The animal care giver must jump on a problem at the beginning, not let the problem go on for a few days while potential irreversible effects take hold. This approach holds true no matter what avenue of medical treatment is selected. The cow, like all ruminant creatures, has a specialized fore-stomach system. Ruminants have developed a digestive tract well adapted to processing plant materials. Fresh grass analyzed in a lab is usually high in protein, but low in energy.
Grains are energy dense and help provide a balanced diet.
Corn silage, a fermented, chopped form of the whole corn plant, also provides energy as well as fiber. Until recently, these feeds, as well as added minerals, supplied the vast majority of dairy cows with their daily nutritional requirements. At some point, nutritionists began adding in virtually any type of ingredient that was economically profitible, regardless of source. Perhaps profitable, but quite a distortion of the way nature intended the cow's digestive process to be. Also profitible, and quite in line with bovine biology, is the practice of feeding cows by intensive, rotational grazing.