Problems with sorting in total mixed rations

Cows need to consume physically effective fiber to maintain health. In order for this to happen, cows must be offered an adequately coarse diet and cows must consume the coarse fractions of the diet. A cow's nose is about 5 inches wide; she can use it to push away feed particles that are a few inches long, especially on a dry diet. Some cows seem to sort extremely against these very long particles. Medium length fibers probably contribute to physically effective fiber and are much less likely to be sorted. Therefore, to insure an adequate intake of physically effective fiber by all cows in the herd, moist diets with intermediate particle size should be best. Intermediate particles are the finer particles on the top Penn State screen and some large percentage of the particles on the middle screen. One solution is well-managed hay crop silage.