Waning milk prices, persistently high feed costs, and spotty feed inventories appear to be the emerging financial story of the 2023 U.S. dairy industry.
The delicate dance between preserving production and attempting to curb input costs will remain a challenge this year. Visalia, Calif.-based VAS offers these tips to trim dairy feed bills in the current economic environment:
Evaluate heifer inventory – If you’re feeding out more heifers than you’ll need in the future, it likely doesn’t make financial sense to keep some of them around at all. Review cull-cow rates, heifer survival rates, and the number of heifers born monthly, and balance those numbers against future replacement needs. Recalibrating the allocation of sexed, conventional, and beef semen also can help tailor heifer inventories more appropriately to herd needs.
April 12, 2023
dairyherd.com
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