This biggest expense on your farms is FEED!  As you all know feed passes through the animal in about 30 hours. Just 25%-30% of the feed's nutrients are utilized by the animal. Most of your money is wasted and thrown out with the manure. Let's learn from the Japanese. The Japanese have little pasture and import almost all the forage and grains from the US and Canada. This is very expensive. They also have a manure disposal problem. To minimize their costs and manure disposal problem, the Japanese began fermenting their forages and grains. Fermenting mimics the rumen but instead of a few hours, they have several days enabling the microbiology to extract 100% of the feed's nutrients plus creating a massive amount of microbial protein, sugar and beneficial probiotics. A dairy cows will consume about 2% dry matter per pound of body weight. Fermentive extracts contain such a high concentration of protein that combining just 4 to 8 liters of the extract with 1/2% dry matter per pound of body weight provides more protein and energy to maximize the animal's performance.

The following results have been proven in Japan as well as organic dairies in the US. 8% to 12% increase in milk yield with 1.5% increase in butterfat and .5% increase in milk protein. In addition the probiotic benefit of the extract lowers somatic cell count by 100,000 cfu/ml. The animal consume 50% or more less feed. The manure has no undigested forage or grain. The manure amounts are 50% or less and it quickly disapate. The manure is completely digested providing no food source for flies thereby eliminating flies around the barn.

The cost of the technique is very inexpensive. To create a forage extract, the cost is less than 2 cents US per liter. In addition the microbiology can be fermented with fish emulsion creating an excellent organic fertilizer. This fertilizer will returns beneficial microbiology to the soil improving fertility, crop yield and quality every year. If anyone is interested, we have some independent data on the forage extracts as a feed supplement and fertilizer analysis. Please send me an email to dairyinnovators@bellsouth.net

Consider you feed and fertilizer costs. What would be your profit if your feed cost was cut by 50% and you eliminated fertilizers, fly control etc.  

hi peeps i think this is outragos but still a good idea

I am encouraged that British dairymen have more open minds than US. I do not understand why US dairymen think there can not be a major innovation in their industry. Many US dairymen are using the same techniques their great-grandfathers used. Fermenting is a much different way of thinking about nutrition and feed. It does take a bit more work but the results and savings are well worth the effort.

Many dairies are going out of business in these tough times. This can truly keep dairies going until milk prices and the ecomony rebounds. Take a look at the fermentive extract properties using sudan grass:

Fermentation works! Look at the Japanese, their dairy cows have the highest yields in the world yet their feed consumption is the lowest. They do compliment the fermentation extract with ionized alkaline water. Ionized alkaline water has a pH of 9.2 to 10.0. This buffers the rumen because the fermentation extract has low pH. The rumen is 85% water, the water's elevated pH prevents acidosis but more importantly ionized alkaline water has much greater absorption and hydration properties. The 50+% percent of pure, readily, available protein from the fermentive extract absorbs quickly with the ionized water enabling less protein in the by-pass.

Ionized alkaline water for dairies is not expensive. A unit that produces 40 liter/minute costs $4000 US. Is the water necessary? Fermenting feed will definitely save feed costs. Milk and milk component increases result from the animal utilizing these proteins, sugars and enymes. The more these absorb through the rumen's epithillium instead of passing, the higher yields. Ionized alkaline make this happen. It also plays a major role in animal fertility.

There is a recent US study from University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Vet Center. They conducted a 12-week study on just ionized alkaline water on their 42-head dairy herd. The result of the study showed, better feed conversion, milk increases of 4% to 6%, lower MUN (milk urea nitrogen) and an overall boost in the animals immune system. The study concluded the elevated pH stimulated rumen microbiology minimizing methogenes species and maximizing lactobacillus species cause greater feed conversion.

The Japanese have taken the NEXT STEP,  they have studied rumen microbiology, created fermentation culture products and simplified process so that every farm can afford and use it. I had the opportunity to live and work in Japan. I wanted to bring the techniques to the US. I have recieved insults, been called a "snake oil" salesman and worse yet not one dairymen called my farm references in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio. That why US dairymen will never believe there could be major innovation in the industry.

I read that many British dairymen are struggling and will lose their farms. I believe farming is a vital part of our society. It teach values, morals and hard-work which is so lacking today. In 1930, 21% of the US population lived on farms. Today, it is just 5%. I believe this is why our country's values and morality has declined. I am promoting the techniques to help struggling farms by tteaching how the Japanese overcome similar challenges of high feed costs, low profits as well as manure disposal problems.

Again, if anyone has an interest in more information, send an email.

Phil Adams