If the Return on Investment (ROI) doesn’t add up, Scott Aitchison walks away from the equation. Scott was introduced to probiotics through Probiotic Revolution’s Calf Xtreme. “Then Matt [Collier, Probiotic Revolution] one day mentioned the Direct Fed Microbial (DFM) product, BioRumen DFM, for the cows. My first question was, ‘Am I going to get a return on it? ’ Because every calculation I do is about ROI. In 2021, Scott, a former accountant, made the decision to try BioRumen DFM on the home herd – and not his contract milking herd – because the management on both properties was the same. He wanted a direct comparison. Effectively this was going to run as a split-herd trial. “I didn’t see any results at all at first. But by September I started seeing some intangibles that showed me it was working, and because I run both farms identically side-by-side I couldn’t write off that the Somatic Cell Count (SCC) which was something I’d always struggled with on the home farm went from 216,000 to 141,000 over the season and was no longer a problem. “The season before I’d picked up between 20 and 30 lame became shiny and slick a good eight to 10 days earlier than the cows on the other farm. I can say with confidence that the cows that were cycling had extremely strong heats, and they were astronomically more active than the other farm. From December 2021, the home farm’s persistent production curve started to outdistance the contract milking herd and bring home the results Scott could count. This season the results are clear, even though they have had a tough, dry start to the season, slow grass growth, and a shortage of supplements. Scott set a new farm production record in September on the home farm at 2.42kgMS/cow/day. “On the contract milking herd, the cows averaged 2.16kgMS/cow. Literally the only difference right now is the BioRumen DFM that is going into the home farm and not the other one,” he said. “Without giving the exact figures, I could confidently say that my production for the month of September would be up by an average of .2kg MS per cow per day. “When you apply the ‘budgeted payout ’ of $9/kg MS to an average of 220 cows, the home farm contributed just shy of an additional $12,000. I believe BioRumen DFM is the largest single contributing factor to that increased production. He says he also feels the cows on his home farm are half a condition score ahead of the 500-cow farm, and that the cows on the home farm transitioned faster after calving. “I believe that if you look after your cows, they will look after your wallet, and I am seriously looking forward to the rest of the season comparing the two farms.” Return on Investment (ROI) the mothership “I believe that Biorumen DFM is the largest single contributing factor to that increased production.” cows. Last season I picked up less than 10 cows and when the season changed from winter to spring the cows’ coats on the home farm
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