It is still early days for autumn calving and some farmers may have started calving down cows already.

Freshly calved autumn calving cows need high levels of energy, protein and minerals in the diet, and it is important that this is offered to them.

A good start for the fresh calved cows is essential and stems from a well-formulated diet, which will aid in milk production, milk quality, and cow health.

Freshly calved cows have a low feed intake straight after calving, so the feed offered to them must be of a high quality.

Getting the diet right from the get-go will be beneficial from a fertility and reproductive point of view, drive on solids, and prevent any health issues.

The management of the freshly calved cow is vital during the first few weeks of her lactation. During the first three weeks pre-calving and three weeks post-calving, cows are still in their transition period.

Many farmers that have cows calving in the next few weeks will more than likely be letting them out to grass as soon as they calve down, while the weather and conditions are still holding up.

However, letting your autumn calving cows out to grass at this time of year is different to letting spring calving cows out to grass in the spring.

Spring grass is typically a lot more lush and leafy with a high dry matter (DM) content, while grass at this time of year has a lower DM content and a lower feed value.

Freshly calved cows at this time of the year are going to need a high quality forage added to their diet, as the low DM grass at this time of year is not going to be enough to fill them.

Some farmers like to run these cows separate to the milkers coming to the end of their lactation to give them preferential treatment, but you can still give them preferential treatment while in the herd.

Try and allocate more meal to these fresh calved cows and consider drafting them to one side for a buffer feed of silage after each milking.

A high quality forage for the freshly calved cow will maximise their dry matter intake (DMI) in order to minimise body condition score (BCS) loss and negative energy balance (NEB).

Total dairy intake will be around 11-12kg in the days after calving, rising steadily by 1.0-1.2kg/week for around a month after calving.

After the first month, intake will rise by 0.5kg/week until peaking at eight to 10 weeks post-calving.

Milk yield rises faster than the cows' intake after calving, which results in the cow losing body condition to support her milk production or 'milking off her back'.

This loss must be controlled to less than 0.5 BCS units through silage and concentrates in the cows' diet.

Farmers must be careful when feeding meal, as it may increase the risk of digestive upsets and result in substitution of concentrates for forage in the diet, which will increase costs.

Concentrates should be fed to supplement the nutrient deficit, and feeding rates with grass and silage in the diet for the autumn calvers will be 3-6kg depending on different farm circumstances.

However, as cows go purely on silage, depending on the quality of the silage and the litres per cow delivered, the concentrate feeding rate will range between 6-13 kg/ cow/day.

Farmers should be aiming for a 15.5-17% crude protein in the overall diet.

The butterfat to protein ration needs to be watched, as when this ratio is above 1.4, it indicates that cows are not receiving enough energy to aid in production and maintain condition.

Discuss with your vet a protocol for supplementing the diet with minerals, as winter milk diets are often deficient for minerals such as magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus and trace minerals such as copper, selenium, and iodine.

During this period, cows need to be watched closely, as issues such as displaced abomasum can often appear.

Farmers need to get their silage tested, so that a well-calculated diet to support milk production and condition is formed, which will reduce feed costs and ensure cows are not over- or under-fed.