Does molasses increase the palatbility of rations? It is difficult to measure palatabiltiy. When dry matter intake increases after adding molasses to the total mixed ration (TMR) it may appear it does. However, digestibility may have been increased due to the ration not falling apart and decreasing the risk of cows sorting out the fines in TMRs, thus driving up dry matter intake.

Researchers from the University of Guelph found that feeding mid-lactation cows a molasses-based liquid feed (~4% dietary DM) within a TMR has the ability to increase DMI, milk yield, and component yields of lactating cows.

Distiller’s grain contains high levels of fat, especially unsaturated fatty acids.  Excessive level of unsaturated fatty acid is one of the most important risk factors of milk fat depression

Molasses-based liquid feed supplements are still available and adding these supplements to TMRs is the recommendation of many dairy specialists. These products provide some moisture but it's more the sticky quality of the molasses that binds forages and grains together in the TMR, making it harder for cows to sort.

If you want your dairy herd to produce 100 pounds of milk per day, then you must consider the following principles. Each additional pound of peak milk will yield 239 pounds of milk over a 305-day lactation. First-lactation animals need to produce 75% of the expected mature cow production. Second lactation animals need to produce 90% of the

LIQUID FEEDS ARE MORE THAN MOLASSES Registered and customized Liquid Feed products, contain molasses, protein from corn solubles and additional sugar sources. Molasses contains sucrose, glucose, fructose, organic acids including lactic and malic etc. other carbohydrates and is a rich source of B Vitamins. Adding custom blend molasses products to

You have been over quota before; it’s not a big deal, right? You used incentive days coming along to absorb your over-quota balance. Well, it doesn’t look like there will be any this fall, and perhaps not for a long time. So, what do you do now? If you do nothing, you will end up dumping milk, or even worse, shipping it for nothing

Reason 1: Rations with high starch fermentability directly reduce rumen pH, and reduce forage NDF digestibility. This will lead to a decrease in the production of ruminal acetate and butyrate, and promote the generation of undesirable fatty acid byproducts in the rumen. In contrast, sugar fermentation usually does not decrease rumen pH. Higher

Dairy Technical Bulletin There are three factors that influence the impact of sugar on fiber digestion. They are the rumen degradable protein (RDP) content of the diet; forage content of the diet; and amount of sugar and starch in the diet. Due to the interaction between RDP and sugar source, it is important to compare the impact of sugar on

When corn and soybean meal prices are high, LFI products will least cost into dairy cattle diets but this is not always the case. Grain and protein prices always return to more normal levels in time. When this situation occurs, it is important to identify those herds which will respond to LFI supplementation. This situation is not any different