Operating a second herd may be a smart decision for many dairy farmers during the busy spring-calving period.
This would ultimately mean that you would have at least three groups of cows on the farm during the calving season.
During this period, cow identification is vital in order to ensure that mistakes do not occur.
You’d have the group of cows and heifers that are yet to calf, the freshly calved or antibiotic cows that are not entering the bulk tank, and cows that are not entering the bulk tank.
Second herd
Where a second herd is operated, you will have more groups of cows on your farm, but this should make the management of cows easier and prevent mistakes.
During the first few days after calving, a cow’s milk cannot enter into the bulk tank, but once this period of generally three-to-four days has passed, it can.
To help minimise risk, you should consider operating a second milking herd, which contains only cows that are not entering the bulk tank.
Benefits
The fresh herd is very high risk, and not having them mixed with the main herd does bring the risk of milk that shouldn’t enter the bulk tank.
These cows can also be considered high risk for metabolic disorders or milk fever, so having them in a smaller group should make it easier to identify.
This will also mean you do not have to worry about missing cows, or about having to disinfect clusters in-betweens cows.
You should ideally milk the cows going into the tank first, then disinfect or wash the milking machine.
Once this has been done, you should then milk the fresh herd and collect the milk needed for calves.
You could also milk the fresh herd first, if you wish – but you need to thoroughly wash the machine if you do.
Grazing
Treating a cow with milk fever is much easier in a paddock than in a cubicle shed.
The freshly calved group size will always be changing, and the demand for dry matter (DM) is going to be low.
So, they will not get through area as quickly as the bulk tank herd, so putting them to grass shouldn’t ready be an issue – once the weather plays ball.