Our dairy is fed using the GEA Mullerup automatic feeding system.
This system makes it possible to feed the dairy per group. The milch cows will get about 10 times a day a portion of roughage. The dry cows get 5 times a day their roughage while the young stock gets 3 to 6 times per day their roughage.
The roughage for the milch cows consists of 60% grass and 40% corn. The GEA Mullerup automated feeding system is also used for feeding wet by-products. We feed potatoes, press pulp or brewer's grain. This is depending on the humidity of our own roughage.
The roughage is complemented by simple force feed such as soya meal, turnip scrap or crushed wheat. With help of the feed system, we can determine the composition of the feed. This will be mixed by the feeding system itself.
The benefits of the GEA Mullerup feeding system are:
- Better roughage utilization
- Less to no residual feed
- More feeding means less peaks at the feeding fence
- Less rumen acidosis
- Less forage losses
- The feed can be provided and adjusted (compoisition, frequency) per group.
- Time savings (up to 50% compared to a mixer)
- By feeding with a higher frequency, the cows are more in motion. Additional advantage of this is a better utilisation of the automated milking system.
- Saving on energy costs. The feeding system costs are annually approximately 550 euros. The fuel costs for a tractor with mixer are considerably higher.
