At Bjärsgård in Skåne in the south of Sweden, dairy farmer Anders Larsson is cutting costs wherever he can while also trying to increase the milk yield – partly by using the NorFor system to optimize feed rations for his 620 Holstein cows.

 NorFor makes the feed ration efficient from the first day of lactation. We calculate how much the cow should be able to consume from a certain feed ration or how much of that feed she would need to produce a certain amount of milk. Rations are then adjusted if the cows don’t respond as expected, says Anders Larsson.

 Anders initially aims to increase production from today’s average of 10 400 kg per cow per year to 11 000, with a long term goal of 12 500 – without excessive feeding or other sub-optimized measures. One way of reaching that goal is by increasing the use of corn silage, which performs well in the optimization simulations. He stays on track with NorFor, making sure that growing milk production is closely followed by increased profitability. 

One year of using the NorFor Feed Ration Optimizer has increased milk yield and enhanced feed efficiency at Niels Otto Lund’s organic dairy farm with 350 Holstein cows in southern Denmark. In that time, the average milk yield has increased by 700 kg to 9 200 kg. Using the NFRO concept has also raised awareness of the importance of utilizing the farm’s resources properly, while also improving staff relations through a higher degree of employee involvement. 

 Both farmers and their advisers benefit from the farmers undertaking their own feeding controls, says Aase Holmgaard, an organic dairy adviser who works with Niels Otto Lund’s dairy farm, among others, on a regular basis. Nowadays, she can spend more time on development issues and less time on calculations.

 With the NFRO concept, feeding control can be done easily and frequently. On that basis, advisers can monitor the herd much more closely, with better results. The yield increase seen in Niels Otto’s herd is without a doubt a result of our intensive follow-up efforts, Aase Holmgaard concludes.

Find The full stories behind the cases here 

and more information about NorFor Feed Ration Optimizer™ 

Feel free to contact patrik.nordgren@vxa.se for more details.