Feed efficiency: the key to sustainable dairy success

The world has put dairy farmers and their cows under a magnifying glass. Public scrutiny of food production’s environmental footprint has never been more intense. Finding ways to maximise farm returns while reducing emissions is more important than ever.

Identifying your most efficient feed-converting cows plays a vital role in sustainability by reducing farm waste and ensuring maximum farm returns.

Using the Saved Feed Index, you can breed more feed-efficient and climate-friendly cows, all while achieving high production and maintaining good health and reproductive performance.

The Saved Feed Index is based on data collected by the Cattle Feed Intake System (CFIT). This advanced AI-based system uses recycled 3D cameras and deep learning to monitor and measure feed intake in a cow’s natural environment during lactation.

With highly reliable feed-efficiency data, you can make well-informed decisions that enhance feed efficiency, reduce costs, lower emissions, and simplify your daily tasks on a farm.

Research into greenhouse gases indicates that, on average, 6% of the energy that a cow eats is spent on producing methane. However, this varies from 2-12% depending on how feed-efficient the cow is.

Data from the 11 herds also show a significant difference in methane emissions. The best-performing herd has 26% lower emissions per kg ECM milk produced than the worst-performing herd.

Methane production (calculated based on the model used for reporting climate impact to the United Nations’ Climate Panel) ranges from 147 to 167 kg of methane per cow annually across the herds.

Ensuring adequate energy in the feed ration prevents excessive weight loss and promotes improvements in production levels and the overall health of cows.

As lactation progresses into the mid and late stages, the cow becomes accustomed to high milk production and the corresponding feed intake.

“Previous studies indicate that feed intake differs between early, mid, and late lactation,” says Jan Lassen, Project Manager at VikingGenetics. “Merely having data from mid-lactation would lead to a situation where feed efficiency is compromised rather than improved,” he adds.

To create a reliable Saved Feed Index, it is essential to have data available throughout the entire lactation. The data obtained from CFIT farms provide valuable information spanning the full length of each lactation.