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:

https://www.harrytuinier.nl/en/2013/12/31/tips-uit-2013/

Tips on your phone & How to remotely view DelPro together

It is useful to create a shortcut on your phone, “app”, which will take you straight to the Tip of the Month.

Do this by looking up the Tip of the Month on the phone via Google, for example via
https://www.harrytuinier.nl/en/category/tip-van-de-maand/

With Android, you will see 3 dots at the top right, if you press on this, various options will appear, including “Add to home screen”. If you press this you can add this page, if desired with logo.

With iOS (Apple), you also look up the Tip of the Month page. Click on the square icon with the arrow pointing upwards at the bottom, then click on “Add to Home screen”. It will now be added as an “app” on your home screen.

Of course, older Tips can be found there or under the menu button.

From the front page:

Now that the Corona virus is keeping all of us at home, advising has also virtually stopped.
Many livestock farmers, rightly, prefer not to have too many people around the house.

Fortunately, nowadays,  we can remotely catch up with a telephone and laptop, as if we are sitting around the table, discuss settings and answer questions!

LogMeIn and also TeamViewer offer excellent options for this.

If you would like to go over the information from your computer together, please contact us / your Advisor and we will make an appointment.

Fresh air!

Stagnant water, such as that in ponds and ditches, is known to allow dirt, bacteria and germs to survive and spread easily. That is usually easy to see. They often become “stink ditches”.

Drinking troughs could have the same effect. Therefore, watertroughs has to easily be able to flushed easily and / or be refreshed regularly.

However, also not moving air is bad.  Since you can’t see that and we get used to the smell of the stall, it doesn’t stand out. See the Tip about ventilation from August 2011.
Especially the highly producing or unfit cows have issues with effects deriving from still air.
Cows that have to produce a lot of milk also need a lot of oxygen.

Always make sure the air in the stall is moving!
Fresh air is a pleasure for the cows as for people, also in the robot room or milking parlor.

Set the fans at the lowest setting and open the windbreak curtains on (one?) side earlier and more often. Consider that even in the winter when it is not even warm, saturated air should be replaced by fresh air!

Make use of the “Help” Function

Previously, a thick folder with manuals was given with the delivery of a milking robot. However, with an update, a paper manual is of course outdated and is no longer always correct.

Instead of giving a new manual every time, it was decided to place this manual under the Help function in DelPro. Therefore, it is always in line with your current DelPro version.
It is at the very top right => Help.

If you click on “Help” and choose “? Help ” you can access the Help files. Under “Contents” you will find the entire manual and all off the help files.

Under “Search” you can enter a word or term and the help function will show all places where this keyword appears.

Under “List Topics” you will find all places where the keyword is found and if you click on a option here you will find the explanation from the manual under “Display”.

By clicking on that you will receive many answers to possible questions.

A smooth feeding area (in front of the feeding fences)

When the feeding spot in front of the feeding fence is nice and smooth, you can move the feed more easily and clean up the feed residues easily. Besides that, the cows also eat cleaner.

Rough floors are harder to keep clean and more fungi and bacteria hide in them. That means the food is less tasty, it sometimes stinks.

The cow’s nose is, not coincidentally, very close to the mouth and the result is logically: less feed intake. And with feed intake, some fungi, pathogens and infections come in easily. A rough feeding place is not only for feed intake, and therefore milk production but also bad for the resistance of the cow.

So, investing in a smooth eating area is not a luxury.