Structure in feeding

A dairy cow needs a certain amount of structure in her feeding. The structure is mostly NDF (Neutral Detergent Fibre) in the roughage. According to the farmers cows are given enough NDF because it keeps the rumen functioning and also gives them energy.

With right kind of structure levels a cow needs at least 1 kg of roughage’s dry matter per 100 kg of weight a day. If a cow weights 550 kg, she needs at least 5,5 kg of roughage dry matter. If dry matter is 30 % of roughage, the cow needs at least 18,3 kg of roughage a day.

You can easily see if your cows need more structure in feeding by checking the quality and thickness of manure. Most of the farmers we met constantly checked thickness of manure and changed the feeding according to their observations. A Finnish farmer and also a Dutch farmer told us that when there's enough structure in feeding, when a cow is chewing about 70% of her resting time. A cow should also chew 60–65 times per bolus. The farmers also told us that foam in cow's mouth indicates a feeding problem.

Mineral efficiency

Different carbohydrates take different time to be digested. Starch digests much faster than NDF. The farmers told us that when there’s enough structure in a cow’s feeding, a cow chews her food better and a digestion of food is more efficient. When a cow chews more she also produces more saliva and more urea returns to a rumen and doesn't go to waste. When there’s enough constructional NDF food also stays longer in a rumen and has more time for digestion. This leads to more efficient usage of food and reduces the amount of nutrients going to waste in manure and urine. The digestion of NDF becomes less efficient when the amount of concentrated feed is increased.

How to get more structure in feeding?

Concentrated feed has higher dry matter percentage than roughage, so by feeding it to cows enables them to milk more. Concentrated feed doesn’t have much structure, so roughage is needed. The farmers we met gave concentrated feed in small portions.

The farmers told us that the amount of structure in roughage depends on time when silage has been made. Early grass silage has low structure levels and silage that’s been made later has higher structure levels. A way to reduce the amount of structure in silage is to use a mowing conditioner. Silage is bruised by this machine. There's less structure in silage and energy is free faster. The preservation is better, because sugar is better available for a rumen and a cow can use energy earlier. A Finnish farmer told that if silage has been made in bales and different batches of bales have different levels of structure, it is possible to feed the bales in turns or to mix them mechanically.

If the structure level is too high, it can be fixed with increasing the amount of concentrated feed and reducing the amount of hay. If the structure level is too low, the feeding can be fixed with increasing the amount of hay and straw, reducing the amount of concentrated feed or making the silage later.

The Dutch farmers also feed their cows maize. If there is a lot of maize in the ration, farmers can cut maize in bigger pieces and compensate the amount of structure that way.

You can find more information about the feeding of a cow from here.

Page updated 16.5.2006