Background
About the Website:This website was created to fulfill the educational objectives of the dairy feed efficiency project, a multistate, USDA funded project (2011 to 2017). The website provides information on feed efficiency and sustainability of dairy industry from the basics to the understanding deeper concepts. Anyone who visits the website without any basic knowledge on the concepts of feed efficiency and dairy sustainability would be able to get a deeper understanding. Educational materials on feed efficiency and sustainability of dairy industry have prepared as grade-specific lesson units for the school children from kindergarten to the grade 12. Also, study units or sources of information for undergraduate and graduate students, and the general public are included.
What is the challenge?
The world population is rising; so does the demand for food products. However, the resources available for food production such as land, water, fertilizer, labor, and feed for livestock are diminishing. Producing food products for an increasing demand with limited resources will be a greater challenge faced by the human being in years to come. Also, the negative effects of any food industry on the environment is of a greater concern. As any other food industry, the dairy industry also facing a challenge of producing milk with limited resources. The efficient milk production or producing milk with fewer resources for a long period of times or in a sustainable manner is a strategy to meet the demand of milk and protect the available resources to produce food for future generations.
Why do we have to measure the performance of dairy cows?
The milk production using dairy cows is an economic activity or an industry. In the dairy industry, the major input is feed to dairy cows and major output is milk from dairy cows. Simply, dairy farmers spend money to feed the dairy cows and earn money by selling the milk or milk products. As in any other industry, the objective of the dairy production is to get more money from selling milk compared to money spent on feeding the cows and other activities or earn a profit. As cows are producing milk as an output, measuring the performance or how many of pounds of milk they produce is important. Also, we need to know the amount of feed that they consume.
Profit = Value of output – Value of input
How efficient dairy cows are?
It is easier to measure how many pounds of milk is being produced by a dairy cow in a day. We prefer to see more pounds of milk being produced by a dairy cow. Also, it is important to know that how many pounds of feed they consume in a day as the cost of feeding is a significant proportion of the total expenditure in the dairy industry. As we like to see less money spent on feed, we prefer to see fewer pounds of feed consumed by a dairy cow to produce milk. In the dairy industry, the performance of a dairy cow could be calculated dividing the amount of milk produced by the amount of feed consumed by a dairy cow. This ratio is called “dairy efficiency” or “feed efficiency”. Simply, it is how many pounds of milk a dairy cow produce when you feed her a pound of feed (on dry matter basis).
Feed efficiency =(Pounds of milk produced)/(Pounds of feed consumed)
What is the importance of feed efficiency?
Dairy cows are amazing animals who can convert feed that is inedible to humans especially the forage and agricultural by-products into a high-quality source of food for humans, milk. However, a significant portion of nutrients fed to dairy cows are wasted as gasses (enteric emissions), and manure (urine and feces). As the cost of feeding is a significant proportion of the expenditure in the dairy industry, extracting more nutrients from the feed and converting them to milk or improving the efficiency of feeding is vital for the profitability of the dairy farmers. Also, improving feed efficiency helps to reduce the amount of nutrients excreted in the manure. That helps to save the cost of nutrients ended up in the manure, reduce the liability of handling the manure by dairy farmers, and reduce the negative effects of enteric gas emissions, and manure to the environment.
What is dairy sustainability?
Sustainability is a word that we hear more frequently in the present time. What is the meaning of sustainability and what is the connection with dairy industry?
Simply, dairy sustainability is the capability of the dairy industry to be continued for a long term. There are three basic requirements to fulfill to be able to sustain as an industry. As any other industry, if one or more requirements failed to accomplish, dairy industry would not be able to survive. The three basic requirements considered in the dairy sustainability are
- Economic viability: ability of the dairy industry to make profits in a long run,
- Social responsibility: ability to satisfy human food need and enhance the quality of life of the farmers and the society, and
- Environmental friendliness: ability to operate the industry with a minimal negative impact on the environment.
