The Jaylor Advantage

Dr. Alan S. Vaage Ph.D.Ruminant Nutritionist

The Jaylor Advantage

• The ability to process long forage into a uniform mix in a minimum amount of time, to create dairy rations with optimal levels of effective fiber that are resistant to sorting.

Why Total Mixed Rations (TMR)?• Traditional dairy feeding fed forages and

grain (supplements and minerals) separately.• Grain fed to milk production in the parlor,

and later using computer feeders.• With breeding improvement, peak cows

required 50-60 % grain, and >30 lbs/day, causing health and production problems.

• Grain meals greater than 8 lbs causes digestive upset and health problems.

• TMR keeps all ingredients in proportion.

Physically effective fiber• At the same time as milk production and grain

feeding increased, ensiling experts promoted smaller forage particle size to improve silage packing and fermentation.

• Problems arose with depressed milk fat, sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) and displaced abomasums.

• Feeding some long forage alleviated part of the problem

Why put long forage into a TMR?• Long forage provides effective fiber to

promote chewing, prevent digestive upset and increase milk fat production .

• However, it must incorporated into a particle size distribution that resists separation.

• Even longer material in bunker silos must be incorporated adequately to provide a uniform mix that will also resist sorting.

• In beef cattle, incorporating baled forage into a TMR reduces wastage and improves performance up to 30%.

Sorting behavior• Inherent cattle behavior (for ingredient

selection while grazing).• Ingredient preferences.• Learned behavior, hard to stop once

successful.• Strongest in late lactation and older cows.• Aided by excessively long particles in TMR.

Effects of sorting behavior• Affects both sorter and non-sorters.• Increases intake of rapidly fermented

ingredients in sorters.• Low milk fat, increased milk protein, SARA,

feet problems, displ. abomasums, fat cows.• Decreases the energy content of remaining

diet for non-sorters.• Thin cows, decreases peak milk production.

Dairy cow eating behavior

Role of TMR Mixer

• Combine disparate ingredients into a homogenous mix

• Create a mix that resists separation by animals during eating

Particle characteristics affect mix• Particle size, shape, density, #/kg• Inter-particulate forces (electrostatic,

hydroscopic, hydrophobicity)• Best mixing with uniform particle size,

shape and density (e.g. granular fertilizer, commercial feed)

• Differences create tendency to unmix and separate (esp. effective fiber)

A Concrete Example

TMR Mixer Designs

TumbleChain & Paddle

Reel / Ribbon

Single Auger

3-Auger 4-Auger Vertical2-Auger

Vertical TMR Mixer (Jaylor)

Test weighing accuracy and precision

• Clean and inspect weigh bars• Find a helper• Weigh yourself over each weigh

bar with mixer empty. Repeat with mixer full.

• Average of empty and full weights should be within 10 lbs.

• No weigh bar should differ consistently from others, high or low.

How do we measure mix uniformity?• Mix uniformity ultimately involves three

components, and thus two-three measures• First, ensuring we have equal distribution of all

ingredients (esp. grain (starch) vs. forage or digestible fiber) (markers, chemical analysis?).

• Second, ensuring we have equal distribution of all major nutrient groups, i.e. protein, fat, fiber, mineral (chemical analysis).

• Finally, ensuring we have a uniform and acceptable particle size distribution that will prevent sorting (PSPS) and unmixing.

Penn State Particle Separator

PSPS Recommendations (%)

CornSilage Haylage TMR

Upper 0.75” 3 - 8 10 - 20 2 - 8

Middle 0.31” 45 - 65 45 - 75 30 - 50

Lower 0.05” 30 - 40 20 - 30 30 - 50

Bottom < 5 < 5 < 20

TMR Mixer Comparison

Source: Gallardo et. al. 2009.

JAYLOR Vertical X

Processing time affects PS distribution

JAYLOR(8 min)

Vertical X(16 min)

PSPS Tray % Particles

Top 23 26

Middle 47 41

Bottom 30 33

Source: Gallardo et. al. 2009.

PSPS = Penn State Particle Separator

TMR Mixer Comparison

Source: Gallardo et. al. 2009. Coarse alfalfa hay processing

JAYLOR Vertical X

TMR PSPS Middle Tray CV (%)

Mixing Time JAYLOR Vertical X

6 min 7.8 28.1

8 min 9.0 23.6

10 min 8.2 18.2

12 min 8.7 15.8

Source: Gallardo et. al. 2009.

PSPS = Penn State Particle Separator

Round bale pre-processing

Ingredient sequencing (Vertical)

• Add long forage first (esp. baled hay. Include liquid or water to aid processing)

• Follow with silage and/or wet by products

• Add protein supplement and grains• Pre-weigh and add premixes and

specialty ingredients with grains • Generally add liquid ingredients last

Order of byproduct addition

Source: Bierman 2008

Liquid add site affects mix uniformity

Source: Oelberg 2009.

Refusals reflect resistance to ingredient separation

Source: Oelberg 2009. Mixer type not described.

The Jaylor Advantage

• The ability to process long forage into a uniform mix in a minimum amount of time, to create dairy rations with optimal levels of effective fiber that are resistant to sorting.

New Jaylor Bale Processing Videos

Streigel 4575: Beef Ration

www.JAYLOR.com

www.JAYLOR.com