Producing its own feed for dairy cattle results in increased yield

and costs cut up to 60% of the price from external feed suppliers

Successful milk production in South East Asia through investments in modern equipment for own feed production. 

South East Asia’s largest dairy farm TH Milk was established in Vietnam in 2009. Today, production is ensured through 40,000 heads of cattle, of which 20,000 are milking cows and 20,000 calves. Annual milk production is approx. 200 million litres, but volume increases every year by 10-15%.

Extremely high milk yields per head of cattle

Each cow contributes with approx. 10,000 litres of milk annually which is a very high result compared with milk production in many other parts of the world.

One of the secrets to the success of TH Milk is the fact that they have invested in their own feed mill which enables them to change the feed formula in less than two hours and begin to feed a different mix of feed to the cows shortly hereafter rather than sticking to the commercial formulas from external suppliers.

Benefits from own feed production:

• Higher milk production per cow
• Higher quality milk
• Lower feed costs
• 100% control over raw materials used in feed
• No use of toxin binders
• Possible to changes feed formula within 1-2 hours
• Accurate changes of feed formula with 99.8% precision

Fully self-sufficient only four months after the inauguration of feed mill

The feed mill installed at TH Milk in cooperation with SKIOLD was set in production in August 2018 and reached full capacity within the first couple of months. After another four months their own production of concentrate reached 100% making TH Milk self-sufficient and not depending on any external supplies of cow feed.

Should they wish to expand the milk production, the feed mill has been prepared to function 7 days a week in three shifts.

Costs cut up to 60% of the price from external feed suppliers

”After reaching full production of own feed our costs have been reduced to 60% compared to the costs that we had, when we purchased feed”, explains Mr. Hanan Saggi, dairy feed nutritionist of TH Milk. ”And I am convinced that we can reach even better results in a year as we get better and better at producing the feed every day”.

Safe milk – basically free from mycotoxins in spite of humidity challenges

Milk quality in TH Milk is kept under close inspection for alpha toxins every day. 10 samples are analysed every day in the lab of TH Milk. Annually that amounts to more than 4,000 tests to ensure that the milk is free from alpha toxins. Levels of mycotoxins in the milk are at the low levels found in Europe which means that they do not need to use toxin-binders and therefore save about 500,000 dollars annually.

Weather conditions are very difficult in Asia compared to Europe. A European farmer feels challenged when the temperature humidity index reaches 72 whereas it is rarely under 80 in Asia, causing a real challenge as to Asian farmers.

The goal: 12,000 litres of milk per cow annually

”Management is everything – management of all aspects of production leads to better results all the time. Between 2017 and 2018 we did not let our cows outside but kept them in stable, controlled conditions in modern stables which increased the productivity of each single cow by 2.5 litres of milk/day, equalling approx. 900 litres per cow in a year, totalling an increase in milk production by 10% in the first year. And we foresee a further production increase by 1.5 litres of milk, totalling 500 litres of milk per cow per year. The ultimate, yet realistic goal is a total annual production per cow of 12,000 litres of milk", concludes Mr Saggi, dairy feed nutritionist.

Contact SKIOLD to hear more about our feed mill solutions