I could get a lot more milk out of my cows if I didn't care what it cost to feed them. Everyone has to have their own comfort level of production, keeping feed cost in mind. Doesn't do you any good to have a 32,000# production level if you're not making any money doing it. That's where the problem would be, giving a bonus based on production.

There are many ways to skin the dairy nutrition cat. My choice is to raise and store the best forages I can, and feed as much of those as I can, only adding purchased feeds if I can show a 2:1 return on dollars spent. Some guys are happy with a 1.5:1 return on purchased feed, some with less. I can't see any point in trading dollars.

There are few nutrition programs widely available, and ,like anything else, there is a learning curve. For one herd, you would never do it enough to become proficient. We have our reproduction records on computer, and every time I sit down to do the records I have to learn all over again.

Dairying is one of those things that looks simple from the outside, but there are endless things to learn if you want to do the best possible job.  I have been told that "attention to detail" is what separates the successful from the just-getting-by. I believe that to be true, and not just for dairy. That goes for any endeavor.