Do you have a good replacement?

Do you have a manual for when you’re suddenly unavailable? Is there someone who knows enough about your farm and your cows? Is there someone to replace your job around the VMS, the calves or feeding practices?

In the meantime, trainees at agricultural schools and agri-business farm care services in the Netherlands are learning about the possibilities to replace a farmer with an automatic milking system. It’s even possible to complete exams in these courses!

In general, it is smart to be a proponent of these initiatives. More important, it could prove incredibly useful for when you yourselves are suddenly unavailable.

Feeding concentrate at “Peak Yield”

From the version DelPro 5.2 it is possible to use a feeding table at “Peak Yield”.

The concentrate feed for cows up to about 100 Days In Milk (DIM) is often a point of solid discussion:
Do we use an invariable feeding table or not?

These cows must be given the opportunity to give a lot of milk, even though they could temporarily decrease production. Of course, these cows require a lot of energy, (concentrated) feed.

But many advisers and veterinarians observe that during this period some cows who aren’t very comfortable and do not give a lot of milk in general, they are worse off with too much of concentrated feed.

Since DelPro 5.2 there is the possibility to operate at Peak Yield.

This is a nice system for feeding cows after the start-up period, for example up to 40 DIM, and then from about 40 days to 100 DIM go feeding on Peak Yield table.

Then the cows that give a lot of milk get the food that is due to them, but cows that for some reason give too little milk, for example: she has calved too soon, then she will only grow from much concentrate, which is too expensive and gives often problems later on.
Or she has problems with her rumen or claws and therefore too little roughage intake, and therefore she never gets (for longer time) high production. That cow should get less – for her – rumen acidic concentrate feed.

If a cow that gives a lot of milk still temporarily decreases in production, she will continue to keep the concentrate that belongs to the highest production she has given as a 7-day average during this period.

So the concentrate feed amount remains stable.

After 100 days in milk, the negative energy balance period should be depleted. If the cow gives less milk, then you should also decrease the concentrate.

So then the advice is: just feed on “Milk Yield” table.

It is still important to check feed deliveries via a clear list once a week.

Make the most of good silage

It’s been another special year for harvesting. After a very good first cut, most dairy farmers were not able to get much from second cut. Most of this was of less quantity and quality with a lot of stalk and containing less nutritional energy because of the drought.

The corn was also different this year. Some farmers got a very good harvest while others were stuck with too little amount and containing too little starch. On top of that, during feeding it seems very hard to keep cold.

What does your roughage stock look like and how many months of good quality supply do you have for your cows? 

If that’s considerably less than the supply you need during the winterperiod, then it is crucial to take measures to stretch the duration of your supply.
We don’t want to have to think about the possibility of good cows eating poor quality roughage.

Some example measures you can take: Give non-lactating cows and young cattle other feed (Dry cows could get hammered straw).
Give the lowest producing cows, in a production group, different roughage, perhaps.
Or, strictly select the bottom end of the herd and dry off cows on time (or earlier).

Correct the ration with by-products as well, both on quantity and type of supplementation. This year, this will be a special field of interest.

Consult with your advisor on these issues. Don’t just take the quality or quantity of silage for what it is. S/he will also experience new situations this year and can tailor solutions to your specific region.

Use the good qualities of your machine.

Currently, there are 6 to 7 milking robot brands on the market. And guess what, they all can milk cows.

Experts however, claim that each robot has its strengths.
All brands have their good and less good points.

Do you leverage the strengths of your milking robot ? You paid for it!
Consult your advisor to what extent you can use the strengths.

And if you focus on automatic milking: can you objectively choose which strengths of a brand are best for you and your company?

Daylight in the stall.

In nature, cows mated during summer and were calving next spring. This is when grass is at its best for optimal milkproduction and so for the growth of their calves.

This is what the cow is used to, so she is evolved.

That is why it is important to simulate for the milking cows the “May-Situation” year-round through mimicking  daylight hours in de stall and give them the best, fresch, tasty “May-quality” feed.

In terms of light in the barn: dairy cows need about 16 hours daylight while dry cows and highly pregnant heifers should have only 8-12 hours a day. The former simulates the summer while the latter represents the winter setting.

Young cattle also need 16 hours a day for growing and to be more fertile!

A good check of what is good daylight is: “Can you read your newspaper in the entire barn ?”