your last ration was balanced.
Use Your Local Resources
The more information you know, the better decisions you can make. One of the most underused resources is local company representatives and specialists. Think of a good dairy company rep as an extra set of eyes on your operation. While some people see them just as a salesperson trying to push a product on you, the best ones act more like consultants who are heavily invested in your success. If your cows aren’t milking well, you aren’t buying their product, so it’s in their best interest to help you get the nutrition right.
They also have access to lots of company data and results from other dairies just like yours. They can help you analyze your feed. By using a tool called a Penn State Particle Separator, they can shake out a sample of your TMR to see if the mix is consistent from one end of the barn to the other. If the mix is off, they can help you adjust your mixing order or time to fix it.
Your forages change every time you move deeper into the bunker or open a new bag. A rep can regularly pull samples and send them to the lab. When the results come back, they work with your nutritionist to tweak the recipe so you aren’t underfeeding protein or overpaying for energy based on the actual quality of the crop in your silo.
Most reps have access to software that tracks your Milk to Feed Ratio and ECM. If you do not want to hand calculate the ECM as mentioned previously, you might have a company rep do it for you, or see if they have software with easy plugin options. They can take the confusing data from your milk checks and DHI reports and turn it into a simple “report card.” They can show you exactly where you’re losing money and where the opportunities are to gain a few more pounds of milk.
Sometimes, standard feed isn’t enough, especially if you’re trying to produce class I milk. A rep can recommend specific additives and products like rumen-protected fats, bypass proteins, or yeast cultures that target specific problems in your herd.
While company reps are great for troubleshooting specific products, State Extension Agents offer a different kind of value as they are unbiased, research-based experts. Since they aren’t trying to sell you a specific bag of mineral or a proprietary additive, their only goal is the success of your farm and the industry as a whole.
Extension agents help you look at nutrition starting from the ground up. They can help you interpret soil tests and forage reports without a sales pitch. If you’re trying to decide between planting a BMR corn silage or a traditional variety, they can provide the latest multi-year yield and digestibility data from university trial plots in your specific county.
Extension agents are big on “precision.” They often host workshops or one-on-one sessions to teach farm staff. They can also help you set up systems to track your Dry Matter Intake (DMI) and Milk-to-Feed Ratio more accurately, ensuring your “miles per gallon” calculation is based on solid data.
Nutrition isn’t just about biology; it’s about economics. Extension agents often provide spreadsheets and “Decision Tools” that help you calculate your Milk Margin Over Feed Cost (MOFC). This helps you decide if that expensive new bypass protein is actually paying for itself in the milk check or if it’s just an added expense.
Putting it All Together
At the end of the day, managing dairy nutrition is a balancing act that requires both a sharp eye in the barn and a steady hand on the calculator. Whether you are experimenting with small-grain silages to improve your nitrogen efficiency or digging into your Energy Corrected Milk (ECM) to find hidden leaks in your profit margin, the goal remains the same: getting the most value out of every pound of feed.
By keeping your Milk-to-Feed ratio above 1.50, you ensure that your cows aren’t just eating, they’re performing. But you don’t have to do it alone. Leveraging the technical tools of a company representative and the unbiased, research-backed data from your State Extension Agent creates a support system that takes the guesswork out of the bunk.
Remember, a dairy cow’s internal chemistry is always changing. Staying proactive with forage testing, monitoring your MUN levels, and keeping your equipment in top shape aren’t just chores—they are the investments that ensure your farm stays profitable, your herd stays healthy, and your milk checks stay strong for the long haul.
March 2026
By Jessica Graham
