Working with a Dairy Nutritionist: What to Expect

A good nutritionist is part of your herd team. Knowing what they do, and what they need from you, makes the relationship more useful.

Key points

A nutritionist is part of the herd team
Be at the visits and bring good records
Ask why, how results will be judged and what it costs
Share information with your veterinarian
Be honest about feeding and review the relationship yearly

What a nutritionist does

A dairy nutritionist designs and adjusts rations, reviews forage quality, and looks at how feed, cow comfort and management come together to affect milk and health. Some work for feed companies, some for cooperatives, some are independent consultants and some are university-trained advisers working with extension.

Ask how your nutritionist is paid and whether the advice is tied to selling products. That is not a bad thing, but you should know. Ask for a short written summary after each visit, listing what was found, what changed and what will be checked next time.

What a visit looks like

A typical visit includes a walk through the barn and the bunk, a look at feed, refusals, manure and cows, and a review of herd records. The nutritionist may sample feeds, run the ration through software and discuss changes with you.

Try to be there. Seeing what they see helps you understand the reasons behind changes. Let your nutritionist meet your employees, since the people who mix and push feed can explain why a ration behaves the way it does. Keep a binder or digital folder with rations, analyses and visit notes so new advisers can catch up quickly. Use the visit to ask about anything that has changed since last time.

What to bring

Good information makes advice better. Have recent milk records, components, dry matter intake or refusal numbers, feed and forage analyses, group sizes, health events and notes on any changes in management or weather.

Bring questions and observations from the people who work in the barn every day. Be clear about your goals, whether that is components, health, lower feed cost or steadier production, so advice points in the right direction. Photos of bunks and feed can help too.

Milk production and component records
Feed and forage analyses
Notes on feed changes and storage
Health and fresh cow records
Questions from you and your employees

Questions worth asking

Do not be shy about asking why. A good nutritionist explains how they reached a recommendation and what they will watch to see if it worked.

Ask what the top priorities are and what can wait. Ask what the plan is if the change does not work. If you disagree with a recommendation, say so and explain why, which usually leads to a better plan for your farm. Tell your nutritionist about plans to change herd size, housing or milking routine, since those shifts affect feeding needs.

Why are you recommending this change?
What will we watch to judge the result?
What does it cost, and what does it return?
What could go wrong, and how will we spot it?
When should we meet again?

Working with the vet and others

Nutrition touches health, fertility and milk quality, so your nutritionist, veterinarian and other advisers should know about each other's advice. Consider joint herd meetings, or at least share summaries.

Your veterinarian handles diagnosis and treatment. Your nutritionist should not diagnose disease, and your veterinarian should not need to guess at the ration. Ask about training for your feeders, since a well-trained feeder protects the ration every day.

Keeping the relationship healthy

Be honest about what is and is not being fed. Tell your nutritionist when feed was substituted, when a mixer broke down or when the loader driver changed. Small details explain big surprises.

Review the relationship at least once a year. Ask whether visits are frequent enough, whether the advice is clear and whether results justify the cost. Consider a second opinion on a big decision, and tell your nutritionist you are doing it, which a professional should welcome. Be patient with changes that take time to show, such as improvements in components or fresh cow health.

Common mistakes

Changing the ration without telling the nutritionist, expecting quick fixes, not sharing records and not asking questions are the usual ones. Another is blaming the ration for problems that originate in housing, water or cow comfort.

Work as a team, and keep a written record of what changed and when.

When to get help: Contact your nutritionist when feed, forage or intake changes, and call your veterinarian for illness or unexplained herd health changes. Follow label and vet-set milk and meat withdrawal times exactly for any treated animal.

Sources and further reading

Organization homepages are linked so you can search them for current guidance on this topic.

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