The Frequency Regulator
The frequency regulator has a filter at the bottom, which is usually cleaned during service, but with this warm weather, sometimes it is necessary to clean it more often.
Just like an extra check of the compressor’s air filter and the grid of the cooler of the milk tank.
If they get enough fresh air, you will save on disruptions and electricity costs, especially in warm weather!
Also see the Tip of the Month – January 2015
The Feeder Position
With the VMS V300, the teat positions no longer need to be adjusted. With the VMS Classic, that is precisely the moment to, in addition to the teat positions, position of the feed trough is set for a new cow or after calving. This setting is (afterwards) only adjustable by the farmer. So it is still important to keep an eye on it afterwards. With the VMS V300 it is no longer important for to find the teats, but similarly, too much or especially too little space in the VMS is not good either.
With the VMS Classic, leaving too much space in the VMS box means it will be more difficult to find teats, but too tight is not good either.
So keep paying attention: is the cow comfortable in the VMS? It is also possible to check whether the feed trough is in the correct position via VMS Animal Settings.
Take a look at: https://www.harrytuinier.nl/en/2012/12/31/tips-uit-2012/ – Tip of the Month, May 2012
Keep the entry and exit gates clean.
Although the VMS has a floor cleaner, it is wise to spray off the corners a few times a day, on the places where the floor cleaner does not keep clean enough.
While you’re doing that, you might as well clean the lower bars of the entrance and exit gates too. Manure crusts builds easily here. That does not look neat, but above all: if you decide, on a rainy day, to give the VMS and space a good cleaning, everything will shine for you again, but also for the cow!
If the difference is too great with compared to before cleaning, many cows will hesitate to quickly enter the VMS again.
By keeping more parts of the VMS clean on a daily basis, after a thorough cleaning the difference will not be so great and will thereby decrease changes in visiting behavior!
Stress from heat and breath control
Checking the rumination is known to most livestock farmers, but do you also check “Breath control”?
Under normal conditions, at rest and lack of high temperatures, the cow breathes about 40 times per minute. This can be counted on the left side of the cow.
When a cow is too hot, making it difficult to lose its heat, or is bothered for other reasons, breaths count per minute can increase.
At over 60 breaths a minute it is no longer fun for the cow, then she stays up longer since standing up causes more heat loss than lying down. She could also hang above the water trough. Above 80 breaths per minute she is experiencing serious heat stress.
Remember that a cow’s “pleasant outside temperature” is about 8 degrees lower than ours. In addition to that, a cow that gives a lot of milk is hard at work. So, she can get warm quickly!
And warm weather, especially in combination with higher humidity, can also result in 5 – 12% less (rough) feed intake. And she can suffer from that for longer than the heat lasts.
That is why having a cool place for the cow in the summer, is vital. For both longer production and showing heats; and therefore, for fertility!
By counting the breaths every now and then, preferably from high-yielders, you will see earlier whether the ventilation or cooling are sufficient and whether there is sufficient fresh air in the house!
Increasing concentrated feed after calving – 2.
Using DelPro 5.2 or higher, feed tables on DIL (Days In Lactation) can also be used.
This is very useful for increasing concentrate at the right pace after calving.
During company visits, we sometimes come across situations in which the concentrate build up goes from day 1 to 25 days in one stretch. This process can go much smoother, using more steps, as there are as many as 12 steps possible. Especially with heifers, it is very sensible to build up calmly in the first week and then a little faster.
With rations of 2/3 maize as roughage, you should start more slowly than when using a ration with only grass silage / hay. It is also better to build up slowly if the feed fence offers a higher basic ration with multiple by-products. In this case use more steps, for example, divide the first 25 days into 5 steps of 5 days.
And as with many settings: A good concentrate feed table is good for the “normal” cows. If a cow has had a heavy calving, or for other reasons has had too little roughage intake during the first week, it is also better to start with concentrate for this cow more carefully. If the cow is very active, in generous condition and has a quickly increasing milk production: then this cow may be able to start up a little faster!
Take also a look at Tip of the Month July 2013: