2021 breeding season starts at drying off 2020

As the 2020 production season comes to an end on spring-grass production systems for beef and dairy herds, drying off is sometimes seen as a well-deserved holiday both for cow and farmer.

While this is true, both farmer and cow should use this time to re-energise and replenish their bodies after a long productive year. However, as farmers we should also use this time to reflect on the issue that influenced the fertility performance of the herd over the previous 12 months.

It is widely accepted both in Ireland and internationally that how we manage the herd’s dry period, including the first 60 of the new lactation, have a huge influence on the profitability for the following lactation.

There are four main key performance indicators (KPIs) during the dry/transition period (14 days’ pre calving to 30 days- post calving) that influence subsequent lactation and fertility performance both in dairy and beef cows.

These are as follows:

Body condition score;
Cow nutrition management;
Cow environment and length of time dry;
Monitoring the factors above.

Getting the right balance between the above KPI will have a big influence on reducing the number of metabolic diseases in the herd and the additional cost for treating these diseases, not to mention the lost of perish time and money spend trying to resolve these issues.

Estimated cost of treatment for metabolic diseases:

Milk fever: €300;
Mastitis: €250-300;
Missed heat: €250.

Body condition score

This is a visual score rated from one to five. It is widely accepted that most cows should be within the 3.0 to 3.5 range at drying off. The aim for the dry period is to maintain this score for the duration of the dry period.

This will allow the cow to regenerate her udder cells plus help heal any damage which occurred during the previous lactation. Maintaining body condition score (BCS) also allows the cow’s body to transition her body hormone balance to prepare for the birth of the calf to start her next lactation.

To achieve this, we must manage the cow’s nutritional requirements correctly.

Cow nutrition

The cornerstone of good dry/transition cow nutrition is to balance the cow’s requirements for energy, fibre, protein plus essential minerals/vitamins to adequately supply her body’s requirements to ensure good health and immunity for both cow and calf.

On many Irish farms where grass silage is high in potassium (K), it is good practice to dilute high K silage to help reduce the risk of metabolic issues.

The rule of thumb is 2% of the cow’s body weight on dry matter basis correctly balanced with the above to suit the cow’s environment.

Cow’s environment

Just like humans, cows like routine and low stress environments to perform to their maximum potential. To aid this it’s good practice to group cows by calving date as this reduces stress associated with mixing groups at calving time.

The other requirements which help with good cow health are a clean dry lying for each cow, adequate feeding space minimum of 600mm/head (800mm is ideal) – also, fresh, clean drinking water with plenty of walking floor space.

These guidelines help reduce competition within the herd which promotes good herd health and maximum profitability.

Monitoring the herd

This is what every good stockperson does on a daily basis. A good stockperson also knows that herd health and fertility is influenced by the early detection of health issues with individual animals.

As for every clinical case detected there is usually several other animals suffering from subclinical issues. With increasing herd size and stockperson skills in ever-increasing demand, this thus limits the time/attention individual animals can get.

However, this is why more and more farmers/stockpersons are using technology to complement their skills. This is where HerdInsights provides an early warning signal that all may not be well with individual animals.

HerdInsights monitors key animal gestures i.e. activity, resting and rumination, which indicate these cows are not their normal selves needing the farmer’s urgent attention.