Feed ingredients and forages can be nutritionally volatile,
creating significant starch variation in a dairy ration. As
producers and their advisors meet in the conference room (or
kitchen), the conversation should lead to a better understanding
of this volatility, and how managing it can greatly improve the
efficiency of a ration. By Kevin Leahy The stability of a herd’s
ration directly affects milk production stability and
efficiency. Here are some questions dairy producers should
consider when evaluating ration consistency, and discuss with
their herd nutritionist to consider options to improve the
consistency. 1) What are some of the causes of nutritional
volatility in a ration? Nutritional volatility in a ration can
be caused by a number of things. Some of the main causes can be
a change in the type of feed ingredients being used, the
harvest/storage/fermentation of forages included, and even the
genetics of the forage crop. Often, these variations can be
extreme even within the same bunker or truckload