Feed Efficiency: A Basic Metric for a Complex System

ZISK
Dec 15, 2025
1 min read

Feed efficiency has become a growing topic in the dairy industry, driven by sustainability goals and desires to optimize farm profit. But what is feed efficiency, how can it be influenced, and should you use the measure on your farm?

What is Feed Efficiency?

At its core, feed efficiency asks how well do cows utilize the feed that is provided. There are many ways to define feed efficiency depending on context, whether in research, genetic evaluation or farm management. The most common measure on dairy farms is pounds of energy corrected milk (ECM) divided by pounds of dry-matter intake (DMI). Throughout this article series, feed efficiency will refer to this metric (ECM/DMI), which gives a snapshot of how effectively a cow turns feed into milk.

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