Proper nutrition leads to healthy and high-performing dairy cows. Feed managers and feed employees are the key to an effective feeding management program. Feeding cows the properly prepared ratio in the most efficient, timely, and safe way is one of the most important jobs on the dairy operation.

This technical note briefly highlights some factors that affect nutrients in manure from dairy cattle and modifications in the diet that can be used to reduce them. A critical part of feed management is to accurately formulate diets and manage the feeding so that the nutrients fed consistently match the nutri-ents needed by each group in the herd.

Nutritional management includes understanding the nutrient composition of feedstuffs and the levels required by cattle for optimal performance. Visual observations of body condition score and weight change are valuable for assessing cattle response to their diet.