Are diary cows usually fed grain(corn)? I thought only beef cattle were fed grain.?

Question

Reason I ask is because my local grocery has taped on their coolers that the high price of milk is because of the higher price of corn. Didnt just a couple of years ago the government force the diary industry to cut its production? Now this. Is this just another excuse to raise the price or is there merit to this claim of the price of corn being the reason?

Yes I took that into account, but ethanol is still in its infancy...I still want the answer. ARE DIARY COWS FED GRAIN(CORN)?

And yes I know years ago there was ethanol, that pretty much disappeared, now its reappeared, but still not on a large scale yet...20 years ago I saw 10% ethanol at the pumps..none here yet this time..and the price of corn didnt shoot up then like now....I dont want to be charged for something that hasnt happened yet.

Thx yahzmin, I understand better now. My experience on ethanol is from traveling all the southeast only, so I will defer to you about the availability.

And of course they would eat more as adults..THX

Answer 1

yes, our dairy cows eat grain. Actually, we call it "chop" it is ground corn and oats with molasses and minerals. Feeding grain to a beef cow makes them produce more beef, so, don'cha think feeding grain to a diary cow might make them produce more milk?

Answer 2

Yes, they feed them corn -- and yes, corn prices are rising. Both due to ethanol (you may not have it THERE, but many areas DO and the demand for corn for ethanol is rising rapidly), but also due to lower corn production this year due to floods in some areas of the US and drought in others. Delaware is a large feed corn producer with escalating prices due to ethanol -- and a severe drought. A large amount of our corn production is currently being pulled for feed at immature levels and the rest plowed under due to minimal growth rates from the drought. This will drive the cost of supplemental feed up as well.

Answer 3

Cow feed is usually a variety of different things, corn being one of them. Did you take into account the extra demand placed on corn on account of ethanol production?

Answer 4

Dairy cows barely eat grain when their adults. When they're calves they eat milk and grain. Adult cows eat hay, cotton seed, canola, and dried corn. My dad, a dairyman, told me that corn today costs $170 a ton! He does'nt know for sure how much it is per pound. Hope this helped.

Answer 5

and that i thank you all additionally for this query and the solutions won. Having studied plant and soil and spent slightly time on the college dairy and livestock examine facility, I chanced on some super strategies being studied in production and administration. I prefer I had stayed longer as i found slightly prognosis in a definite feed administration procedure that gave dramatic milk fats will advance for no greater suitable "feed" outdoors of slightly moderate of hand. appears the dairy industry revolves around the cost (grant and insist as you set it) that the buyer pays for that milk fats product, in addition as what they are prepared to pay for meat. For all that I took that examine and grew to become it "bass ackwards" right into a completely organic and organic organic and organic attitude and have been given a greater advantageous product and greater genuinely mark downs yet i stumble on the entire industry slightly depressing. If i did no longer have babies becoming up who had this sort of choosy way of ingesting with a excessive call for for milk and meat i could be greater vulnerable to stroll from the entire ingredient yet as i think of i will relatively produce dairy with out loss of foodstuff/ acre whilst in comparison with a produce crop, it has some cost i assume.

Answer 6

Corn is a filler in feed.