Through June 2003 CRF dairy research has been conducted on a member owned
research facility with a rolling herd average for milk production at over
26,000 pounds. Now our dairy research is conducted at privately owned
facilities with the availability of larger numbers of highly productive
cows.
The mission of CRF's dairy research is to conduct nutrition, management and health research on high producing cows. We place emphasis on working with intensely managed and high producing herds because those are the animals presenting producers with the greatest nutritional and management challenges.
In our research, trial cows are individually fed. Even though this is very labor intensive, it allows for determination of dry matter intakes for every cow, an essential part of complete and accurate research trials. Cows are fed total mixed rations. Feed is weighed out for each cow individually and her intake monitored daily.
Large trials are utilized so that CRF can ensure that the results can be interpreted accurately and used with confidence in commercial dairy herds.
CRF dairy
research has been a productive and proprietary program for our member
owners for many years. CRF holds, ten patents and six trademarks as a
result of our innovative discoveries. Such concepts as formulating rations
based on the Rumen Available Protein®
and Rumen Available Carbohydrates®
have been used by dairy producers throughout the U.S., Canada, and France
to increase milk production and profitability for years. The unique
feeding program Totalac®
has also allowed dairy producers to reduce their
land and labor requirements or increase the herd size while improving milk
production.
Current dairy research emphasis involves further evaluation of carbohydrate fractions and the analytical methods of fiber evaluation for adaptability in ration formulation. CRF is also involved in the development of nutritional programs for the transition cow that will lead to higher levels of production post partum, as well as the refinement and expansion of the proprietary Totalac® program.
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