Case report: Two nutritional interventions in dairy cattle herds helped improve productivity and animal health while reducing the environmental footprint

The Field Investigation group (FI) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine was contacted for consulting services for two farms with economic and nutritional management concerns. Farm A was a 732-cow dairy referred by one of the authors (RDE) for concerns over ration cost and transition cow health. Farm B was a 98-cow dairy that contacted FI because of financial difficulties, specifically the high cost of the diets. In both cases, FI veterinarians evaluated and reformulated diets that resulted in positive economic, production, and environmental consequences. Farm A increased test-day milk, fat, and protein yield by 7.2, 0.03, and 0.07 lb (3.3, 0.014, and 0.032 kg)/cow/day after the diet reformulation. The ration also saved $0.45/cow/day while decreasing nitrogen and phosphorus excretion by 1.44 oz (40.9 g) and 0.11 oz (3.12 g)/cow/day, respectively. Farm B increased test-day milk, fat, and protein yield by 1.2, 0.11, and 0.04 lb (0.54, 0.05, and 0.018 kg)/cow/day after FI intervention. Ration cost was reduced by $1.09/cow/day, nitrogen excretion was reduced by 0.3 oz (8.5 g)/cow/day and phosphorus excretion was not changed.