2025 Wrapped: Energy, Fertility and Feed Efficiency

A year of challenge, change, and progress in dairy nutrition

2025 at a Glance

Much of the year has been positive for dairy farmers, with a favourable Milk : Feed price ratio driving much-needed profits.  However, the global oversupply of milk has seen major pressure on prices and substantial drops in milk prices for the past three to four months.  

Meanwhile, forage quality followed an unusually dry summer. Efficiency became the year’s defining theme. Across the UK and Ireland, uneven grass growth and reduced forage reserves demanded more strategic rationing and tighter nutritional control.

But where conditions challenged, innovation answered. Throughout the year, Megalac helped farmers turn nutrition science into real-world feeding decisions, supported by clear on-farm return on investment (ROI) insight, a shift reflected in wider industry recognition that rumen-protected fats are increasingly valued.

So what did 2025 teach us, and where did nutrition make the biggest difference?

Launch Highlight: ROI Calculator 2.0

One of the most practical advancements this year was the release of our ROI Calculator 2.0, developed by Volac Wilmar to help dairy producers forecast the financial return of adding rumen-protected fats to their feeding system. Instead of relying on general assumptions or average milk responses, producers can now model performance outcomes specific to their herd, ration, and input costs.

Built on data from more than 65 peer-reviewed trials led by Dr. Adam Lock at Michigan State University, the calculator provides clarity on what effects particular fat supplement types have economically and nutritionally.

With the ROI Calculator 2.0, farmers can:

• Predict expected milk yield increases
• Model performance difference between protected fat types
• Benchmark financial return per cow per day
• Adjust assumptions based on real-time feed and milk prices
• Quantify return on investment with greater confidence

For farmers who want a clearer, more granular view of the business case behind fat supplementation, this tool has become a valued decision aid, bringing University-validated science directly into daily farm economics.

Fat and Fertility Become Science in Action

This year reinforced something that nutritionists have long understood: a cow’s reproductive performance is closely tied to her energy status. When energy supply falls short, the cow prioritises survival and maintenance over reproduction. And the physiological consequences of that are visible in the numbers. Research shows that losing just 0.5 in body condition score can reduce conception rates by around 10%, a reminder of how finely balanced the cow fertility equation truly is.

Fat supplementation plays a particularly important role here, not only by increasing the total energy available, but also by influencing reproductive hormones at a cellular level. Fats provide essential precursors for progesterone, the hormone responsible for establishing and maintaining pregnancy, ensuring the cow’s reproductive system has the biochemical support it needs.

The type of fat also matters. The oleic acid (C18:1) found in Megalac is associated with improved egg cell quality and embryo development. In practical terms, cows are better primed for conception, plus the early stages of pregnancy are supported more effectively.

Producers this year increasingly recognised that fertility is rooted in metabolic readiness long before breeding even begins. When cows enter that fertility window in a more-positive energy balance, and with the right fatty acid profile in a fat supplement, they’re far more likely to conceive, hold that pregnancy, and calve at consistent intervals.

VIDEO: Mega-Fat 70 (Feed Fat Innovations)

Measured Performance with Research-Backed Results

This year reminded us that while energy and fertility are foundational, performance ultimately shows up in the tank. One of the clearest demonstrations of this came from the widely referenced Cornell University data set, where diets supplemented with 1.5% Megalac per cow per day increased milk yield by 3.2 kg/cow/day. For farms striving to sustain output while protecting body condition, that kind of lift is meaningful, especially when margins are tight.

What stands out about this effect is not just more milk, but where that milk is coming from: additional usable energy delivered without compromising rumen function. Rumen-protected fats pass through the rumen and are digested in the small intestine, meaning they supply energy without increasing acid load, without elevating the risk of rumen upset, and without reducing fibre digestion in the ration.

This aligns with a broader body of evidence demonstrating that rumen-protected fats:

• Support higher milk solids and total yield
• Improve overall energy efficiency
• Help maintain stable rumen conditions
• Enable greater performance from the same feed base

In practice, this consistency matters. It gives producers a reliable instrument to fine-tune energy supply independently of forage quality or starch levels. And at a time when many herds were challenged by feed variability and climate pressure, having that nutritional stability became a strategic advantage.

The Cornell findings, supported by multiple peer-reviewed sources and long-term field application, reinforced that beyond being a key feed ingredient, protected fats are a performance driver that converts feed energy into productive output with remarkable efficiency.

Rumen Protected-Fats and Methane Reduction

Going Beyond Energy with Efficiency & Sustainability

As sustainability moves higher up on the global dairy agenda, many producers have started viewing rumen-protected fats as part of a longer-term environmental strategy. Because protected fats avoid rumen fermentation, they provide energy without adding fermentable substrate to the rumen, a key mechanism linked to improved feed conversion and lower methane production and intensity per litre of milk produced.

Instead of generating hydrogen and gases in the rumen, these fats are digested in the small intestine, supporting higher milk output with proportionally lower energy loss. This principle, i.e. energy delivered efficiently, not wasted in fermentation, continues to gain industry recognition as highlighted in the wider discussion of how rumen-protected fats are increasingly valued within sustainable dairy systems.

Beyond methane, the sustainability case extends to resource utilisation. When protected fats improve energy density, farms can deliver the same or higher production from the existing feed base, not only reducing pressure on land, but also crop inputs and feed imports. This becomes especially important in regions where forage supply, rainfall, and cropping conditions vary significantly.

Growing interest in respiration efficiency and reduced methane intensity is reflected in evolving research and producer-led experimentation, with nutrition emerging as one of the most practical, controllable levers. Within this context, fat-based energy strategies continue to stand out for enabling both productivity and environmental responsibility, helping dairy systems meet tightening sustainability expectations while safeguarding output.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Fertility, feed efficiency, and emissions will remain key priorities next year as producers balance performance with environmental responsibility. Megalac and the wider Volac Wilmar team will keep working alongside farmers to turn science into practical feeding strategies, supporting energy, milk quality, and sustainability together.

If you want clarity on the financial side, the ROI Calculator 2.0 can show you exactly what protected fat means for your daily milk cheque. And if you’re looking for continued guidance, the Megalac Resources & Advice Hub is packed with practical tips, insights, and research to support smarter feeding.

2025 reminded us that efficiency and fertility go hand in hand. Here’s to another year of strong cows, steady yields, and smart feeding decisions!