Improved Dry Cow Management Brings Success at Bridgwater College
Over the years, so many feeding strategies have been promoted to improve dry cow nutrition that dairy farmers, vets and herd managers have often been left wondering which way to go!
When Steve Jones became Farm Manager at Rodway Farm, Bridgwater College in Somerset, he decided to undertake a review of the dry cow nutrition program. Calving all year round, the dry cow group was continuously experiencing far too many milk fevers. There were also a high percentage of retained placentas, leading to poor lactation performance and a knock-on effect with fertility.
Milk contains a fixed level of 1.2g calcium per litre. However, as modern genetics continue to improve and milk yields have increased, the demand for calcium has also increased. Cows also need calcium for muscular strength and stamina, not only to calve, but also to cleanse the uterus of placental tissue. If a cow cannot source sufficient calcium at calving and for the few days post-calving when appetites may be reduced, then one or more of the crucial calcium dependent processes (ease of calving, milk initiation and cleansing) will be affected.
Dry cows are the most important group of cows on the farm states Steve and we needed to ascertain why these problems kept occurring. Working with Phil Kenward at Farmvets South West, and Mark Cox from Mole Valley Feed Solutions, it was agreed that forage mineral profiles would be undertaken independently to try to understand precisely what was actually being fed to the dry cow group.
Results confirmed suspicions, reporting back excess potassium levels in the grass silage being fed. High potassium is a common problem in many UK grass based forages. It is well known that this can be dangerous for dry cows as excess levels increase cation anion balance (CAB) values. It is interesting that forage CAB values have increased dramatically in the last ten years (see Table 1). High CAB values can affect calcium release from the skeleton at calving, leading to milk fever and many associated problems including retained cleansings, metritis, poor milk initiation and reduced dry matter intake.
With action needed to be taken, Peter Isaac from Mole Valley Feed Solutions was asked to review the dry cow nutrition program and discussed options available.
It was agreed that the quality of the grass silage being fed to the dry cow group was poor. As part of a significant feed management change, cows were moved to a different forage feeding regime – straw, maize silage and whole crop. This diluted the high potassium levels from the grass silage and helped to control ration energy and protein density. As part of these changes Peter also suggested, along with veterinary support, moving the dry cows to a new partial DCAB mineral feeding system to help improve calcium utilisation at calving. The cows were kept in one group through the entire dry period and a simple partial DCAB dry cow feeding system was adopted. This enabled Steve to feed one mineral nutrition program through the whole dry period.
Based on American research work, Mole Valley Feed Solutions had been researching a new partial DCAB mineral supplement – Nutri-LINK TDC400 – and I decided to give it a go, stated Steve. The results were spectacular as milk fever cases dropped almost immediately. Follow-on benefits were experienced with fewer retained placentas and higher dry matter intakes post-calving, leading to far better body condition scores in early lactation and higher peak yields, states Steve. We also decided to add LiFT into the partial DCAB supplement to help promote liver function pre and post calving.
Digestibility and feed intake are two key factors I target with pre-calving and lactating cows states Steve. Fed via a tub mixer wagon, water was added to the dry cow TMR mix to improve palatability of the high straw diet. This resulted in a definite benefit to forage digestibility, with precise straw chop length also a key factor in improving intakes.
The results could not have been more impressive according to Steve, who confirmed that …Calving intervals have dropped by 70 days since we made these changes and I feel dry cow mineral nutrition improvements have helped us achieve these goals. A partial dry cow DCAB mineral nutrition program has helped us to simplify our housed dry cow group feeding regime, while attention to forage quality has played a big part in not just improving feed conversion efficiency post calving but also helping to improve fertility status.
Steve Jones and his team at Bridgwater College are now on target to efficiently push yields towards 11,000 litres per cow over the next 18 months, with herd performance starting in the dry period.
For further information, visit the dairy feed section of www.molevalleyfarmers.com or call 01278 420481.
Mole Valley Farmers was started in 1960 by a small group of farmers in South Molton, Devon.
Today, it is one of the largest employers in the South West, with a turnover of 243 million and more than 1,400 staff. Mole Valley Farmers is one of the few farmer owned businesses, acting as a co-operative in the supply industry, with a total commitment to the farming industry.