More milk from less feed

Feed has an enormous impact on your bottom line, the environment, and animal welfare.

Studies show that up to 88% of a dairy farm's variable costs come from feed. Investing in genetics with good saved feed performance will benefit your business for years to come.

The Saved Feed Index in the Nordic Total Merit index (NTM) tells you how efficiently your cows will turn feed into milk.

Some cows are simply better at turning feed into meat and milk. Others use too much feed for maintenance and are less efficient at utilising it.

The Saved Feed Index considers:

• Dry matter intake (DMI) across days 14-280 in lactation
• Production (ECM) across days 14-280 in lactation
• Weight changes across days 30-280 in lactation

This tells you how much feed a cow uses and how efficiently she converts it into milk and meat.

The Saved Feed Index is based on data from the Cattle Feed Intake System (CFIT), a state-of-the-art system where 3D cameras monitor and measure the feed intake in the cow's natural environment.

We collect data throughout lactation on cows from commercial herds – without disturbing the daily routines and cows’ natural behaviour. We focus on collecting the data for individual cow’s feed intake over her lifetime that are comparable across the breeds and herds.

How does CFIT work?

CFIT uses the 3D cameras and artificial intelligence to identify the cows, estimate their weight and quantify how much they eat.

Each cow is identified from pictures of its back, using deep learning with artificial intelligence. The cameras record the cow's distinct pattern of colours and body shape.

To quantify the amount of feed that each cow consumes during a day, the cameras take pictures of the surface of the feed. One picture before the cow goes to the feeding table to eat, and one picture after she leaves.

By subtracting the two images, we can quantify the amount of feed that the cow consumes at every meal 24/7 year around.

• 17,000+ cows with CFIT data​
• 2,300+ cameras
• 1,100,000+ feed visits per day
• 275,000+ weekly feed intake records on genotyped cows in 2024 alone

With the Saved feed index, you can breed for more feed-efficient and climate-friendly cows – without compromising on the production, health and reproduction performance of your cows.

Take a look at the effects of breeding for improved feed efficiency. See how much kg DMI per year you can save depending on your herd size. Click "+" to see the figures.

The genetic improvement that you achieve is a permanent and desired improvement accumulated through generations and will increase your profit margins.

While optimal management and improving the environment are important short-term solutions for optimizing feeding in your herd, genetics is a crucial long-term solution.

To achieve success, you need to focus on both genetics and management.