I don't know if I'm any better off, I'm feeding a 12% sweet grain horse feed,with alfalfa pellets added by me. I have always heard that the cow rations had too much filler in the form of urea and whatever junk is available cheap. My JerseyXHolstein gets about 6:1 sweet feed to alfalfa. We have no alfalfa hay available here and I've always heard that Alfalfa puts milk in the bucket and grain puts weight on. We do have grass hay that varies in quality.

I also know that beet pulp will put weight on too. We don't have a weight problem with ours losing too much, but have taken in horses that were starving that we had to put weight on. With horses, we had to SLOWLY increase weight with sweet feed and plenty of hay first. Hope this helps.

Grain feeding can be increased to maintain proper body weight, but do so GRADUALLY. Many of our herds have cows eating 20 or 25 lbs. of grain per day. (I work in a feed mill). A good rule of thumb I learned way back in Ag class 20 years ago is 1 lb. of grain for every 3 lbs. of milk produced. So a 60-lb. cow can eat 20 lbs. of grain.

Grains that put weight on a cow will be higher in fat and starches. Roasted soybeans and corn do well with this. High protein sources such as soybean meal and distillers will increase milk production, but as a result often cause the cow to lose weight. (Protein and energy [calories] are a matched factor when producing milk) So by feeding grains lower in protein, a farmer can hold body weight on the cows better but will have less milk in the bucket.

Don't be alarmed about a fresh cow losing some weight in the early part of the lactation. Holsteins especially are genetically bred to produce milk "at all costs" and are difficult to keep heavy when milking hard. She will begin to catch up 3 to 4 months into the lactation. Try to maintain a body score of 3.