109 Stretching forages with limited quality and quantity by using non-forage fiber sources (NFFS) available in the Midwestern United States

Abstract

Abstract Last year, over 110 million metric tons of corn silage and 2.7 million metric tons of alfalfa were harvested (USDA, 2018). Despite these amounts and because forage is costly to transport, individual dairy producers who experience troubling seeding, growing, and/or harvest may be faced with the challenge of maintaining normal milk production by feeding less forage. Fortunately, non-forage fiber sources (NFFS) may be used to supply nutrients that would otherwise come from forages. Furthermore, many of these feeds, such are corn gluten feed, beet pulp, brewers grains, canola meal, distillers grains and solubles, and soyhulls are plentifully in the Midwestern United States. Although each NFFS is unique and the chemical composition may vary due to source, when making ration balancing decisions to include them, nutritionists may be faced with similar challenges. These challenges include that these feeds are low in effective fiber, many contain less fiber than forages, are higher in rumen undegradable protein, may vary in chemical composition, and may include toxins or antinutritional factors. Although the modern dairy cow is adaptable and can utilize use NFFS as sources of nutrients to produce milk, there are still limitations to how they can be included in diets.