Meet the Recal Research Team
We go by what the cows say, the cows never lie
First of all, there is NO magic bullet out there on the market, and second of all, more milk is NOT the answer to more profitability. Most people think that the more the cow eats, the more she will milk. That is not necessarily true. If it is going in one end and out the other end without being digested and utilized, what good is that? Money being wasted! Most dairymen think more milk/cow is the answer to profitability. If every cow in the USA goes up five pounds of milk next week, what happens to the milk price? It drops due to too much surplus milk. Let’s see if we can produce the same amount of milk with less feed due to an improved digestion, rumen health, overall health, reproduction, and lower cull rate. Isn’t that just as good as more milk? This is called being more efficient. This lowers your input cost and improves YOUR BOTTOM LINE!
There are so many things that contribute to profitability on a dairy farm, such as management, genetics, health, feed quality, water quality and stage of lactation. All of the things just listed make every dairy farm different. When adding feed additives to a dairy ration, not all farms will see the same results, this is just common sense.
Cows are Hay Mows, Not Grain Bins – They Need Forage
We have been tracking dry matter intakes, cow numbers, milk production, % butter fat, % protein, % osol, feed costs, income, 3.50% FCM, efficiency, and income over feed cost on every dairy farm we have started since 2011. To us, this is better than any University Research as every farm is different. What happens on a University Research Farm and what happens on your farm are two different things. We have never seen a cow that can read, but cows can tell you a lot, and they never lie. We do the research on your farm, with your cows, in front of your eyes. You, as a dairyman, have to see a difference.
By performing blood testing in controlled groups, we are seeing increased levels of vitamin B12, choline, & carotene. With the use of rumination meters, we have seen much better rumination. We performed some research focusing on pre-fresh and fresh cow transition. The cows showed improved rumination and performed much better after the RECAL PLUS SS was added to the rations.
Now, there are a lot of factors and management roles that go into being successful. The ration from the nutritionist and the dry matters of the forages need to be correct. One thing we see on a lot of dairies is dry matters of the forages not being checked with a Koster Tester on a regular basis, such as weekly or bi-weekly. By checking the dry matters of the forages on a regular basis and rebalancing the ration for that change, you can save a lot money and head off many issues.