Precision Chewing Management: A Dynamic Approach to Forage Particle Size

Tuesday, August 4 · 10:00 AM EDT

Recent research indicates that optimizing the relationship between eating and recumbent rumination (i.e., precision chewing management) improves dry matter intake, rumen health, and milk components. Precisely and dynamically adjusting herd management and forage particle size to complement ration fiber characteristics fine-tunes chewing while eating, resting and ruminating. Recommendations for forage particle size and fiber (un)degradability continue to evolve for a range of forage types and dairy management systems. As a ruminant, nothing is more important to the dairy cow than precisely managing her signature behavior to optimize health, feed intake, and performance.

Rick Grant was raised on a dairy farm near Potsdam, New York. He received a B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University, a Ph.D. from Purdue University in ruminant nutrition, and held a post-doctoral position in forage research at the US Dairy-Forage Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1990 to 2003, Rick was a professor and extension dairy specialist at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. From 2003 to 2023, he was president of the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY. Rick’s research interests include forages, dairy cattle nutrition, and cow behavioral management. He has received the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Research Award, the Nutrition Professionals Applied Dairy Nutrition Award, and the 2023 Distinguished Service Award from the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance. He authored the Dairy Bottomline for Feedstuffs magazine from 2016 to 2020, and From the President’s Desk, a monthly column for the Miner Institute Farm Report from 2003 to 2023. He currently authors a Feeding and Nutrition column for Hoard’s Dairyman magazine and serves as a Trustee of Miner Institute and co-Trustee of the William H. Miner Foundation. He is fortunate to be able to split his time between Naples, FL and the Champlain Valley of northern New York State.