Launched in 2017, our Feed2Milk principles underpin the nutritional approach taken to our Prima, Maxima and Optima compound feed ranges. Since then, Feed2Milk has established itself as a mainstay for our farmer customers, throughout the country, as it goes beyond the standard system.
Improve your herd's performance and ration efficiency
Instead of simply looking at the inputs and outputs, Feed2Milk starts with analysis of homegrown forage using dry NIR, then carefully formulates and accurately measures nutrient content of feed, then onto the Optifeed rationing program which matches the nutrients supplied with the requirements of the cow, to predict performance and ration efficiency.
Our Feed2Milk system expresses these predictions through a set of figures, including:
- MELK – More Energy for the Lactating Cow (indication of true milk yield potential from energy)
- TDP – True Digestible Protein (digestible protein available for milk production)
- RFC – Rapidly Fermentable Carbohydrate (indicating rumen health risk)
- AI – Acidosis Index (predicting the risk of acidosis)
- RI – Rumination Index (structural fibre supply)
These figures help provide information about a herd’s potential performance and give a much better understanding of how each individual farm’s forage will perform. The Feed2Milk system then uses over 3,000 equations resulting in a tailored Optifeed ration program for your herd, that optimises rumen function and predicts the best performance outcome of a ration.
What can Feed2Milk predict?
Feed2Milk predicts:
- How forage and feed are broken down
- What nutrients they produce
- Where the nutrients are utilised
- What effect this has on animal performance in terms of milk yield and rumen health.
The advantages and proven benefits
This holistic approach has been used throughout the winter on numerous British farms for four years and pulls on even longer experience and knowledge from the work done in Holland over the past eight years.
Results from Feed2Milk nutrition plans show an average increase of 1.8 litres/day (with a range of 0.5-8.0 litres/cow/day). The value of extra milk production resulted in an average increase of £14/cow/month.
With Feed2Milk, an improvement in feed efficiency was also observed with an average 0.04kg/litre reduction in feed rate. This led to an average saving of £6/cow/month in feed costs, or a potential extra 700 litres per cow produced from forage.