Brian Reidy: Why feed space, water, and cubicles matter for early lactation

As a rule of thumb, if cows spend more than a minute standing on a cubicle undisturbed without lying down, they are unhappy with the cubicle design, warns independent ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy

Fresh cows, and heifers in particular, are the most vulnerable and least competitive animals in the milking herd. They tend to avoid situations where they must compete for feed, water or cubicle space, and this avoidance reduces overall intake.

Following on from last week, when I covered how achieving high dry matter intakes in early lactation benefits a herd throughout the entire lactation, it is worth examining other on-farm factors that can significantly influence intake.

Feeding systems and timing