Feeding to Minimize Nutrient Requirements for Maintenance and Increase Milk Production

Feed costs represent greater than 50% of the costs of producing milk. Several practical strategies have been applied to help minimize costs, including reduced feed losses during storage, reduced shrink at feed out, and determining favorable pricing for commodity feeds. Much less attention has been directed towards improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle. Although recognized as an important component of profitability, feed efficiency is a difficult trait to describe, measure, and subsequently improve through management strategies or genetic selection.