Compact feeding – the Danish way to feed cows

Compact TMR feeding sounds very high-tech, stoking up images of miniature diet feeders or forage/concentrate pellets.

But it’s a way more basic concept than that. It simply means adding water to the total mixed ration (TMR). Water binds the ration together which prevents the cows from sorting it at the feed face and is said to lead to increased feed efficiency.

According to Henrik Mikkelsen, a nutritionist with feed company Hedegaard, the problem with traditional TMR diets is that cows can sort the ration themselves, selecting the concentrates and short bits and leaving the longer bits.

Feed pile

“In traditional TMR, the cows tend to eat from the bottom of the feed pile, where the short bits are. However, in compact TMR they eat from the top of the pile,” Henrik says.

He was speaking during a workshop at Peter Timmermann’s farm at the European Dairy Farmers Congress in Kolding, Denmark.

Peter has been using compact feeding for the last few years and has noticed an increase in milk yield and body condition score in the cows, while using the same amount of feed. This is considered an increase in feed efficiency.

Concentrate

On the Timmermann farm, the concentrate mix (premix) is put into the feed wagon after the morning and evening feeds.

For every tonne of premix in the wagon, 1t of water is added. This is then mixed together and let to sit all night or all day until the next feed.

Grass and maize silage is added and this is mixed for 15 minutes before being fed out. After this is fed out the premix and water is added again and left to soak before the next feed.

The Timmermanns feed their 396 cows morning and evening and milk their cows twice a day. Their herd of Holstein Friesian cows produces 11,251kg of energy-corrected milk per year.

Premix

Their milking cows are fed 8kg of premix per day, made up of 3kg rapeseed meal, 3kg of soya bean mean and the rest of minerals, beet pulp nuts and chopped hay and straw.

Ten litres of water/cow is added to the mix. The dry matter of the compact TMR is 37% DM.

Nutritionist Henrik Mikkelsen says that compact TMR shouldn’t have any grass balls or other inconsistencies and there should be no sorting of the feed, allowing for uniform quality and feed composition throughout the day.

“The feed should be the exact same 12 hours after feeding as it is one hour after feeding. Cows shouldn’t pay any attention to when the feeder is working as the fresh feed should be the same as the leftover feed,” Henrik says.

Henrik says twice-a-day feeding is still necessary with compact feeding. He says if multiple mixtures are required, then long soaks will not be practical.

He said that a 5% increase in energy corrected milk per cow has been observed where compact feeding is introduced.

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