Actually, there is a "right" answer - or a feed which is more right than wrong - if one fully understood the science behind it. There's different levels of complexity, obviously, but it would be nice to see some element of science in it rather than the game's arbitrary choice of what to include. On a basic level you'd make sure its one of a list of foods cows/cattle eat in real life - eg silage/grass/hay+corn or something along those lines. Next step up, you might want to include the relative energy level of each food - cows need a minimum energy if they're producing milk too, unless they "milk off their back" and lose condition.deerefarm wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:36 pm There is no magic answer as it all depends on the farm and the farmer. Some farmers use TMR like the game does, some farmers use haylage instead of silage, and some just use hay, or a combination of hay and milled corn. "How Farm Work" feed their beef cows hay and milled corn. On our dairy farm we fed the dairy cows a mix of hay, haylage, corn silage, and mineral pellets. The beef cows got hay and mineral feed. Some of the hay was Alfalfa,while some was more "meadow" grass. No silage, or haylage for the beef cows. Some farmers make their silage out of corn, others grass, some both, as they have different nutritional content.
Giant's just seem to have kept it simple and made TMR the standard, especially as there is no Alfalfa in the game nor is there a difference between corn or grass silage.
Secondly you have to remember that the "game" is aimed at the average Joe who before FS had no idea what TMR was let alone Alfalfa.
Finally they did add mineral feed this time around, but since it has no "production" benefit like it does in RL, I don't bother with it as it's just a money sink.
Then you could include an appreciation of crude protein level too, and making sure macrominerals are supplied. And start to tie in yield of milk (or growth, or condition) with the amount and quality of the feed supplied. How about in-parlour feeding vs barrier vs grass? Highs & lows? This is 1970s agriscience, very well established and widely peer reviewed, but nowadays out of date.
If you really wanted to, you could do a proper analysis of feeds including DCP vs ME balance and microminerals too.
Really though, I think Giants should consider grazing and grassland management, or at least touch upon it, because that too is a massively important part of farming and dairying these days.
