Today I am continuing on with my Agriculture is Everywhere series of guest posts. A long time friend, Jamie is here talking about her job as a Dairy Cattle Nutritionist. If you want to learn more what dairy cattle nutrition is about follow Jamie’s Facebook page.
I get asked pretty regularly what is I do for a living. The quick answer that inevitably follows is, “I am a dairy cattle nutritionist.” That almost always results in a confused look and the next question, “What?” That’s right, dairy cows have nutritionists! There aren’t a lot of people in this country who can say the same for themselves but our milk producing bovines have someone who is dedicated to ensure they receive the best diet possible. So what exactly is then that I do?
I spend my time working with dairy farmers across North East Wisconsin. I work as an independent nutritionist which means that I am self employed and work directly with producers to balance a diet for their cows. My days are spent studying, sampling and analyzing what goes into and comes out of a cow.
I start with the feed on the farm, working with the farmer I help decide when to harvest the crops so that we can get the best quality feed possible. Once that is done we take a sample of it, send it to a laboratory and get back results which tell us how much protein, fiber, energy, the mineral content and how digestible it is. With that information from all of the different types of feed I put together a diet and suggest which additional feeds such as soy bean meal; minerals like Calcium or Selenium and extra additives are needed for the cows to be healthy, reproductively sound and ultimately high producing members of the herd.
After that is done I spend time looking at the data that we get from the cows such as pounds of milk produced, the amount of butterfat and protein in the milk, as well as when the cows reach peak milk production and for how long they stay there. I spend a lot of time going through these types of numbers and health records with the producer so that we can continually fine tune the cows’ diet. For additional information I also watch the cow behavior, looking for things like cud chewing, how well they eat their feed and finally what their manure looks like. I use that information to further tweak the diets. During this whole process I have to keep the farm’s budget in mind so that we don’t exceed what we can afford to do.
I also get a chance to work with the baby animals and help develop feeding plans and management strategies to ensure the calves are healthy, grow well and turn into profitable members of the herd. That is one of my favorite areas to work in, it may take two years to see the final results but watching how a dairy’s herd performance can change when they raise healthy animals is very exciting!
The people I work with are fantastic representatives for the dairy industry- the farmers themselves and their employees, veterinarians, reproductive specialists, the financial advisors for the farm and the suppliers of the products we use. By taking advantage of a community of support, experience and ideas, the dairy farmers I work with are continually moving forward in providing safe, nutritious and delicious milk!
For more information about what I and my colleagues do be sure to like and follow our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dairymansadvantage
