eed can account for up to 70% of the variable costs on a dairy farm and with the recent hike in prices it makes good economic and common sense to ensure that feed is being used as efficiently as possible. Reducing feed waste and mixing rations properly are two methods to keep the costs down, but in Denmark a number of Danish farmers, backed up by a genetics company, have embarked on a huge drive to evaluate cow feeding behaviour using the latest tech. The goal is to monitor the feeding behaviour patterns of thousands of cows and use the data to breed better genetics into the herds that will have a higher feeding efficiency. From this genetic progression farmers can then look for AI bulls that have a high Saved Feed Index which means future cows bred from these bulls will be better
