Company At A Glance
Business Type
Family-Owned Dairy Farm
SR&ED Category
Experimental Development
Team Size
10
Scope
Feed Trials, Milk Components, Herd Health, Methane Reduction
Province
Prince Edward Island
The Challenge
The farm wanted to improve milk fat and protein levels while also reducing methane-related output from the herd. Their existing ration produced acceptable milk volume, but the milk components were below target and feed costs were rising. Generic nutrition tables and supplier recommendations identified possible additives and by-product feeds, but they could not predict how those inputs would perform with this specific herd, forage quality, housing setup, and management system.
The challenge was that a ration change could improve one outcome while negatively affecting another. A feed adjustment might increase milk fat but reduce intake, create body condition issues, affect fertility, or introduce early health concerns such as ketosis. The farm had to determine whether a revised ration could improve milk components and environmental performance without compromising cow health, production consistency, or breeding outcomes.
What We Documented
01
Uncertainty
Uncertainty
The uncertainty was whether the herd would respond positively to modified rations using new feed inputs and methane-reducing additives while maintaining health, fertility, milk volume, and production consistency.
02
Iterations
Iterations
The farm tested a baseline ration followed by multiple experimental rations using different combinations of by-product feeds, forage ratios, and methane-reducing additives. Each ration was monitored for milk volume, fat and protein levels, intake, refusals, body condition, manure consistency, ketone indicators, health events, and breeding records.
03
Knowledge Gained
Knowledge Gained
The farm gained new knowledge about safe inclusion levels, herd response, feed intake behaviour, milk component changes, and the practical trade-offs between methane reduction, milk quality, and animal health.
Results
Why This Qualified
- Required experimentation beyond standard nutrition tables and feed recommendations
- Herd response to new ration inputs could not be predicted in advance
- Feed changes affected milk components, intake, health indicators, and fertility differently
- Multiple ration trials were needed to identify safe and effective inclusion levels
- New knowledge was gained about how this herd responded to modified feed strategies
