With such a poor start to the grazing season, what percentage of crude protein should be in the dairy nuts you are using?

A lot of farms will currently have an 18% protein nut in their meal bin, but will be planning on switching to a 16% nut as cows get to grass.

Once a cow has enough energy in her system after calving, she can start to utilise ammonia from protein and nitrogen to produce microbial protein, which in turn supports production.

That is why formulating a carefully balanced diet is essential in achieving optimum production.

To do this, farmers must remember that every unit of feed energy (UFL) a cow requires, she will need 100-105g of Protein Digestible in the Intestine (PDI).

Excess PDI can actually reduce production, as the cow will have to burn energy during the process of converting ammonia back to urea for excretion.

Crude protein

If a cow has an intake of 17.5 UFL/day, their diet should be matched to contain a PDI content of 1,840g per day.

When that is translated to crude protein, farmers should be feeding anywhere between 15.5% and 17% crude protein.

Considering the majority of cows still have silage in their diet, farmers should be feeding an 18% nut to bridge the gap, as silage is only around 11-12% crude protein.

Meanwhile, spring grass has crude protein content of about 20-22% and rising, which means that feeding an 18% protein nut may be wasteful.

If the weather stays some way optimistic, and cows can continue with on/off grazing, it may be worth moving to a 16% nut.

When cows are out full-time, farmers can then make the move to a 14% nut.

If grass quality is good and cows are going to optimal cover over a consistent period, then a 12% crude protein nut may be sufficient.

In the event that cows are rehoused due to poor conditions and you only have a 14% nut available, there is no need to switch back to a higher crude protein content nut.

Instead, farmers should turn their focus to getting cows back out to grass when they can, implementing on/off grazing where needed.

Heavier farms should continue to feed a high energy 16% crude protein nut until cows are at grass full time, as these farms can easily have the herd driven back in with rain.

As grass does start to make its way back into the diet, farmers need to remember that higher crude protein nuts are usually more expensive to buy in.

The money spent on a higher protein will not bring you a return if it is only going towards excess, as it will simply end up excreted out through urea.

No matter what crude protein nut you feed, as you decrease the crude protein in conjunction with the amount of grass in the diet, the UFL value should always be above 0.94 so intake capacity is not limited.

Discuss what the best feed for your herd is with your nutritionist or adviser before refilling the bin this month.