UFFDA FOR DAIRY

1. Choose one for the dairy examples to start. I selected “dairy2.dat”.

2. When you are in the nutrient limits window, remove forage, concentrate, hay activity and silage activity (by going to the proper cell and press “Control” and “Delete” simultaneously. Add NDF (by going to a proper cell and press “Control”and “Insert” simultaneously.

3. In the nutrients limit window give minima for NEl intake, CP, UIP, NDF, ADF, Ca and P. Maxima for dry matter intake (DMI), NEl intake and CP intake are also required (why ?). Maxima should not be more than 10 % above the target. Note that units are in kg per cow per day, or Mcal per cow per day.

4. In the ingredients window, indicate that you want to feed (on a DM basis) at least 1.5 kg of mixed hay (why?), 9.3 kg of corn silage, 3.5 kg of mixed haylage and 0.9 kg of mineral mix. Assume that the mineral mix is 10 % Ca and 5 % P. Also indicate that you do not want to feed more than 250 g of tallow per cow per day (why?). The units are in kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day.

5. In the composition matrix, put in all the data from the feeds. Make sure that you do not make any data entry errors! The unit for cost is $ per kg DM. The table in the handout gives $ per ton as is, so you have to convert. “Weight” relates to the DM content. It is the weight of the feed (kg) that contains 1 kg of DM. So, if DM content is 30 %, then weight is 1/0.30 = 3.33 kg. NE_l is in Mcal/kg , similar to the table. CP, NDF, ADF, Ca and P are in kg per kg DM. The table is in % of DM. For example, 20 % = 0.20 kg/kg. UIP and DIP are in kg per kg DM. The table is in % of CP. So you have to convert. If CP is 10 % of DM and UIP is 30 % of CP, then UIP is 10 x 0.3 = 3 % of DM. This is equivalent to 0.03 kg per kg DM.

6. The ration between Ca and P should be between 1.5 and 2.5. The ratio between concentrate and forage should not be higher than 1.5 (60:40).

I guess that you are now ready to formulate. Good luck!