Heifers learn to visit the VMS faster.

Another handy tip from a technician.

We regularly discuss here how important it is for newly lactating cows, and especially heifers, to learn to visit the VMS independently quickly after calving.

Because we can now divide lactation into five periods in the Automatic Milk Permission, it’s also possible to use the first period for newly calved heifers, for example, the first 20 days after calving. Use the same setting as the second period (from 5 hours and/or 7-9 kg expected milk yield), but let them enter the red zone after just 8 hours. For 2+ lactations, if there are no real problems, this would only be necessary for the first 10 days.

This way, newly calved animals are immediately identified if they need more time to learn or if they are experiencing other issues.

The sooner after calving you exceed 3 milkings per day, the better the lactation and udder health!!

How long does it take to increase or decrease concentrates?

Many livestock farmers and feed consultants are still unclear about how DeLaval DelPro works with increasing or decreasing concentrates. After calving, it’s often clear, but especially after adjustments to the feed tables, things can go wrong. The default setting for increasing concentrates is 0.250 kg per day, and the default decrease is 0.150 kg per day. However, the latter is often adjusted to 0.100 kg per day.
Suppose a cow should receive 3 kg less concentrate, it will take her 30 days to do so. The feed table will then ignore this cow during these 30 days. This is fine for some cows, but often they are receiving too much concentrate for too long.
At many farms, I often add a column to their favorite Feed Control list that shows how many days a cow still needs to increase or decrease her concentrate intake.

How do you do that?
Go to your favorite Feed Control List. If it’s a “custom list,” you’ll see a triangle in the top bar. Clicking it will open a small window on the right. Find “Feeding.” Then “Ration.” Among the many options, you’ll also see “Target Days.” Drag this to your list.
It will then ask you which feed type you’re referring to. If you have multiple feed types, you can choose; of course, the feed type that changes most is the most important.
Just refresh the list, and the days will appear. Sort by these, and you’ll see which cows will still take the most days to build up or reduce their feed intake.
If it’s correct, leave it as is; if it’s not, double-click on the cow and adjust “Feeding” to what you think is a good plan for this cow.

This gives you even more control over the correct amount concentrate feed for each cow!

Most interesting lists at the front of the Attention Board.

On the left side of the Attention Board, there’s a block containing the lists Delaval thinks are the most important of all available lists.
But you and I often have different opinions about that!
From the entire arsenal of lists offered by DelPro or created by you or your advisor, you can choose which ones you actually want to see there.
How can we customize these to our own preferences?
When you click the yellow Lists tab, you’ll find all available lists.
By right-clicking the list you want, you’ll get many options, including “Add to Attention board.” We’ll confirm this. You’ll then be asked which chapter you want to add it to, or you can create a new chapter.
An icon will then appear next to that list.
For lists that also have such an icon but that you never view, you can remove that icon in the same way.
Then we return to the Attention Board. Let’s refresh it first!
Above the block with preferred lists, you’ll see a faint “V” sign. Click on it.

This will display all lists with an Attention Sign icon.
The list you added will now be listed, but it still needs to be checked.
Only the checked lists will be shown when you click the “V” above the block again.

An example of what it might look like (in Dutch):

Daily checklists
Weekly checklists
Monthly checklists
Fertility checklists

Too many kick-offs?

It’s normal for a few cows to occasionally kick off a teat cup. But when does this become more than normal?
If more heifers have calved, it’s logical that the kick-off percentage is slightly higher.
Less than 2% is okay, but it shouldn’t exceed 5% too often!
The number of kick-offs can therefore fluctuate considerably.
Which cows kick off most often can be found in the “Milking performance” list.

What are the possible causes?
Common causes include flies or a batch of heifers, for example, from a particular bull.
But sometimes a milking robot doesn’t connect properly, not correctly from the center of the teat. With multiple milking robots, you’ll see differences in kick-offs from one robot to the next.
In that case, it’s easy for a technician to correct this.
But claw problems, especially on the leg on the side where the robot connects, also cause more kick-offs or stepping on a hose. Or the VMS arm may have difficulty reaching the udder teats.
A feeder setting that is too narrow or too wide can lead to more kicking from restless cows.
And of course, the quality of the teat liners, a clean camera that connects smoothly, the feeding speed, pre-treatment cup, and temperature are also important factors.
It’s also interesting to see whether cows, besides new heifers, also older cows, and perhaps even cows in later lactation, still kick. Then we look at factors like teat quality, how and with what you fill the boxes, what you use for disinfection, the vacuum level, and the settings for the take-off from the milkcup.
Also the feeding speed and the feed intake per milking session. Have they finished their feed before milking begins, for example?

Clean concentrate silos.

A feed consultant showed me a photo of a concentrate silo that had been cleaned. That was shocking!
This silo had quite a bit of residue from old feed and mold….
If this is in the feed silo, bits occasionally break off. And that gets into the system.
Or into the augers, causing blockages? Or it gets into the robot, and then the cows get some of it too. And that’s very bad…

Concentrate silos are often refilled (well) before they are empty, and then old feed can sometimes stick to the walls.

When was the last time you checked that your feed silos were completely clean?