Nutrition

Within this section of the Ruralni portal you will find the latest information on dairy cow nutrition and its application at Greenmount Campus and Enniskillen Campus.

The range of topics covered within the nutrition section reflect the variety of management systems across Northern Ireland dairy farms. Within some systems grassland management will be a critical component. In high yielding herds issues such as dry cow management and concentrate feeding will be of greater importance.

Dry cow management
Focuses on the main factors involved in dry cow management and how these are applied at Greenmount Campus.

Planning winter feeding programmes (PDF 310 KB)
The practical steps involved in planning a winter feeding programme

Assessing the dairy cows winter diet (PDF 335 KB)
Managing high yielding cows to meet their energy intake and protein requirements in early lactation to maintain production and fertility.

Phosphate balance
The phosphate balance for the Greenmount Campus Future Herd and the CREAM Herd has been calculated for the year ended 31 March 2007.

Silage
Focuses of silage making techniques and feeding silage.

Grass
Focuses on utilising grazed grass for milk production

Relative feed values
Check out the value of various feedstuffs against barley and soya

Alternative forages
Details of alternative forages to grass silage for feeding to dairy cows

Early lactation feeding - meeting the nutrient requirements of cows in early lactation.

Winter feeding of ruminant livestock (PDF 2.11 MB)
Booklet providing guidance to farmers on winter feeding of ruminant livestock

To view PDFs