The advantages of supplementing a TMR ration with parlour-fed cake

摘要

Gloucestershire-based farm manager David Ball is an advocate of TMR feeding, but he also feels it is necessary to top up the cows with cake in the parlour. Much has been said and written about complete diet feeding -more recently renamed total mixed rations (TMR) feeding. It is, if the nutritionists and manufacturers of complete diet feeders are to be believed, truly back in fashion. Giving cows a ration outside of the parlour that supposedly meets all their nutritional requirements begs one question, however; is it not better to feed TMR-fed cows at least some cake in the parlour? It is an issue which farmers seem consistently divided on, and it seems that there are as many dairy farmers camped in the pro corner for each argument as there are against.