Franklin Vets
Franklin Vets - excellence in veterinary care for dairy, farming, lifestyle, equine and household pets. BESTPRACTICE ACCREDITED NZ.
There are some new bar graphs to show Tail Scoring and Locomotion Scoring data that provide more detail which will be easier to understand.
We also added a field in locomotion scoring to note the number of cows with hock lesions observed during a Locomotion scoring session.
The WelFarm App is here! You can now record your on-farm metrics into it and they will go straight to the portal! Find it in Google play and Apple store
Use a combination of BCS and expected calving date to stagger drying cows off, so every dry cow can be fed the same but the difference is how long she is dry for. For example, a skinny early calver will need to be dried off before a fatter cow with the same calving date. This gives each individual cow the days she needs dry to attain target body condition at calving. This target is 5 for cows and 5.5 for heifers and second calvers.
First and second calvers need more time dry than older cows. Young cows are still growing to reach their mature weight. They often have lower intakes and they are only able to put weight on slowly and require more time to get to target condition.
Once the whole herd is dry, split the dry cows into herds based on condition and expected calving date so you can look after lighter and younger cows. Creating herds protects younger cows from competition from the older more dominant cows. And if supplements are going to be fed then feed more to the herd that needs to gain the most condition or that needs to put it on fastest.
Dr Graeme Charteris BVSc - Farm Vet at Pukekohe
Franklin Vets - excellence in veterinary care for dairy, farming, lifestyle, equine and household pets. BESTPRACTICE ACCREDITED NZ.