Overview of the Educational Materials
Educational materials on feed efficiency and dairy sustainability have been prepared to cover a wide range of audiences which include 3 basic categories of learners,
- School children,
- The scientific community, and
- The general public which include consumers and voters.
Educational Materials
Download the educational materials today:| Category | Grade | Document | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachers' Guide | K-12 | Teachers' Guide | |
| Early Elementary | K-2 | Short Story I-Daisy the Dairy Cow | pdf, |
| K-2 | Lets Draw a Dairy Cow | pdf, ppt | |
| K-2 | Lets Know More About Dairy Cows | ||
| K-2 | Lets Draw a Dairy Cow | pdf, ppt | |
| K-2 | Kids Dairy NoteBook | ||
| Late Elementary | 3-5 | Short Story-II-Daisy the Dairy Cow | |
| Middle and High School | 6-12 | Short Story-III-An American Success Story | |
| Undergraduate/Graduate Students | Data Base-Dairy Feed Efficiency of US | xls | |
| Undergraduate/Graduate Students | Case Study-California and Wisconsin | ||
| Undergraduate/Graduate Students | Feed Efficiency and IOFC Calculations | xls |
Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Ayrshire: any of a breed of hardy dairy cattle varying in color from white to red or brown
Alfalfa: a type of plant that is grown mostly as food for farm animals. A deep-rooted southwest Asian plant of the legume family with purple flowers and leaves like clover that is widely grown for hay and forage.
B
Butter: a solid yellow substance made from milk or cream that is spread on food or used in cooking or solid yellow fatty food made by churning milk or cream
Barn: a building on a farm that is used for storing grain and hay and for housing farm animals or equipment or a building used chiefly for storing grain and hay and for keeping farm animals or farm equipment in
C
Cow: the mature female of cattle
Calf: the young of the domestic cow
DDairy products:
Dairy: a farm that produces milk or a farm devoted to the production of milk
Dairy cow:
E
F
Farm: a piece of land used for growing crops or raising animals
Farmer: a person who runs a farm
G
Grazing
Grass:
H
Heifer: a young female cow
Hay: grass that has been cut and dried to be used as food for animals
I
Ice cream: a frozen food containing sweetened and flavored cream
J
Jersey
K
Kefier: a beverage of fermented cow's milk
L
Legume: a type of plant (such as pea or a bean plant) with seeds that grow in long cases (called pods)
M
Milk: a white liquid produced by a woman to feed her baby or by female animals to feed their young
N
Nostril: one of the two openings of the nose
O
Oats: the seeds of the oat plant used as feed for farm animals and in foods (such as bread and oatmeal) for people
Ox: a bull that has had its sex organs removed or an adult castrated male ox ussed especially for hauling loads
P
Pasture: a large area of land where animals feed on the grass
Parlor:
Q
Quart: a unit of liquid measurement equal to two U.S. pints or 0.946 liters
R
Rotary milk parlor
S
Straw: a single dry stem of a grain plant
T
Tail: the rear end or a process or prologation of the rear end of the body of an animal
Tractor: a large vehicle that has two large back wheels and two smaller front wheels and that is used to pull farm equipment
U
Udder: the bag-shaped part of a cow, goat, etc., that hands below the belly and produces milk
V
Vaccine: a substance that is usually injected into a person or animal to protect against a particular disease or a preparation containing usually killed or weakened microorganisms (as bacteria or viruses that is given usually by injection to increase protection against a particular disease
W
Wheat: a kind of grain that is used to make flour for breads, cookies, etc. and is important in animal feeds
Whipped Cream
X
Y
Yak: a lage long-haired wild or domesticated ox (Bosgrunniens syn. B. mutus) of Tibet and adjacent elevated parts of central Asia or a wild or domestic ox of the uplands of central Asia that has very long hair
Yogurt: a thick soft food that is made of milk soured by the addition of bacteria and that is often flavored and sweetened
Z
Zebu: an Asian domestic ox that has a large hump over the shoulders and loose skin with hanging folds