The foundation diet should contain highly digestible forages, supplemented with highly digestible energy sources such as starches, sugars and by-product feeds. Processing corn silage decreases forage particle size and increases digestibility. If forage digestibility is marginal, fiber digestibility can be enhanced with high fiber byproduct feeds such as soybean hulls, beet pulp, citrus pulp, and corn gluten feed. Grain processing, such as grinding, steam-processing and rolling increases starch digestibility. Harvesting corn grain as high-moisture corn also enhances digestibility.
Producers can minimize fluctuations in pH by good feed management.
Excess grain or forage processing can be detrimental, however. It needs to be balanced with effective fiber, as discussed below. The digestible energy sources need to be balanced with highly digestible rumen nitrogen sources that provide peptides, amino acids and ammonia. A highly digestible diet will enhance the digestive efficiency of the microbes. When long fibers stimulate the cow to chew her cud, the saliva produced helps to neutralize the rumen pH. Additionally, dietary buffers, such as sodium bicarbonate, can be used to help buffer rumen acidity.