Dairy cattle nutrient requirements
©vets delight Major nutrients required to feed a dairy cow so that she will not only produce good yields of milk for 250 days but also have a calf every year The two major nutrients are Energy (which comes from carbohydrate in the form of sugars, starches, cellulose and hemicellulose found in plants and their seeds) Protein, also found in plants and their seeds. The other nutrients are vitamins and minerals but they will be found naturally in most plants and if not, can be supplemented quite cheaply. Thus it is important that plants fed to cows are high in energy or protein or preferably both. Natural (veld) grass only has these for the cow for about three months of the year in the rains. After that they are not good enough for good milk yields and good fertility and furthermore, by September, there is often not enough grazing for the animals, especially in a dry year. Commercial dairy concentrates have energy derived from maize and maize by-products and protein fro