Driving DMI to ramp up performance
Balancing protein and energy makes a big difference to cow performance. Picture: Dmitriy Shironosov, iStock
At this point, all milk producers understand that driving intakes will drive performance, but nonetheless, achieving this can be easier said than done.
Preparing dry cows for their lactation will deliver a more profitable result from a healthy animal fit to do her job. Dry Matter Intakes need to be driven to deliver sufficient energy for their requirements based on their parity or stage of gestation or lactation.
To overcome this challenge, implementing a feeding and management strategy that will help boost intake should be high on the agenda in spring calving herds right now. The days immediately post-calving are critical to achieving a successful and close to trouble-free lactation as possible.
Some have a specific fresh cow area, where cows and heifers are kept for a few days after calving.
During this time, feeding a fresh, high-quality forage-based diet will encourage feed intake in fresh cows. It is also much easier to observe cows for any issues in a smaller group.
A cow in the main herd that is out of sorts may not be noticed until milking time, by which time she may have deteriorated a lot.
One observation from the last two to three years is that many dairy and suckler farmers have or intend to install health and heat monitoring systems as due to scale and labour availability, herding and husbandry skills are needing a little bit of help from technology.
Most of these health monitoring systems can alert you to low rumination, low consumption of feed and water along with some being able to give you an up-to-date temperature for each animal.
Most probably look at buying them for heat detection, but the health features really are the icing on the cake.
These systems are fantastic, in my view, as they help to avoid a mild illness from becoming acute and will significantly reduce losses and associated costs around veterinary and drug use. As we all know with livestock, early intervention and prevention are far better for the farmer and the animal.
Maintaining fresh-cow dry matter intake is one of the secrets to keeping your fresh cows healthy and productive during their lactation. Once a cow has successfully calved down, cleaned and got up and running in the milking parlour, then attention turns firstly to getting the yields that she is genetically able to do.
This milk should be produced with optimum milk quality at least cost and then you need her to go about getting her back in calf again.
Balancing protein and energy makes a big difference to cow performance.
After calving, energy needs increase with the onset of milk production. Meanwhile, the stress of calving causes her to reduce feed intake — thereby reducing the amount of energy she consumes — and that can push her into an inevitable negative-energy balance.
To help to reduce this, aim for a high-energy density diet for the first two to three weeks post-calving. While cows remain indoors, it is important you have identified the best quality silage in the yard for them.
Some will have maize silage, whole crop, beet or distilling/brewing byproducts in the diet, and these ingredients are ideal in early lactation to boost total dry matter intake and optimise energy intakes. The more intake you can achieve on a full indoor diet, the more cows can consume when they eventually head to grass.
There is currently a lot of grass out there on most farms; however, is grass in January the best way to optimise intakes post calving? Can you consistently get cows to grass each day going forward?
Managing the cow, not the grass, in early lactation will have major performance benefits and you will help to achieve increased grass intakes for the whole lactation by optimising rumen capacity and function immediately post-calving.
There are varying opinions as to the appropriate level of crude protein to include in the post-fresh diet.
Some suggest keeping the protein level low initially so as to not cause cows to milk too hard early in lactation and compromise on body condition. However, pitching diets too low in protein will depress feed intake.
Grass silages made in 2021, in general, are low in protein, with many in the 10-12% range. As a result, a concentrate to balance this forage will need to be over 20% to balance it correctly before cows are turned out to grass — or higher if maize, whole crop, or beet are fed.
Pay attention to the ingredients included in any concentrate you feed to early lactation cows. It should include top-quality cereals, digestible fibres and quality protein sources.
Request a top-quality mineral and vitamin pack which will aid recovery post-calving, boost the immune system and help subsequent fertility performance.
Don’t forget a calcium and magnesium supplement if you are able to get some grass into cows. We all know that concentrates have increased significantly, however, there is a bigger cost associated with not supplying the correct feeding to cows in early lactation.
Balance your diet properly once cows have calved and you will reap the benefits for the rest of their lactation.
