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Calf Care 01/27/09 10:33:13 AM
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Cow comfort: Social Behavior
Social interactions can impact feeding time, ruminating time and water intake. Dominant cows may prevent submissive cows from eating at the bunk, drinking water or lying down. Fresh cows, first-calf heifers and recently moved cows are often the submissive cows in the group. Larger cows, older cows and cows with more seniority in a group are usually more dominant.
Social interactions are often the highest when fresh feed is offered, or right after milking. More problems also occur when alleys are narrow and cows have difficulty passing eachother. It is important to have good conditions in the barn, like space around water bowls or troughs and enough stalls for cows to rest in. With good barn conditions social interactions will have less influence on milk production.
The more similar cows are to one another in a group, fewer problems will arise. There will be less of a negative effect from overcrowding if:
cows can be moved efficiently to and from the parlor
the ration is fed and supplied throughout the day
the cows in the group are similar
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| Saving Money with Low Milk Prices
With markets struggling, the future of milk prices are low, especially for 2009's first quarter. You may be asking how to reduce costs while maintaining production. For each farm there's a different solution that may help. Here are some options to consider:
1. Consider Feed Costs
Waste; be sure to clean up weigh backs and feed to another group or to a cleaner bunk without limiting consumption.
Ration; look at your ration with your feed consultant. Make sure to maximize Dry Matter Intake. Balancing for amino acids, degradable and undegradable protein can save extra money.
Free Stalls; In a free stall system, now is a good time to look at instituting a low group of cows. You could balance for lower milk production, take out additives and increase fiber levels thus reducing corn and protein purchases.
Stall Barns; Reduce the TMR balance level and top-dress the higher producing cows still peaking.
2. High cost cows; Look at the cows draining your cash. Stale and fat cows that are low producers, high SCC cows that are reoccuring clinicals are good candidates for the cull pen. Possibly an early dry off for a pregnant cow with a heifer calf approaching. Do this with caution, as a long dry period may increase calving difficulties. Milking and feeding your better cows is always best in a tight margin time of high costs and lowers milk prices.
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