Low milk fat levels recently plagued a Florida dairy, but cows didn’t show visible health issues, nor was the common culprit of heat stress an issue. They needed an answer fast because Income Over Feed Cost (IOFC) had taken a hit and the problem was eating into the dairy’s bottom line.

After analyzing the issue with their herd nutritionist, the dairy discovered that its lactating ration was causing the production of trans fats, which have been shown to negatively impact milk fat production.1

To correct the situation, based on nutritionist recommendations, the herd was fed DCAD Plus® Stabilized Potassium Carbonate to increase ration potassium to 1.85% and offset the negative effects of high levels of trans fats in the diet.

In one short week, milk fat levels increased from 3.2% to 3.6%.2 And milk production rose by one pound per cow per day.

As a result, income per cow per day grew by $0.673 and IOFC improved by $0.295 per cow per day. If you extrapolate the data over a 1,000-cow herd, IOFC was projected to increase by $89,975.

If your herd is experiencing depressed milk fat levels, DCAD Plus could be the solution to help boost milk fat levels and IOFC year ‘round.

1 Lock AL, Bauman DE, Jenkins TC. Understanding the Biology of Milk Fat Depression: From Basic Concepts to Practical Application, in Proceedings. Intermountain Nutrition Conference 2008;27-44.
2 Data on file, 2011.
3 Milk fat, protein and other solids are a three-year average of prices from 2008 – 2010 taken from http://future.aae.wisc.edu/tab/prices.html#4. Price of milk fat: $1.56/lb.; Price of milk protein: $2.80/lb.; Price of other solids: $0.10/lb. The following production parameters were used to calculate milk price: milk production of 83 (before ration intervention) and 84 pounds (after ration intervention), milk protein of 3.0% and other solids of 5%.
4 Cows were fed .33 lbs. DCAD Plus/cow/day/305-day lactation at a price of $0.90/lb. Product pricing and milk value may fluctuate and can vary by region.
5 Assumed increased DMI of 1.5 lbs./cow/day at a marginal feed cost of $0.050/lb. of TMR DM.