Diet feeding is a part of a sustainable, profitable, environmentally friendly way of farming.
Abbey Diet Feeders unique chopping and mixing action helps the animal to digest the maximum amount of nutrients from the feed they have eaten, to drive performance and even to reduce environmental emissions – from both nitrogen and methane. This raises feed efficiency improving milk and meat yield per kg dry matter intake. When the TMR contains the correct balance of ingredients, along with the appropriate amount of roughage (quality long effective fibre) it enhances feed intakes, settles the rumen to absorb more nutrients from the ingested feeds and raises animal performance and health throughout the seasons.
How does the supplementation of diet feed support increased sustainability? Grass grazed cows without a properly balanced diet can result in high emissions of ammonia. Without a balanced diet the cow will excrete protein in their urine in a very volatile form resulting in high emissions of ammonia. This can lead to Sub Acute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) and high ammonia emissions. Ammonia emissions are currently the biggest challenge to the environment from Irish grass based dairy farming.
Using an Abbey Diet Feeder can help reduce this by balancing fermentable energy in feed. Creating a mix from cereal grains, fibre from high dry DMD, dry silage and chopped straw fed for a short period morning and evening pre-grazing can balance the qualities of good grass in a consistent manner reducing ammonia emissions. Abbey Diet Feeders provide unrivalled mix quality and a unique tub design allowing for complete movement and mixing of feeds. Also integral to Abbey feeders is the raised top knife auger for faster breakdown of dry material to maintain consistent mix.
Abbey Machinery’s feeders provide a unique low auger profile inflected top knife for improved bale processing and mixing. In addition, there is a wider base for improved support, strength and working life. Abbey’s long counter knife comes further up the feeder from the floor aiding a faster breakdown process of material. The doors in the feeder have a large opening for an even discharge of material.
A balanced feeding approach allows the cow to utilise the qualities of good grass in a consistent manner while reducing ammonia emissions. A dry silage, straw and cereal based diet feeder mixed buffer feed offered to cows for 30 minutes morning and evening will ensure better rumen function.
Diet feeding has significant advantages to both dry cow and milking cow health and production, it stimulates appetite whether at grass or indoors, aids cows in maximising their potential in terms of fertility and milk solids production. Use of native cereals and home-produced silages in buffer diets at grass help to make efficient environmentally friendly use of grass proteins and further reduces the carbon footprint of farms by reducing the use of imported fibres. Abbey Diet Feeders successfully contribute to the overall health, sustainability, and profitability of the farm program.
For more information on Abbey Diet Feeders check out our Twin Auger models here.
