Benefits of Timely Feed Delivery and Push Ups

By Michal Lunak

The physical feeding environment of the cow is comprised of feed bunk space, headlocks, manger surface, alley width, and floor behind the manger. Another factor impacting the feeding environment is the cow's natural behavior.

Cows are naturally competitive and aggressive eaters. For this reason, managing the physical environment is necessary to control the inherent competitive feeding behavior which promotes dry matter intake (DMI). Keep in mind that one pound of DMI translates into two pounds of milk for Holstein cows (Grant, 2015).

Three factors are considered in feed stimulating behavior – delivery of fresh feed, feed push-ups, and milking. Feed delivery is the most important stimulus, but it has its limits (DeVries et al., 2005; Grant, 2015).

Fresh feed delivery twice a day is preferred under most conditions. This significantly improves the efficiency of milk production. Sova et al. (2013) found that, under the twice a day feed delivery strategy, feed was available more throughout the day, was less sorted out, and DMI and milk yield were increased by 3.1 pounds per day and 4.4 pounds per day, respectively.