Attention today, profits tomorrow:
Feeding your heifers for success

Elliot Block for Progressive Dairyman

It’s almost impossible to talk about heifer nutrition without focusing on rising input costs. With the main focus on reformulating rations for our main profit center, the milking herd, we often place less emphasis on heifer nutrition because returns aren’t realized until they’re in the milking string. It’s important to remember that two years from now the heifers taking a nutritional backseat will be the cows producing milk and generating profits.

Optimal heifer growth and development is critical to the future health and productivity of a dairy cow, says Gardner Merriam, a nutritionist with Holtz-Nelson Dairy Consultants LLC, in Dryden, New York. The first six months set the tone for the rest of the animal’s life. By focusing on nutrition and management through the onset of puberty and beyond, producers can help heifers grow to their potential and be prepared for a successful lifetime in the milking string.

Fighting old habits
Merriam warns dairy producers against cutting young stock feeding programs to save money. The reasons for properly feeding heifers are simple: lean growth and gain leads to earlier puberty and calving, with a quicker entry to the milking parlor.

If heifers can reach the milking string by 22 months of age rather than 24, that’s two months earlier heifers can start generating profits for the dairy, Merriam says. A problem usually arises when heifers reach breeding size at an earlier age but have eaten feed in excess of their basic nutritional requirements. Financially, there is often no cost-savings due to the overfeeding, and physiologically, overfeeding heifers can result in fat deposits and future health concerns like ketosis or fatty liver syndrome after calving.

Merriam also notes that producers have a habit of skimping on the necessary nutrients young calves need and then feeding older heifers too much in hopes of quickly reaching breeding age. In reality, he says, older heifers often gain too much weight and then have a harder time getting pregnant.

Rather than using this approach, maturation can be reached earlier by providing a balanced diet of energy, protein and fiber. Merriam recommends the following adjustments to the nutrition model to fit the exact needs of the heifer:

• High-quality rumen bypass protein
Increase high-quality bypass protein in the diets of young calves for proper skeletal and muscle growth. Feed high-quality protein sources to the close-up pen to supply the metabolizable protein needed for the calf and its immune function, while also preparing the heifer for producing high volumes of milk once in the fresh cow pen.

• Fill with neutral detergent fiber
In older heifer diets, fill is especially important to maximize capacity and rumen fermentation without overfeeding. To provide the necessary nutrition, feed high levels of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) to maximize capacity and keep heifers full.

• Byproducts
To provide an adequate diet without compromising ingredient quality, Merriam recommends finding alternatives to high-priced corn and soybeans that can offer similar nutrition, including byproducts and homegrown forages.

Clean, healthy environment
A heifer’s environment plays a pivotal role in how well it will respond to the diet. Pay close attention to details when it comes to:

• Water
Regardless of the heifer’s age, water is critical to meeting daily requirements and encouraging optimal dry matter intake. Ample water must be available to meet the entire pen’s needs, especially in hot weather. Clean water sources frequently to encourage optimal drinking.

• Grouping
Grouping plays a role in heifers’ access to the feedbunk, directly affecting how well they perform in future months. For example, a smaller heifer may be pushed away from the feedbunk by larger heifers and spend smaller amounts of time eating. These heifers stay smaller than the others and lag behind in size, breeding age and breeding weight. Minimize overcrowding to encourage intake and growth.

• Vaccinations
Work with your herd veterinarian to develop vaccination protocols to keep heifers healthy. Especially with an immature immune system, heifers can fall victim to common calf diseases, which can slow growth and performance and the time to breeding age.

• Cleanliness
To maximize growth and minimize stress, cleanliness is of utmost importance, Merriam says. If heifers are dirty or in poor condition, much of the daily energy intake from feed will be used for maintenance rather than structural bone and muscle growth, slowing time to breeding.

As you continue to make ration decisions in the coming months, don’t forget about the critical role heifers play on your farm. Attentive management today means profits tomorrow, and the heifers’ ration helps dictate how quickly you’ll see a return on your investment in them. PD