The Bovine Bugle

A change in the grain for the cows

We had a load of grain from Morrison Feeds delivered to the farm the other day. This load was a little different from what we had been getting since the cows had started the grazing season back in May. Once the cows start grazing, we lower the protein level of the grain because the lush grass they feed on is very high in protein. This way we don't oversupply the cow with protein, and we save on grain costs because the higher the protein level of the grain the higher the price of the grain.

On this particular load of grain, we raised the protein level up 2 percent to a 14 percent ration. We did this because the feed in the grazing paddocks is not as good and is not providing the level of protein it was a month ago. By raising the protein level we hope to keep the cows producing at their current level for awhile longer, and we will need this extra protein in the cows diet once we start feed round bales to the milking cows. No matter how good the feed is in the round bales, it can never match the feed the cows get in our pastures during the grazing season.

One interesting thing we have found since switching to organic production is that we have fed a much lower protein grain than we ever did while farming conventionally. In the summer we feed a 12 percent ration and in the winter we feed a 14% ration. When we were farming conventionally, we rarely fed a ration as low as 12 percent, and in the winter we were told by the grain salemen and their computer programs that we needed to feed a grain ration as high as 20-22 percent protein. Our cows have done fine on the lower protein rations. It makes me wonder what were we really being sold all those years?

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Learn about other organic dairy farmers and the Organic Valley family of farms.

Posted by Blogger Chris at October 8, 2004 02:06 PM